Driving To Lucy Park Without Elsie Hotpepper To Bike To Wichita Falls

Elsie Hotpepper called last night when I was not available to talk to. So, this morning I called the Hotpepper back to ask if she wanted to ride to Lucy Park with me. But, Elsie was not available, so I drove alone to Lucy Park to take my backup bike on a ride.

Above you can see the bike has arrived at Wichita Falls.

Wichita Falls, the waterfall, is not in Lucy Park. One rides the Circle Trail out of Lucy Park and in about a half a mile one comes to Wichita Falls, the waterfall, not the town. Both Lucy Park and Wichita Falls, the waterfall, are in Wichita Falls, the town. So is the Circle Trail.

I rolled my wheels all the way to O'Reilly Park, which is a short distance from the actual location of where there used to be, way back in the 1880s, an actual waterfall with a drop of a couple feet. And it is that long gone slight waterfall from which the town, Wichita Falls, gets its name.

A century later locals got tired of tourists asking where the waterfall was. So, a fake waterfall was created, which is what you see above.

The town I lived in before Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, had a similar problem.

Fort Worth does not attract many tourists, but those who do visit the town might ask where the fort is, to learn there is no fort in Fort Worth.

I was among those visitors who was perplexed by signs pointing to Sundance Square.

I, and many others, asked, where is Sundance Square? The parking lots by the trail drive mural was the usual answer. The actual answer, I eventually learned, was that Sundance Square was the name given to a multi block development scheme, with none of the schemers realizing, apparently, that calling this Sundance Square was not a good idea. Eventually, after a couple decades of confusing the town's few visitors, downtown Fort Worth turned those parking lots into a little town square, calling it Sundance Square Plaza.

Currently Fort Worth is confusing its few visitors who see signage with Panther Island on it. There is no island. 

Anyway, back to the bike ride. On the way back to Lucy Park I rolled through the MPEC (Multi-Purpose Events Center). I stopped to take the picture you see below.

This pedestrian bridge takes you across the Wichita River. Above, we are heading back to the Circle Trail after crossing the river to where the agricultural building is located, which is part of MPEC. I think this is where farm animals can be exhibited. And other things. Such as I went to a Christmas oriented craft show type deal which was mighty fun. 

You can not see much of it, but to the left of the handlebars, on the other side of the bridge, is MPEC's sports type building, where things like hockey take place. To the right is an exhibition hall.

I should return and photo document all of MPEC.

An interesting thing I saw today at MPEC was flags of different nations. For a couple seconds I wondered why I was seeing the Canadian flag. And then I remembered Sheppard Air Force Base is a NATO training location...

Bucolic Bike Escape From Right Wing Nut Job On Teenage Nephew David's 9/11 Birthday

My backup bike rolled me for a few miles this second Saturday of the 2021 version of September.

September 11, to be precise. Hard to believe it has been two decades since that shocking 2001 morning.

I stopped the bike for photo taking purposes on one of the bridges which cross Sikes Lake. The one you see above is at the west end of the lake. Above the bike seat you can barely see a guy fishing. He had four kids with him, also with poles in the water. It made for a bucolic scene.

Since today is 9/11 I now have a teenage nephew. My Favorite Nephew David turned 13 today. I sent David a Happy Birthday message to his phone. And then later learned that David is on a two week phone restriction due to exhibiting some stereotypical teenage bad behavior.

I was late getting to the bike ride portion of the day today, due to getting stuck in two parallel conversations on Facebook. In one of the conversations I was talking to a self described "conservative".

In the other conversation I was talking to a well educated liberal progressive sort. The liberal is in Texas, the conservative is in Virginia, but grew up in the same Washington town I grew up in.

I am unable to understand how someone can grow up in the same town I grew up in, went to the same schools I went to, from grade school to high school, and then somehow ends up being "conservative" or more accurately a "right wing nut job".

During the course of the conversation with the conservative many of the right wing nutjob tropes were uttered.

"Socialism never works".

"You've drunk the kool-aid".

"Libtard".

"I don't want my tax dollars to pay for abortions".

