Show Low Snow Switchbacking Salt River Canyon To Home In Arizona

Well. We made it to our destination. The roadtrip to that destination was far more adventurous than anticipated.

As in driving through some of the most torrential rain in memory.

And then, soon upon reaching Arizona, nearing the mountain town of Show Low.

Snow.

Snow was something I did not anticipate. Hence totally underdressed. And cold during the multiple vehicle exits.

Being cold soon abated as the elevation dropped the closer we got to the Valley of the Sun. Where for the first time since leaving Texas we saw the sun.

The biggest surprise of this roadtrip happened soon upon leaving Show Low, via Highway 60. I knew via the map that this was considered to be a scenic route. I had assumed it would be the Painted Desert type of scenic.

Again I was wrong. Instead it was the Grand Canyon type of Arizona scenic.

A few miles west of Show Low we saw we were following along a canyon. At that point the canyon did not seem too deep or big. That soon changed. A road sign advised scenic overlook ahead, so I stopped to look over the overlook. That is the view you see at the top. This was to be the first of many scenic overlooks.

Several miles later a series of long switchbacks took us to a bridge across what I then learned was Salt River Canyon. Or, what I later learned my sister referred to as Grand Canyon-lite.

That bottom of Salt River Canyon location had a rest area on steroids visitor center. I decided this was a good location for a crackers and cheese break. Til I stepped outside and decided it was too cold to sit at a picnic table.

From the rest area I look down from the over look to see what you see below.

A group at the edge of the Salt River. After a walk across the old highway bridge which had been turned into a pedestrian bridge I decided to go down the stairs you see below to join the group above for a closer look at the river.

It had been years since I had had the opportunity to run up and down stairs such as those above. Wait. Just remembered I ran up stairs summer of 2017 when I was in Arizona, in downtown Phoenix. Arizona has a lot more vertical opportunities than mostly horizontal Texas.

Above I am at the Salt River Canyon bottom, and those are those people we saw from the overlook, posing for photos. They were taking a lot of photos. Above them, on the canyon wall, that brown streak slicing diagonal is the road we had been rolling on a few minutes prior. The route from the canyon bottom up the other side looked real treacherous with multiple switchbacks.

When I was on the pedestrian bridge a guy asked me to take a photo of him and his family. I told the guy that this canyon was a total surprise to me, that I wondered why I had never heard of it. Told him it was far more impressive to me than the famous Million Dollar Highway one drives when heading north from Silverton, Colorado. Or the Highway to the Sun in Glacier National Park.

The only road I recollect driving on which was more adventurous than this Salt River Canyon drive is the Moki Dugway in Utah.

The Moki Dugway is a relatively short one way, unpaved descent. The Salt River Canyon descent and ascent was many miles long.

Above is a look from the Salt River Canyon bottom up at those aforementioned bridges. The closest one is the old bridge turned to pedestrian bridge.

Both bridges were built over water. And I suspect the construction took way less than four years. People in Fort Worth know to what I refer.

I am sort of in recovery mode now that I am settled in my new abode. Figuring out how to operate the kitchen last night was a different type of adventure from treacherous driving.

I have no clue what we are doing today. Might go see Spencer Jack and Hank F's grandpa, also known as my little brother...

Flash Flooding Lightning Striking Windy Ride To Socorro New Mexico

The morning did not start well. Somehow on Saturday I developed the delusion that the end of Daylight Savings Time was to happen today..

And so Saturday I set all my clocks back an hour.

This morning I found out I was wrong when my phone and computer reported what I thought at the time was the wrong time.

This delusion resulted in getting out of town an hour later than I had planned.

Hours of thunder booming during the night made for a tired morning. I did not look forward to a long drive.

And then, just a few miles in, on Highway 287, past Iowa Park, before the Vernon exit on to 60 a flash flood covered the road. I did not realize this had happened til a truck ahead of me hit the water, causing a giant plume. I slammed the brakes, and then slowly made it though the water. A car had flown off the road heading the other direction, landing sideways in the flood. I hope no one was hurt.

