Finally, some saddle time!

DFW weather just won't give us a break.  The temp has remained in the triple-digits since Nee arrived in Texas, a little over a week ago.  We've had loads of work to get done while she's been here, and with the weather being so hot, we've been hard pressed to get any exercise, let alone any cycling done, while she's been here.

We attended a writers' conference last Friday and Saturday.  She liked it, and I couldn't wait to leave.  Sunday, we made an overnight trip with Ma to Wapanuka, Oklahoma, for a visit with our Auntie Kay, and some cousins. 

Boggy Park

The visit was great.  Auntie Kay always makes for excellent company, and the cousins are a good deal of fun too.  I live closer and get to see them more often than Nee, so for her, it's a rare treat.

Sunday evening, she and I scooted over to Boggy Park for a bit of squatching and to scope out some bike trails.  Auntie's house isn't far away, and 'though she said she'd never heard of any squatch activity in the area, we wanted to go anyway.  The history of Boggy Park is interesting, and so is the history of the cemetery that borders it. 

I'd promised my packmates to investigate any bike trails in the area, and since we had woods and water, we decided we may as well do some squatching too.
The squatching was interesting, and we did manage to find a new ride spot for the Trinity River Pack.  It's a little more than a two-hour drive from DFW, and easy to get to.

Bodark thorns.

The woods at Boggy are dense.  The weather has been hot in Oklahoma too, so we had the entire park to ourselves, other than a brief visit with the park caretaker and his wife.  It's a bit lacking in water, and in some areas, near the bodark trees, there are thorns on the ground long enough to pierce a tractor tire.  (Okay, I'm stretching it a bit, but really, they're more than long enough to easily flatten mountain bike tires.)  Nee stepped on one that went all the way through her sneaker-soles, and it took a good amount of wrenching for me to work it free of her shoe.

I admit, I have no desire to ride this park in warm weather because the area is a prime habitat for rattlesnakes, copperheads and scorpions.  Trekking into the woods there will have to wait until much cooler weather.  I hate to admit to cowardice, but femme doesn't do snakes, scorpions or spiders.  I'm not real keen on cougars or bobcats either, and the area hosts both of these sorts of cats as well.

Nee's spare wheels - a Huffy 18-speed with front and
center shocks.

When we returned to Texas, we spent the next several days working from morning-'til morning on our new collective website.  We're still not finished, but we've made great progress.  Hopefully, we'll be able to let it go live in another couple of days.

And after a week of no exercise, other than chair-swapping at my desk, we finally broke away for a short ride.  We were both hoping to do the single-tracks at Gateway, but the temp was still pushing at 105 by late afternoon, so we waited until 7 in the evening to go, and opted for a short ride to the Fort Worth Stockyards along the Trinity.  Nee hadn't yet ridden on the Trinity, so it worked out well.

Packing her Schwinn Sidewinder on the plane was going to be more trouble than it was worth, so she decided to buy a spare mountain bike when she arrived here, in Texas.  We picked up a Huffy 18-speed, for a great sale price of $80 at the Walmart on Beach St., in Fort Worth.  I can't say that I enjoy shopping at this location, and I go there as little as possible, but I can say that I'm impressed with most of the cashiers.  In fact, I feel sorry for them.  This location is nearly always busy, the lines are long, and they never seem to schedule enough staff to handle the customer load efficiently, which puts those who are working in a difficult situation due to having to deal with customers who give them grief for having to wait so long to check out.  That's a management issue, not a cashier issue. 

The cycle Captain at Wally-World on N. Beach.
If you've got a question, go to him, 'cause he's probably
got a good answer to it.

One employee in particular is awesome.  He works with the bicycles and is as helpful as it gets.  He's good with customer service and he seems to take a great deal of pride in his work.  He even checks with customers to see if the bike needs any adjustments before they leave for the check-out area. 