"The government funds Planned Parenthood".

I guess I should be grateful I did not see Benghazi or Venezuela mentioned. 

Why do these conservative sorts seem to have zero understanding of what socialism is, and the fact it works quite well in multiple countries? And that America has multiple socialist aspects. The main socialist thing America does not have is Universal Health Care.

It seems most of these conservative types confuse socialism with communism, not understanding these are two different isms.

And, regarding communism. There are only a few communist countries left, with China being the big one.

And China is doing quite well.

In less than 20 years China built a freeway system with slightly more miles than America's. America began building its interstate system around 60 years ago. And it still is not totally finished. China began building theirs in the 1990s. And it is finished. China has many miles of high speed rail. China has a middle class bigger than the entire population of America.

So, conservatives who try to make a bugaboo out of socialism, confusing socialism with communism, well, even bugabooing communism is wrongheaded.

Even a communist nation which is not as successful as China, like Cuba, is not all that great a case for saying communism always fails. Cubans have great health care, with more doctors per capita than America. Cuba would be in a lot better shape if America would let it be, drop all sanctions, and actually try and help. It probably would not take much to have communism come to an end in Cuba, like it did with the Soviet Union.

Don't Trust Wichita Falls Bike Stop Bike Shop To Fix Your Bike

If anyone is missing the key ingredient in Duck Soup, there is a surplus available for the plucking, currently, at Sikes Lake. The duck population growth has the Sikes Lake flock rivaling the size of the Sikes Lake Goose flock.

Ducking to another subject.

I got my bike back from the bike doctor last night.

I had taken the bike to the only bike shop in Wichita Falls, called Bike Stop.

The problem I was having with the bike was the derailleur was not shifting correctly, with the main problem being the three gears that are connected to the eight gears on the rear wheel were not shifting correctly.

As in I could not shift from the 3rd sprocket to the 2nd. If I clicked to the 1st sprocket the chain would make the jump to that sprocket, and then when I clicked #2 the chain shifted to the 2nd (middle) sprocket. And from there it could go back to #3.

Now, I do not remember if this was the exact problem that had me taking the bike to the doctor, or a variation of the problem. What I do know for sure is the Bike Stop store did not fix my bike's shifting problem.

And I won't be doing any business with the Bike Stop again. 

But, even with this newfound annoyance I had a mighty fine time rolling the bike's wheels over 9 miles. 

Semi Chilly Bike Ride By Kid-Free Doctor's Splash Pad

Those are the handlebars of my backup bike you see above, aimed at the Hamilton Park Splash Pad, which was brought to Hamilton Park by the good folks at the Wichita County Medical Alliance.

My non-backup bike is still at the bike doctor awaiting treatment.

Methinks this town could use another bike store to compete with Bike Stop. When I brought the bike to the doctor, two Thursdays ago, I was told it could take a week to get treated, but probably it would be fixed before that.

So, last Thursday I called the doctor's office to ask about my bike's condition. I was told it would be treated that day, or by tomorrow. Thursday and Friday came and went, with no call from the bike doctor.

Last Saturday I dropped in at the bike doctor's to take the bike bag off the sick bike so I could use it on the backup bike. At that point I was told the bike would be operated on by Tuesday or Wednesday. The bike doctor's office is closed Sunday, and Monday was Labor Day, hence the no possible surgery til Tuesday.

Well. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with no word from the bike doctor. And now it is Thursday again.

See why I think this town needs another bike store?

Today was the first time since it opened that I biked by Hamilton Park's Doctor's Splash Pad and saw no one getting wet. Hence why my handlebars are so close to the Splash Pad. I have seen kids getting splashed since school started up again. So, I think being in school is not the reason I saw no splashing today.

I think the reason I saw no splashing is because the outer world is being too cold for it to sound fun to get wet in a splashing fountain. 
 When I began rolling my bike wheels today the air was barely 70 degrees.

Brrrr...

Fishing Madness In My Old Home Zone

A couple days ago Linda Lou told me about a scene such as you are seeing above which has been happening on the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, with a throng of people casting lines into the river, hoping to hook a salmon.