Rain poured down, super heavy at times, all the way to New Mexico. Only a few miles were relatively dry. And then, deep into New Mexico, prior to Mountainair, on 60, all hell broke loose. Lightning was striking, thunder booming. I followed a big truck leading a caravan of fellow travelers traveling at a snail pace.

Eventually, about the time we reached scenic Mountainair, the clouds lifted, making for a dry descent into the Rio Grande Valley, where the Rio Grande was a tiny trickle when we crossed it.

Getting on I-25 and heading south was a relief, particularly after stopping at the cool rest area you see above. I have seen some interesting rest areas, in various resting places. This one is easily in the Top Ten.

That is Big Ed you see walking the boardwalk in the aforementioned rest area. Today was the first time Big Ed has seen a mountain since 2002.

Tomorrow we should arrive by mid afternoon in the Chandler/Sun Lakes zone of Arizona. I am hoping for sunshine and no flooding issues....

Final Wichita Falls Bike Ride Before Arizona Mountain Climbing

On this first Saturday of the 2018 version of October the outer world at my current location is a bit dark and cloudy.

With about an hour to go before noon I opted to exit my abode so as to roll my bike wheels one more time before exiting Texas tomorrow.

In the photo documentation we are on the Circle Trail looking south over my handlebars.

Rain and thunderstorms are in today's forecast. So far I have felt no drippage, nor heard any booms.

Last night I came to my final decision as to the route for the roadtrip to Arizona. A short distance on 287 to 70, then 60 all the way to the Phoenix zone.

When I was younger I greatly enjoyed long roadtrips. Thousands of miles never vexed me. I remember the first time I saw Texas was part of a month long multi-thousand mile roadtrip. That was the summer the whole world was worried regarding who shot J.R. I did not visit Southfork at that point in time.

Now that I am semi-elderly I am not as fond of the roadtrip concept. I am sort of looking forward to doing some actual mountain type hiking in Arizona. Maybe Camelback Mountain. Maybe Piestewa Peak. Maybe South Mountain.

Or it may be too HOT with a lot of pool time being more appealing than mountain hiking.

Nurse Canecracker, aka Lil' Miss Linda, will be arriving on the 16th.

We ordered a new transport chair for my mom. Nurse Canecracker is not yet fully recovered from getting badly injured from an encounter with a car on the streets of Mount Vernon. Big Ed may come in handy if Nurse Canecracker wants to avail herself of using one of the transport chairs.

If I remember right the trail up Piestewa Peak is paved. Maybe we will be able to push both mom and Nurse Canecracker to the Piestewa Peak summit....

Will There Ever Be An All-Out Sprint To Finish Anything In Fort Worth?

Yesterday we took a Closer Look At Fort Worth Losing Federal Funding For America's Biggest Boondoggle.

Taking a closer look was prompted by two days in a row where the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published what seemed to me to be bizarre propaganda pieces about the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

And now today, a third bizarre piece of Star-Telegram propaganda.

Day One we had Fort Worth’s $1B Panther Island project quietly cut from 2018 federal budget.

Day Two followed with Panther Island will move ‘full steam ahead’ despite funding slowdown, proponent vows.

And now on Day Three of this propaganda onslaught the Star-Telegram asks Can Panther Island work without federal funds? Maybe, if Fort Worth plays the long game.

Plays a long game? Wasn't the so-called Panther Island project originally touted as a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme by those conning the public as to the project's supposed worth? And yet this vitally needed project has been limping along, under funded for most of this century, with little to show for the effort, and a lot of money literally down the drain.

And now we are looking at playing a long game?

The absurdity of this Fort Worth boondoggle, and the inept way the town's supposed newspaper of record covers the absurdity, struck me this morning whilst reading a Seattle Times article about An all-out sprint to demolish Alaskan Way Viaduct in 2019.

Around the same time as Fort Worth's blind vision began looking at nothing, as in near the start of the current century, Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged by an earthquake. Discussions ensued as to how to get rid of the Viaduct, and with what to replace it.

As is the Seattle Way, it took a lot of discussing to come up with a plan. Eventually it was decided to replace the Viaduct with a tunnel. The project was engineered, and funding secured.

