A little Ride to Lake Grapevine

Saturday, August 30, 2008 Val and I head off to the post to have breakfast at about 0855 and we get there, call Philip and Paul but no answers. We were not surprised as they were over last night until late thirty. Jim shows up and we eat and discuss a ride. I remember that I happened to have my prescription papers with me and so we head to COSCO so I can drop them off. It was a nice ride so far, traffic was light and the day had not yet warmed up too much. After dropping the papers I just start heading north. We end up at a park at the end of Kimball. They told us we needed to pay if we stayed so we just drove through. It looks like half the park was closed as one of the roads was blocked off and since there was no shady places to stop we just rode on through. We turned right on some street which ended up taking us through another park where Philip, Paul, and I had stopped once before to watch the radio controlled aircraft. Again no shade so we kept on riding to Carol Street. I decided to turn right and it ended at this place called Paradise Cove. I started to recognize it and sure enough it was a place called the Catfish Hut back many years ago before some of the big floods we had in the early 2000 era. We never traversed it by land until now as we always came by boat out of Twin Coves Marina on the north side of Lake Grapevine. So we stop and here are four pictures I took of the area. It is now a place you can rent out for meetings, celebrations and such.






We then started off just to head south. We (I) got a little lost and we ended up coming to another dead end but man the houses and land was really cool. So we got headed in the right direction again and made our way to Dukes Road House and had a cold beer and Jim went on home as did we. It was a nice ride but a very muggy day.

Pj

Local Ride Val & I Randall Mill Road

Sunday August 24th Val and I decide to take a ride for a few hours with no particular place to go. We headed down towards the river bottoms knowing it would be cooler down by the river. So we headed down to Trinity BLVD and I remembered that I wanted to catch this little Road Side memorial that has been there for some time but expanding over the years. So we stopped and took some shots. I have to tell you it was hard not to get a little choked up.


The picture above is inside the older part of the memorial for Amy while this picture I backed up a little bit.


I hope the next one turns out on the blog or ride report as this gives the story behind this memorial. It tells the story of a woman named Amy who was killed by a couple of her co-workers and liked to be around others so they started this memorial for those who have died violent deaths in the local area of Texas.


I walked across the street where they had started over flowing to. I read some of the dates on the crosses and man there where way too many young people represented. A lot of stuffed animals, little toy cars, and such around each cross. Like I said earlier it was quite moving.


Here is a large head stone, it looks like to the left of this location that they are building some type of very small building, shade area, or memorial structure.


Here is a shot with a wider view of the original older area and of course the bike



We decide it was time to go so we continued down Trinity BLVD. We decided to go down Precinct Line road towards Randall Mill road. We then kept going until we got to Beach Street in down town Fort Worth. It was there I decided to stop for gas and take a few shots and as it was getting hot we decided to head back.




On our way to Beach Street we passed a park called Gateway Park so I thought we would pull in and take a look on our way back. It is a very large park with a couple of different turns. It has large soccer fields and base ball fields. At the very far end it has a little area for walking and picnicking. So we stopped and took some shots. Here is where we parked the bike.



Here is a shot of the pavilion we sat at.

Val grabbed the camera and got one of me.

We took a little walk down this walkway and here are some of those shots. They have a couple of bridges and such. It was very peaceful and quiet.

Here is a shot of Val on the bridge.


Well it is time to go home but we decide to stop at the River Bottom Pub and have a cold one before going home. We called Philip while there and he did show up. He must have really shagged it as he was up in Grapevine when I called him and he was at the pub before I was halfway through my beer. I had to get a shot of the “we do not call 911 sign” behind the bar.

It is getting very hot so we go on home and just relax after a nice few hours of short riding and exploring.

Pj

Introducing Paul and Star our new members of the Ole Boars

I have known Paul for quite some time now, not exactly sure how long ago but we worked in different but similar departments (brother/sister ship). He has a Vulcan 1400 that right now needs some carburetor work but I am sure that he will get that fixed soon as it seems Star is anxious to start riding. I met Star through our occasional happy hour meets. Both are great people so without further a do, here is a shot of them in my Driveway with Philip, Jim, and myself. They are to the right.



I think I will write a story about the Ole Boars sometime, but basically we started at the beginning of 2007, our name came from a twist on “Wild Hogs”.

Pj

Great Ride 081708 No Planned Destination

Wow, somehow I forgot the riding I enjoy most, just pointing the wheel and heading out. BlackWolf called this morning to tell me about a ride they were taking but I was up way to late to make that one. I kind of thought about heading their way and seeing if we could meet up on their way back. I called Scooter Express to tell him of the ride BA (BlackWolf) said was going on, but he was working a deal to buy a new truck. Willie called and said he wanted to go for a ride and I said I was game but had no real plan as to where to go. He said he would come on over and we could discuss it so I sent a broadcast out to the group (Ole Boars) to see if I had any takers.