Linda Lou told me she would send me photos of the Skagit fishing scene, but those have not yet arrived.

The above photos of fishing madness is taking place in the Samish River. Seen via Facebook's "You Know You're From Anacortes When" page.

The Samish is a much smaller river than the Skagit. If I remember right the Samish empties into Bellingham Bay. But, before doing so, passes through the booming Skagit Valley tourist town of Edison.

Edison is half of the name of the high school from which I long ago matriculated.

Burlington-Edison High School.

My Favorite Nephew Joey inherited the Jones family fishing gene. I think Joey is who ended up with Grandpa Jones' bamboo fishing pole. I may be wrong regarding that recollection. But I do know Joey likes fishing, and is a master at the art of smoking salmon. 

I have experienced Joey's mastery of smoking salmon in person, due to Joey packing some dry ice and mailing me some Joey smoked salmon. Best smoked salmon ever...
 

September Wall Calendar Takes Me To Fiery Furnace Elephant Arch

It has been a month or two since I flipped my National Park wall calendar to a new month and found myself looking at a sight I have seen in person, with me then wondering if I will ever see this again.

In August it was a National Park in Florida, the Everglades. I've never been to Florida, so I have never been to the Everglades.

I have been to Utah a number of times, including visiting all the National Parks in Utah, including the Utah National Park you see above. 

Arches National Park.

I am fairly certain the above is the arch known as Elephant Arch. If you look at it with your imagination turned on you can likely see why this would be named Elephant Arch.

Arches is one of my favorite places I have been to on the planet, but it is not my favorite Utah National Park. That would be Zion. Or Bryce Canyon. 

Arches has one of the best hikes I've gone on. It requires a ranger guide. The Fiery Furnace Hike. I've done this one twice. This hike requires a guide because it is easy to get lost in the maze of slot canyons. And Fiery Furnace gets real HOT. Hence the name.

Yellowstone Memories With Mom And A Bear

 

Saw that which you see above, yesterday, on Facebook, via Mildred Halbert's paternal parental unit, Jerry. 

Reading this brought about an amusing memory of my mom. 

In the above we read of the concern of a guest staying at one of Yellowstone's National Park Lodges, with that concern being "Our visit was wonderful, but we never saw any Bears. Please train your Bears to be where guests can see them. This was an expensive trip to not get to see bears."

It was either the summer of 1965, or 1966, that our annual vacation road trip took us to Yellowstone for the first time. Our 1964 Chevy Impala pulled an Arrowhead trailer. My two sister siblings slept in the trailer with mom and dad, whilst my little brother and I slept in the Impala. I got the back seat, Jake got the front.

We were camping in the huge Old Faithful campground. My brother and I were in the Impala, down for the night. Mom was still up, soaking her feet in a tub while sitting on the bench of a picnic table.

Suddenly my brother and I were fully awake, looking out the car's window to see our mom standing on top of the picnic table, screaming "Jack, Jack, Jack". 

Jake and I had no clue why mom was screaming from atop the picnic table.

And then we saw it. A big black bear was staring at mom from a distance of about 10 feet. When dad opened the trailer door the bear turned and ran. We heard other campers screaming as the bear made its rounds through the campground.

We saw dozens of bears on that trip through Yellowstone. The bears caused traffic jams. 

Over the years since that first trip to Yellowstone I've seen bears in the wild in various locations, including Yellowstone, again, where I got a picture of a bear sticking its nose in my 65 Mustang's driver side window.

I think I used the photo of the bear sticking its nose in my car on my long dormant Roadtripping blog. I shall see if my memory is serving me accurately. 

My memory did not fail me. I used the below photo in a blog post titled A Bear On My Car In Yellowstone National Park.

The most bears I have ever seen in the wild, outside of Yellowstone, was during my one and only time staying in Stehekin in North Cascades National Park. We were barely arrived from floating in on the Lady of the Lake when the first bear sighting happened. It was climbing a tree outside the National Park Lodge in which we were staying.

Each night in Stehekin we would ride a bus to the Courtney Ranch for dinner. On the way the bus driver would take us through an abandoned orchard of heirloom Delicious apples. There were dozens of bears in the trees feasting on apples.