And no local politician's son was put in charge.

Around the same time as Fort Worth had a TNT explosion to mark the start of construction of the town's three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, the world's biggest tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Bertha, began its boring course under downtown Seattle.

Bertha bored for a thousand feet, or so, and then hit a chunk of steel which severely damaged her. Fixing Bertha took about a year. The process was fully transparent, with a live camera aimed at the operation 24/7.

A year after Fort Worth's TNT explosion marking the start of bridge construction locals began wondering why nothing was happening on the bridge building locations. The local newspaper of record did no reporting as to what was causing the delay. There was, and continues to be, ZERO transparency as to what the problems are with these bridges.

And now, four years after that TNT explosion and Bertha began boring, Bertha has long finished her boring, the roadways have been installed in the new tunnel. And once the tunnel opens for traffic the Alaskan Way Viaduct can finally come down.

That is expected to be happening in the first four months of 2019.

Read the Seattle Times article about An all-out sprint to demolish Alaskan Way Viaduct in 2019.and make note of how different this article is from that which you may read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about anything to do with America's Biggest Boondoggle, particularly the slow motion bridge construction.

Notice at the end of the Seattle Times article the hundreds of comments, to an article which was only published this morning. Such is the case over and over again with articles in the Seattle Times.

Intelligent debate with opinions all over the political spectrum.

Meanwhile in a Star-Telegram article there are rarely comments. When there would seem to be so much which is comment worthy. Is this lack of comments because the Star-Telegram has few readers? Or are their readers simply shy about expressing themselves?

Very perplexing.

The price tag for the entire Alaskan Way Viaduct removal, replacement tunnel, waterfront rebuild and other parts of the project came with a multiple billion dollar price tag. Fully funded. With the project on track to completion, even after a major hiccup. And Seattle will be reaping HUGE benefits from the investment, with the town's already busy waterfront reinvigorated by its new connection to downtown with the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct obstruction.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, currently, those pretending to be in charge, indicate the vitally needed Trinity River Vision flood control and economic development scheme may come to fruition in 2028.

Maybe.

If the federal government is foolish enough to throw some more money down the Fort Worth drain....

Closer Look At Fort Worth Losing Federal Funding For America's Biggest Boondoggle

Yesterday I wondered what With Federal Funding Cut Will Fort Worth Finally End America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Yesterday's wondering was prompted by two Fort Worth Star-Telegram articles and multiple comments on Facebook.

At the end of yesterday's wondering mention was made of the possibility that I might get around to going through those two tiresome Star-Telegram articles, gleaning out what glares and commenting.

And, so let us start with the first of those two articles and go through them to the bitter end...

Article #1 told us Fort Worth’s $1B Panther Island project quietly cut from 2018 federal budget. Let's see what we were told in that propaganda piece...

WASHINGTON 
Fort Worth’s behind-schedule $1.16 billion plan to re-route the Trinity River is no longer considered a top contender for federal funding — and the Army Corps of Engineers has quietly excluded the project from its budget.

The omission is particularly glaring for Fort Worth Rep. Kay Granger, a senior member of Congress’s powerful spending committee whose son, J.D. Granger, serves as the project’s executive director.

Granger declined to be interviewed by the Star-Telegram about the project on Capitol Hill last week. Her office also declined to provide comment for the story. She is vying for her party’s top spot on the House appropriations committee next year.

________________

So, what a shocker, Fort Worth Congresswoman and leader of the Granger Gang, Kay Granger, declined to provide a comment regarding this Fort Worth debacle for which she is largely at fault for helping cause. That and finagling to have her unqualified son installed as the project's executive director. Kay is vying for her party's top appropriations committee spot next year? Kay is also vying for re-election. If the voters of Fort Worth were not largely a flock of mindless sheep Kay would not be re-elected next month.

Moving on...

“The administration does not consider the [Panther Island] project to be policy compliant for budgeting because of the lack of an economic analysis,” said Corps spokesman Eugene Pawlik. “The project did not receive fiscal 2018 Civil Works funding and is not in the president’s fiscal 2019 Civil Works budget.”