We decided to just head East Southeast with now hwy driving. Man it was the greatest ride I have been on in awhile as far as just going out and getting lost and finding new roads. I need to do that more often, and when I discover all of the roads (when I am about 100 years old) then I will move to a different state.

We took off down 157 to Trinity BLVD and headed to its dead end at Belt Line Road. Took that south and when we hit Grand Prairie we found this park called Park Square and rode around it and stopped. The little boy in me came out so I went exploring around the creeks.

Here is a shot of Val and Willie at the bikes in the Park.


Then here is some shots as I went hiking (not too far from Val and Willie) but just around the area.

A shot back up the hill to the bikes.

A general shot of the area.

Some creek close ups. This little creek was kind of a feed into the creek that I shot in the up coming pictures.

A better shot of the creek.

Now I start to head back up to Val and Willie and I find the main creek and decide to climb down the bank under the bridge. Almost fell right on my aarse caring my camera in one hand and my water in the other. I hear water running and realize the water on the other side of the bridge is higher then the ground I am standing on. For some reason they created a dam of sorts where the water flows under the bridge.



Here is another general shot of the area from the bikes.

We then take off again down Belt Line and run into a bunch of construction and once past that we find 303 and decide to go East again. We hit a toll booth and need to pay 50 cents per bike to go across Mountain Creek Lake. We pay it go across the bridge and the scenery was ok, but worth the 50 cents, not really. I bet they do that just to help the folks on the other side get into town easier. Anyway we head south on Mountain Creek Parkway and somehow, (I cannot remember) we run across 1382 while passing Camp Wisdom Road (this kind of becomes important later). We go to pull into Cedar Hill State Park but they want 5 bucks per person and we decide to not take them up on that deal and turn around back to 1382. It is about this time we decide to look for some food and Willie mentions he heard about a marina on Joe Pool Lake and I said yes I know where it is if I knew where I am at. That is when I mentioned we need to find Camp Wisdom Road which we already passed and I did not know it. So we kept heading down 1382 as it felt right and found 67. I remember on one of my other trips that 67 was a player when we rode from the marina so we took it heading south. As it turns out we headed way out of our way but what a great ride and found Lake Ridge Parkway which also I think I remembered so we took it back north. We then dead ended at Mansfield road which did not make much sense to me but I knew we had to head west so off we go and sure enough it turned back into Lake Ridge Parkway. Now when you have headed in one direction one or two times over 18 months when you head the opposite way sometime later the view seems different but things just felt right. We crossed over the southern yet westerly part of Joe Pool Lake via a bridge, but when we hit dry land my confidence started to fade but we kept on. Then sure enough we came across another long bridge on the westerly side of the lake and I saw a sign saying Lynn Creek Park ahead, pay dirt, now my confidence rose once again and sure enough there was the marina that has fairly good food but it is pricy. Here we are on our arrival.

As we walk down the bridge, Val takes a shot of me and Willie.

Then I shoot a shot of the folks feeding the carp (never did see much fun in that but I guess if you are a land lover it might be).

We then walk down towards the marina bar and grill I think its name is Oasis.

Once inside they have a bunch of fish on the walls and I saw this shark that I have not shot a picture of in my past visits so I shot it.

Well while we had some food and drink Willie mentioned we should go on to L&N Leathers (please forgive the spelling if I have it wrong) and what the heck we decided to head that way.

We start off down Camp Wisdom Road Westerly and keep going until we notice the dark clouds. We decide to start a northerly track and while we are heading north we notice the clouds building northerly and heading easterly towards us. Willie decides it is time to start heading home, and I fully agree so we keep heading up Collins until he hits the 180 heading west while Val and I keep going north on Collins. We run across Randall Mill road and take that east to 157 north and make it home with no problems. The traffic in that whole area sucks however and I would not recommend it for a nice ride. But it was the only part of our ride I would not recommend. Well we are home now, dah, and all is well. Hope you all enjoyed the story and the pictures. I am giving a bit more details in this report so let me know if I am getting too wordy or if this is ok.

You’re Friend in biking
Pj

Finally Cool Enough for a Texas Day Time Ride 081608

It has been one hot summer so far so as you can tell my ride reports have been scarce. Today was a great day, not reaching 90 degrees that I know of and cloudy. I also purchased one of those water vests that you soak in water and wear. So between the cooler temps and the vest it was a great day for a ride.

As usual we started off later then we planned since the plans were never set in concrete. Rally Up Texas had a ride planned to deliver a check to the Food Bank from our fund raiser last week (Texas Riders Helping Texans). You will get more information on the event as well as the pictures from our Rally up Texas Newsletter as well as the many threads on Rally up Texas.
The American Legion Post 379 had a ride with out any particular plan starting at 10AM and Philip stopped by last night to say he also wanted to ride. So like I said the plans were very loose and open ended. Val and I sat up rather late last night just enjoying the cool weather so we were up late. I got up at 8AM and let her sleep in.