I made a couple webpages about that visit to Stehekin in which you will see a bear or two. Unfortunately back then, my digital camera did not take good photos, although once in awhile it would. 

I wonder if I will ever see a bear in the wild again. Or see Yellowstone again. I think my last time in Yellowstone was way back in 1989. I saw no bears, but did see a lot of mountain goats...

Texas Bans Abortions Whilst Allowing Texans To Openly Carry Guns Without Permit

 

The above is a screen cap from the top of the main page of yesterday's edition of CNN online. 

Over the years of my exile in Texas I've lost count of the number of times where this that or the other thing has caused Texas to be a national, or international embarrassment.

It has grown tiresome being asked by non-Texans, both west coasters and east coasters and between the coasters, how I can stand living in Texas with so many redneck right wing nutjobs.

It gets old explaining that not all Texans are right wing nutjobs. And that those who are, it really is not their fault. The schools in Texas are largely sub-standard, with kids not getting the quality education those of us who were educated in more, well, educated states.

There have been many Texans who have made an effort to improve the schools. The late Ross Perot comes to mind. He famously tried to get Texas schools to pay less attention to football and more to learning.

But, for me, Texas has hit a new low with this new law allowing idiots to openly carry a handgun without a permit, license or training.

And then Texas topped that embarrassment with an almost total abortion ban, even for rape and incest victims. 

I get asked why Texas elects so many morons, like the current governor. And the one before him. And the one before that one. Well, the entire country elected to a higher office the one before the one before the current Texas Governor.

I don't know what happened that changed Texas from the state which gave America Lyndon Baines Johnson. And Anne Richards as Governor. And Lloyd Bentsen as Senator. And Barbara Jordan as Congresswoman. And Sam Rayburn as Speaker of the House.

How did Texas go from politicians like those to the likes of Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton? The current Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

All three embarrassments prone to saying incredibly stupid stuff, over and over and over again. Which the right wing nutjobs don't understand to be incredibly stupid stuff, because, well, that is what right wing nutjobs do, they misunderstand reality, and then get mad about that which they don't understand...

Space Needle Clarification From FNJ & Spencer Jack With Photo Documentation

A day or two or three ago I blogged that Madame McNutty Needles My Homesick Space Again. 

In that blogging I made mention of the fact that I was unclear regarding the status of the renovated Seattle Space Needle. With me a bit confused about observation decks and glass floors. And what revolves and what does not revolve.

Regarding my confusions I said I would likely be hearing from my relative expert on things like the Seattle Space Needle, Monorail and Ferry Boats. This morning my relative expert, my Favorite Nephew Jason, alleviated me of some of my Needle confusions via an email with a subject line of Needle Clarification, with three photos and clarifying text.

The email from Jason in its entirety, followed by two of the three photos. The first one is the one you see above. 

FUD -- 

SJ and I visited the Needle early last year to walk (or sit on) the new glass floor.

The top of the Needle has two floors. The top floor includes the outside promenade that is familiar.  The only changes to that over the years has been the all inclusive fencing to prevent someone from jumping. The fencing is hardly noticeable and does not block any views.

The lower level of the Needle formerly housed a restaurant.  It was removed and replaced with an inside observation room.  This room hosts the glass floor which is really unnerving to walk on.  Only small parts of this level have the glass floor.  The very outer perimeter of this level does still make an hourly rotational loop.  

And I do think there was a very small cocktail lounge located in there.  SJ and I didn't partake that day, as this visit was in March, and SJ chose to give up hard liquor as a part of his Lent repentance. 

If you'd just come up and visit, it would be much easier to whisk you around to all these fun sights, rather than explaining the changes that have taken place over the last 20 years since your exodus.

Anyway, I have to get Spencer's breakfast ready. Today is his first day of high school. He is attending Lincoln Elementary School this year, right down the street from our town home.

FNJ    

________________

Til Jason informed me of such I did not know the revolving restaurant in the Space Needle was no more. Years ago a second restaurant was added part way up the Needle. The restaurant at the top was notorious for its high prices and spectacular views.