The Army Corps “develops the work plans in accordance with the congressional guidance and generally prioritizes projects based on their expected economic, life-saving and environmental benefits to the nation,” Pawlik said. “Before the work plans are finalized and presented to Congress, they undergo policy review within the administration.”

_______________

Fort Worth's infamous boondoggle is not considered to be policy compliant because of a lack of an economic analysis?

How many people over how many years have been saying, over and over again, that this inept project is not properly designed, not properly engineered, and certainly not properly implemented? The Trinity River Vision has been limping along for most of this century. The last four years have seen the inept attempt to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island. All it takes is a minimum iota of common sense to see that this particular Fort Worth vision is blind.

Moving on again...

So far the Army Corps has contributed $61.9 million to the project, also called the Trinity River Vision. It aims to rebuild the aging 1950s West Fork levees downtown and, in the process straighten the river channel and move it about 10 blocks north.

_______________

The project also called the Trinity River Vision? That was what the vision was originally called before other names were added, with the most recent being the bizarre Panther Island District, where there is no island and never will be an actual island of the reality based sort.

Rebuild the aging levees built in the 1950s? Aging levees which have prevented any flooding in the area they are protecting ever since. While there are other areas of Fort Worth which do flood regularly, often with deadly results.

Again, moving on...

The final product will also create a San Antonio-style riverwalk and 800-acre scenic “island” north of downtown, goals that have long angered conservatives both locally and nationally.

________________

There has never been anything documenting how this inept project would in any way resemble San Antonio's iconic Riverwalk. Let alone somehow turn an industrial wasteland into something scenic.

These imaginary goals have long angered conservatives, both locally and nationally?

Really?

Only conservatives have found those imaginary goals to be aggravating? I'm just about dead opposite of being conservative. I know many others just as non-conservative as I am who think the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision has long been a corrupt, inept, possibly criminal fraud perpetrated without actual voter approval, creating an embarrassment for Fort Worth which has been boondoggling along for years and will likely linger for years to come.

Skipping ahead past a few paragraphs...

Last week Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price flew to Washington to attend an economic summit at the White House, and discussed the Panther Island project with Trump’s government relations officials.

“We mentioned that it was a critical project for us and we would love to have the funding secured for it,” Price told the Star-Telegram after the summit.

______________

What a mayor! She mentioned America's Biggest Boondoggle is a critical project for Fort Worth and that Fort Worth would love to have the funding secured for it.

How about Betsy do what mayors in towns wearing their BIG CITY pants do? As in design a project, sell that project to the public. And then have the public vote to fund the project. You know, this should be such an easy sell, what with the Trinity River Vision being a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme. Yet somehow never vitally needed to a level sufficient to ask voters to support the project.  Until last May, when a fraudulently worded ballot measure asked voters to approve a quarter billion bucks for flood control and drainage. Which later boondoggle officials baldfacedly touted this vote as both approval of America's Biggest Boondoggle and that the funds would go to the Panther Island Project. Not flood control and drainage.

Moving on the final three paragraphs in this article, and they are doozies...

The project’s planners, who did not publicize the omission when it was announced in July, say they’ve used local funds to keep the project on pace with their previously set schedule. They say the flood control project remains a public safety concern for Fort Worth, and they don’t plan to scale back its scope.

“We’ve been able to continue moving forward with the current schedule,” said TRV spokesman Matt Oliver, who pointed to a $250 million bond approved by voters earlier this year by voters in the Fort Worth-based Tarrant Regional Water District.

“We have the local money in hand… we have the schedule based on the situation currently, so if you have times where a particular part of that schedule might speed up or a particular part of that schedule might slow down, that’s something we’ve never shied away from,” said Oliver.

________________

Okay, in these three paragraphs we learn the Boondoggle's planners did not publicize losing the federal funds, two months after that fraudulent May vote. But they have the funds to keep the project on pace with their schedule?

What?

There never has been a project timeline schedule.

Never.

 Little happens year after year. Bridges began construction four years ago with an astonishing four year project timeline, and now, four years later, those bridges are nowhere near anything anyone could drive over, and the current completion date has been shoved to sometime in 2020.