Jim (Scooter Express) called and said he was going to meet up with Rally up Texas at Cow Town Bar and Grill so I told him to let me know when they were going to head towards Flying Tire for their Grand Opening. So I went out riding the Kawasaki to get some supplies and when I got home the weather was perfect for cleaning bikes so I started cleaning and waxing them while I waited for Val to get up and Jim to call. Philip came by earlier to say that he would ride but I got the sense he really was not all that up for it as he stated the weather maps show some storms to our West.

Jim calls and states that the Rally Up Texas folks are headed for Flying Tire and sure enough my next door neighbor Earl shows up and we chat about a few things. This delays me from telling Val that Jim called, she wanted a 20 minute warning. So needless to say we even got a late start to the first leg of the now planned trip.

Val and I take off down the side roads towards 820 and Randall Mill Road and as we past 820 I see no Flying Tire shop. We keep heading west and find this park which I think the name was Quantum Park. I figure time for a short break and I will call Jim to see where we ran amuck. Jim reports that he is still at Flying Tire and gives me a bit more information; sure enough we went past it. The RUT guys had left about 10 minutes ago and he stayed behind knowing we were on our way so we decide to go back and meet up with him. However I took some pictures while at the park. It was an ok Park but shade was scarce unless you sat on the ground under a tree or under the one and only covered picnic table area.
Here is Val pouring some water from one of the brand new $1 Thermos’ she found at a garage sale. They are fantastic; they do not leak and keep the fluids very cold.


We walk over to the covered picnic tables you see behind Val in the above picture and take a break and that is where I call Jim from to find out where they are.

I notice this bench facing the wooded area that has a wooden fence on the other side of the sidewalk. So I say to myself "that seems strange unless there is something to look at in the woods over there". So I grab the camera, head that way, and sure enough there is a hidden river/creek. It seemed too small to be the trinity but we are in the river bottoms area so I bet it is.

So I notice this rock that I passed earlier but did not notice as I did not walk that way using the sidewalk. I walk on over and here is the little write up on it.

As I head back to the covered picnic table to get my stuff I take a shot from where I was.
We then head back towards Flying Tire (mental note to self: take Randall Mill Road a bit further to the west to further explore area). We get to Flying Tire and there is Jim.

Val and I get off the bike and I take a shot of her with our bike among others.

They had a band, beer sales tent, and a hot dog tent. It was quite nice and I kind of wish we could have stayed longer and I could eat a hot dog as I was hungry.
I called BA and we decided we would meet up with the rest of the RUT group over at the Harley Shop on Hwy 20 and 360 in Grand Prairie. So we head off down 820 south then to 20 East and after about 20 or so minutes arrive at the Harley shop and man it was packed. We road through the crowd and found a great spot next to the bike wash area. When I first got off the bike they had these scantly clothed young ladies washing the bikes and I asked if I could take a picture and they said yes, but then turned around and kind of bent over the bikes. I took the shot but later had a discussion with a few people about it and we agreed that I would not to post it (sorry). I did take another shot later of them that I will post. Anyway we start walking around and here are a few shots of the area.
Here is a cool bike with a carved windshield.

As we walked a long I tried to figure out how to get a picture of all of the bikes, so I found this lamp post with a 3 foot base that I could climb on and get kind of an elevated view of the area. So here are some of those shots.
We had to ride through this mess to get to the washing area, and when I say we I mean me and Jim (on his Scooter) at a Harley shop. Everyone was very cool.

Here is to the right of my location.
Jim tells me the RUT folks are here so I take a shot of Paul and Gail. The problem was that Paul got behind the other lamp post so to the left is Gail.
Here is a shot of Greybeard

Here are some more shots of the RUT team. The red shirts indicate those who participated in the Texas Riders Helping Texans benefit. I did not get to participate because I had to work.

What good Harley get together would be complete without a band. They were good.

Here is a shot of those young ladies washing bikes I was talking about earlier.Val asked me if I wanted a shot with them and I and I said no. She later confessed that I gave the proper answer.

It was time to go and I was starved. I went around looking for the rest of the RUT folks and only found Paul and Gail so I told them that we (Val, Jim, Willie, and myself) were going to head to Texas Road House for a late lunch. Paul and Gail said they were game and I told them that if they run across anyone let then know also. We arrived and here is a shot of the bikes out in front with Willie.
Here are a few of us in Texas Road House.

It was GREAT getting to ride again. I think between the wet vest and the cooler temps you can expect more to come soon. Have a good one, and be safe out there!

Pj