Apparently Mount Vernon High School has too many students so they have taken over one of the oldest buildings in town for the incoming freshman class.

I began my school years in Mount Vernon, attending kindergarten at Roosevelt Grade School. By the time I was in 1st grade we had moved north, to Burlington, where I then attended the Burlington grade school named after a Roosevelt. I think the Mount Vernon one was named after Franklin whilst the Burlington one was named after Teddy. I may have that backwards.
 
Below are the two aforementioned photos... 

I can see the arches of the Pacific Science Center behind Spencer Jack's left shoulder. Which indicates the view behind the boys is slightly to the southwest. That body of water is Elliott Bay. The land on the far side of the bay is West Seattle, where you will find Seattle's version of the Statue of Liberty. 

Here we see Spencer Jack sitting on the Space Needle's glass floor. I don't know if this is one of the revolving locations. 

I really don't get the attraction of glass floors like this. Or those glass pedestrian bridges China seems to have become fond of. Or that glass walkway which cantilevers out over the Grand Canyon.

I have only experienced a location with a glass floor once. And that also was in Seattle. At REI's corporate headquarters, which is not far, maybe a mile, east of the Space Needle. REI's is just a small section of glass floor. Walking over it is not too unnerving, because all you see looking down is the floor below you.

I have a tentative date next summer with Madame McNutty to get loopy at the Space Needle's Loupe Lounge, which, thanks to Jason, we have now learned is located where the restaurant used to be...

Have Gun No License Along With No Abortions In Texas

I saw that which you see above this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Apparently the Texas legislature passed a new law which allows a Texan to carry a handgun without needing to get a license to do so.

What a relief. I have been without a gun for so long I probably don't remember how to pull a trigger.

I did not want to try to buy a gun and get a license in Texas, because, before this new law, I was afraid my extensive criminal history would prevent me from getting a license to legally pack heat. 

But, as soon as this new law goes into effect I will once again be able to be legally armed and dangerous, without needing a license.

And then, after learning I could soon be an armed threat in Texas, I learned the following via being the top story on CNN online this morning.

Way back in the 1800s Texas exiled most of its Native American tribes north to Oklahoma. Leaving only a couple tribal reservations in Texas. Texas prohibits commercial casinos.

Due to federal law allowing Native Americans to operate casinos, one of those remaining Texas tribes, the Kickapoo, operates the Lucky Eagle casino, offering only electronic gaming machines.

With electronic gaming machines meaning, I assume, those new fangled slot machine type things which cause me sensory overload and confusion. But no blackjack or poker or any other card games. Along with, I assume, no keno or bingo.

Due to Texas foolishly banning casinos of the sort one sees in all the states surrounding Texas, when leaving Texas, via whatever direction, one soon comes to a casino resort.

Head north on I-35 and soon after you cross into Oklahoma you arrive at the world's biggest casino, or so it claims, the Winstar World Casino & Resort. 

At my location in Wichita Falls I am close to two casino resorts a short distance after one crosses the Red River into Oklahoma. 

Head east to Louisiana and soon you will be in Shreveport and Bossier City where you will find riverboat casinos floating on the Red River.

Head west out of Texas to New Mexico and you will soon see casino resorts.

One can assume the majority of customers in casinos close to the Texas border are Texans. Thus a lot of money flows from the pockets of gambling Texans into the pockets of the Native American tribes which own the casinos.

Which, if you look at it that way, one can say the Texans are doing a good thing, helping the tribes make money.

My old home zone of the Skagit Valley has a large Native American population, consisting of several tribes with their own reservation land. A couple of the Skagit tribes have built casino resorts, those being the Swinomish Casino & Lodge and the Skagit Valley Casino Resort.

The Skagit Valley Casino had my favorite buffet to go to when I lived in the neighborhood.

So, why, one can not help but wonder, is Texas not okay with casinos operating in the state?

As for this new Texas banning of most abortions. Are abortions legal in Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico? If so, will clinics be opening near the Texas border providing abortions to desperate Texans?