What bizarre idiotic hubris.

They say the project remains a public safety concern for Fort Worth, and they won't scale back its scope? How many times do how many people have to tell these people there has been no flood safety concern in this area for well over a half century, due to existing flood control federal dollars have already paid for?

One of the beneficiaries of Trinity River Vision nepotism, Matt Oliver, claims they are able to continue moving forward with the current imaginary schedule due to that $250 million voters stuck in the boondoggler's hands, which voters thought was for flood control and drainage?

So, with that local money now fraudulently acquired, the boondogglers have themselves a schedule based on the current situation? Parts of which may speed up? Or slow down? Which is something they have never shied away from.

What idiotic nonsense. The Star-Telegram needs to import an actual investigative journalist. Or 60 Minutes needs to visit Fort Worth.

Part 2 Tomorrow, if I am not consumed by why bother ennui....

With Federal Funding Cut Will Fort Worth Finally End America's Biggest Boondoggle?

In a 24 hour time period the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has published two articles about that which has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, without making note of that fact, yet detailing such.

Yesterday's Fort Worth’s $1B Panther Island project quietly cut from 2018 federal budget revealed the not too shocking news that the Army Corps of Engineers has determined Fort Worth's boondoggle was not policy compliant due to the lack of an economic analysis.

Hence federal funding cut.

The Star-Telegram bears some blame for helping enable this ongoing travesty via participating in the year after year after year of absurd propaganda spewed by the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, the corrupt spawn of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

The Star-Telegram has yet to publish a single honest investigative investigation of the most glaring aspect of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, that being the three simple little bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Construction of those three little bridges began four years ago, with an incredible four year project timeline to build three simple little bridges. Over dry land.

The Star-Telegram has not informed its readers regarding the details of the engineering mistakes and problems which have caused the bridge building delay.

The Star-Telegram has not editorialized anything along the line of someone, somewhere in the failing project needs to be held accountable.

Such as a demand for the firing of Kay Granger's boy, J.D., installed as Executive Director of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, paid around $200,000 a year, plus perks, to do a job for which he had zero qualifications.

In modern America this is known as nepotism, and is not allowed.

America's Biggest Boondoggle is rife with nepotism. How many of TRWD general manager Jim Oliver's relatives are in the TRWD or TRV's employ?

Regarding America's Biggest Boondoggle one of Jim Oliver's relatives is quoted in today's Panther Island will move ‘full steam ahead’ despite funding slowdown, proponent vows  Star-Telegram article...

Matt Oliver, Trinity River Vision spokesman, said work will still go on. “We’re going to keep moving, locally, full steam ahead,” Oliver said.

"Some of the money allocated in previous years has not been spent while other projects, like the three bridges currently under construction over dry land, are funded through the state", he said.

In May, voters passed a $250 million bond as part of the local commitment. The authority would have sought the bond regardless of federal dollars, Oliver said, and the money will still be used to fund front-end work such as design and the acquisition of land.

“The bond still going to local portions,” he said.

As part of flood control measures, work will continue on retention ponds in Gateway and Riverside parks. Those projects may not be visible to the public as part of downtown’s Panther Island, but Oliver said they’re crucial to the overall concept.

Work is expected to continue on the three bridges until about 2020, he said. At that point the Army Corps can begin digging a channel that will ultimately re-route the Trinity River and create a downtown island and urban lake.

________________

The quarter billion dollar bond, which the ballot, apparently fraudulently, said was for flood control and drainage issues, will be used for front-end work such as design and acquisition of land? And work on those pitiful bridges is expected to continue until "about" 2020? Six years after starting construction.

Has anyone seen any signs of construction of that apartment complex being built on the imaginary island? In 2017 J.D. Granger touted this incoming apartment complex as one of the signs of progress we would be seeing in 2018. Only a few months left in 2018. Is this still an imaginary apartment project not being built on the imaginary island? Or is construction underway, as Granger said it would be?

These two articles in the Star-Telegram contain multiple propaganda elements of the misrepresenting the facts sort. Is this by design? Or editors with memory issues?