I was impressed with the guy's knowledge on bikes, and after talking with him, was even prompted to send Schwinn an email, letting them know of the flat-issues I'd been experiencing with my Sidewinder.  Dawn, the customer service rep who responded to my email, was awesome, and is not only sending me a free resolution to the problem, but has assured me she will report the issues to the Schwinn quality assurance team to prevent it from happening in the future. 

Huffy's been around the cycle-scene for a long time now, and though I'd never trade my Schwinn for even a higher-end Huffy, but for folks who are looking for an inexpensive bike, Huffy's not a bad choice at all.  In fact, I'm way impressed with their Panama Jack cruisers.  If I weren't a loyal Schwinn fan and was interested in buying a cruiser, I'd be inclined to go the Panama Jack route and buy one.  For Nee, who was in need of a spare bike for guests to ride, Huffy provided a great option. 

The only problem she's encountered with the bike is some handle-bar slippage.  We tightened the ring on the bar-mount before we left on the longer ride, but before the ride was finished, it was loose again.  Our Sidewinders have a front and rear tightening screw on the bar mount.  The Huffy has only one, and it won't tighten enough to prevent the bar from sliding sideways in the loop when hard-ride pressure is being applied. 

Other than the handle-bar issue and the ride being shorter than we prefer, it was a good trip.  Nee enjoyed the scenery, and got several photos along the way.  We also had to stop a couple of times to make way for some other folks using the trail, but neither of us mind giving way to horses.

Here they come ....

There they go ....

She also got to see some of the mess I've been fussing about, regarding trash in the Trinity. 

With the water levels so low, we encountered more trash than usual.  It's been there all along, we can just see more of it because it's closer to the surface during drought.

Thankfully, we only came across one dead fish, and the rest of the animals we saw in the water looked healthy. 


I was hoping to show Nee the pretty little waterfall along this part of the trail, but, there was no water flowing over the rocks today.  Whatever trickle was making it through, must have been moving below the waterfall area.  Both ends of the river have water in them, but the northern stretch looks more like ponds in a dried up river bed, rather than a real flowing river.

This section usually has water flowing completely through it, but not today.  The small waterfall is usually just past
this dry area, but for now, it's only dry rocks.

When the water levels diminish, the trash is more easily noticed.

To the left is shallow water, probably not ankle-deep.  To the right there's still enough water to allow the turtles and fish
to dive out of sight when someone steps to the edge of the walkway.

We didn't ride onto Exchange or Main, but we did do a few turns in the livery's parking lot.  The Stockyards is usually bustling with tourists on Sundays, even with the temps are soaring.  But, by the time we arrived in the area, the southern section, behind the buildings was quiet.

We saw only one girl working her horse on the barrels in the back corral, the other horses were quiet, and munching hay.

Jared, the Trinity Pack point-rider is still under the weather and wasn't able to come with us for this outing.  The rest of the guys were readying for a wedding they're having to attend tomorrow, which left Nee and I to do the trail alone.

We're hoping to get some ride time in on the Lake Grapevine trails before she goes home, and hopefully, the rest of the pack will get to ride with us when we go.  None of us have ridden Grapevine before, but, per the videos we've seen of the trails there, posted by other riders, the place looks like it will give us a decent challenge.

A working train trestle en route to the Stockyards.

Saunders Park near the Fort Worth Stockyards

I'm happy Nee got to see at least this part of the Trinity River ride.  Now she'll know what we're referring to when we tell her we've been riding on the Stockyards' trail.

This is the trail that I was worried might turn Andrew off on off-road cycling, but thankfully, he's still enjoying our rides at Gateway.  It's not a bad trail, but it for sure doesn't offer anything to anyone looking for a challenge.  However, if a rider wants to get in the dirt and is lacking for time, it's at least got some interesting scenery along the way, even when the river's low.

That's it for this one.  I'll let you know how the Grapevine ride goes, and hopefully we won't have to wait long to check out the trails there, from our saddles.

God bless you, thank you for the read, and please don't forget to thank a veteran at your next opportunity!

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