In a followup blog post we will look at these two article's propaganda nonsense in detail. But right now I'm fed up with the whole thing and not in the mood to get into it any deeper at this particular moment in time...

America's Most Reviled Cuban Canadian Coming To Wichita Falls Tomorrow With Trump Jr.

The Cuban Canadian many Americans believe to be the creepiest Senator in the United States, he being Texas Senator Rafael Edwardo Cruz, who changed his name to "Ted" so as to influence apparently easily fooled Texans into thinking he was a good 'ol Anglo type Texan, is coming to Wichita Falls tomorrow, around 3 in the afternoon.

Rafael will be in Wichita Falls with the eldest son of the man who informed America that Cruz's papa was in Dallas in November of 1963 murdering President John F. Kennedy.

Yes, that's right, Rafael "Ted" Cruz is coming to town with Donald Trump Jr. to rally Cruz kool-aiders at some venue in the MPEC in downtown Wichita Falls. (Those four MPEC initials stand for Multi-Purpose Event Center).

One has to have an entry ticket to attend this event. As of this morning around 900 had requested tickets. The venue holds 1000.

There are a lot of intelligent, well-informed, decent minded, creepiness averse Wichita Falls natives who have stuck BETO signs on their yards and vehicles in support of the man America hopes kicks Cruz out of the senate, Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke.

A cadre of BETO supporters is assembling at the local Democrat Party Headquarters on Kemp Boulevard today in order to make signs to hold whilst assembling outside the MPEC venue where Cruz will be spewing his creepy nonsense, along with equally greasy, Trump Jr.

I have been asked to attend this BETO counter rally. I declined the invite. I don't think it is a good idea, this BETO counter rally, as such would seem to have multiple ways of going in a sideways direction wreaking unpleasantness.

Anyway, that meme you see at the top really does nail the Cruz hypocrisy---

AMERICA

The only country where a Canadian Latino can reinvent himself

as an immigrant-hating southern white supremacist....

Beto Willie Rally Recovery With Wichita Falls Sikes Lake

It's Monday.

I am almost recovered from Friday's Beto O'Rourke Willie Nelson Rally in Austin.

Biggest political rally to take place this year in America. I read somewhere it was way back in 2008, at an Obama rally, which drew more people than Friday's Beto Event.

I remember the time previous to the Beto Rally where I suffered a claustrophobic panic attack due to being crammed in close space with too many people.

Way back in 1986 at Expo 86 in Vancouver, B.C., pushed like sardines in a crush of humans making for the exits at closing time. I regularly have a nightmare based on that crushing 1986 experience. I have yet to have a Beto Rally nightmare.

Before I change the subject I feel compelled to say attending a Beto Rally gives one hope for America. And Texas. That truth, justice, kindness and decency are on the march across America. I am likely characteristically being overly optimistic, which is my nature, just like Brett Kavanaugh, always seeing the beer keg as half full.

Anyway...

A week from today, if all goes according to schedule I will be driving on Highway 60, somewhere between Socorro, New Mexico and Phoenix, Arizona.

I am not too fondly looking forward to this road trip to the west. The previous road trip to Arizona, in July of 2017, was just a little traumatic.

This morning I felt the need to get some soothing endorphins via mild aerobic stimulation.

So, I rolled my bike to Midwestern State University to enjoy the scenic serenity of the inland sea known as Sikes Lake. As you can see, above, clouds added to the scenery.

Hundreds of geese, ducks and swans were also enjoying the scenic serenity.

And then a testing of the tornado sirens erupted, sending the flocks of geese, ducks, swans, and me, into startled panic mode. 

Unlike the geese, ducks and swans I did not take flight. Instead I came to a quick halt.

I return from Arizona two days before Halloween. And then before you know it the dreaded Holiday Season will be in full swing, with Thanksgiving on the horizon, with, hopefully, a Big Blue Wave among that for which we can all be thankful...

Gloomy Lake Wichita Bike Ride With Dozens Of Miniature Footballers

This second Saturday of the 2018 version of Fall, I followed my handlebars on the Circle Trail to Lake Wichita where I stopped for a minute or two to take the photo you see here.

This morning, when this bike ride took place, the outer world was a little gloomy, gray and sort of foggy.

But calm.

Nary a wave rippling Lake Wichita.

That little bump in the middle right is the Mount Wichita pseudo volcano, not yet snowcapped.

It's probably a bit early in the snowcapping season to expect the top of Mount Wichita to be white.

When I exit the top of Lake Wichita Dam I leave the paved Circle Trail for a gravel trail which travels the perimeter of Lake Wichita Park.

Lake Wichita Park has multiple play fields of the baseball, soccer and football sort. Play a disc golf course. And a rocket launch pad, along with a radio controlled model airplane tarmac. Oh, and there is a BIG dog park.

Usually I only see a few vehicles parked in the large Lake Wichita Park parking lots. Such was not the case today.

As soon as the first parking lot came into view I saw it was full. And then the gravel trail reached the west side of the park. There I soon found myself dodging vehicles driving on the gravel trail so as to find a place to park on the grass.

What fresh hell is this I rolled and wondered? I soon had my answer....

Little kids in football uniforms playing football. Dozens upon dozens of helmeted padded kids, along with hundreds upon hundreds of others watching the dozens upon dozens of helmeted padded kids playing football.

I thought due to the dangers now known to exist that little kids playing football was no longer something that happened. Clearly I was misinformed on this issue.

I sort of remember when I was in grade school football was played. But we had no pads, uniforms or helmets. Seems like it was something called tag or touch football. I don't think tackling was allowed. This was decades ago, way back in the previous century.

It takes a long time, I guess, sometimes decades, for progress to make its way from the west or east coast to the center of the country. Yeah, that must be the explanation for those dozens upon dozens of helmeted padded kids I saw today...

Spencer Jack's Happy Henry Birthday Make Cousins Great Again

Yesterday's trek to the Dallas metro zone was a wild wind driven rainy ride.

Usually that drive is done at a speed above the 75 mph speed limit.

Yesterday many miles of that drive were speeding around 25 mph under the speed limit.

Yet somehow I arrived at my eventual destination ten minutes early.

Yesterday was my little brother Jake's birthday. I knew Jake was in Washington in anticipation of the arrival of his second grandson.

Whilst I was in the DFW zone I texted message Jake a "Happy Birthday" and asked "Are you a grandpa for the second time yet?"

Jake texted back, "Yes. Best birthday present ever."

When I made it back to my home location I anticipated I would likely be seeing incoming email photo documentation documenting the arrival of the newest Jones boy.

I anticipated accurately, as you can see via the photo above.

That would be Spencer Jack's dad, Jason on the left, with Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey holding his freshly first born, Henry.

The only verbiage in that incoming photo was...

Henry Jones (born 9:15am on 9/26).

It seems not all that long ago I drove south from Bellingham, Washington to United General Hospital, located halfway between my old hometown of Burlington and Sedro-Woolley, to meet Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey for the first time, That was way back in the last century, in the early 1980s. I can not remember the specific year. But the month was November.

Yesterday whilst in the DFW zone, I called Spencer Jack's Aunt Jasmine. During the course of that conversation when the subject of our anticipated incoming Grand Nephew ( I am not sure Grand Nephew is the correct relative nomenclature) I asked what hospital the birthing was taking place in, United General or Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon?

Jasmine did not know, for sure, but thought the blessed event was likely taking place at United General.

Both Skagit Valley hospitals are about the same distance from Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey and Aunt Monique's Clear Lake home location.

Adjusting for the time zone differential, I think Henry's 9:15am Pacific birth time I am guessing Henry was born during the time frame whilst Henry's Aunt Jasmine and I were talking about it.

After I was horizontal last night the photo you see here of Spencer Jack arrived in my email inbox.

As you can see, Spencer Jack is in his school uniform. I suspect this indicates Spencer Jack got out of school early so as to be at the hospital to meet his incoming cousin Henry.

As you can also see, Spencer Jack has altered his least favorite baseball cap to make note of the arrival of his first cousin, with the cap now messaging "Make Cousins Great Again".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!