It all started on Friday night when we had an impromptu get together at my house. Paul and Star who have very busy schedules with Kids and work decided to stop by a long with some of the regulars.
We sat around and talked about our week, our plans in the near future and watched a little TV. Here is Philip and Paul.
Here is one left to right of Star, Jim, and Paul, and no Jim is not sleeping or drunk, for some reason finding a shot of him at night with his eyes open is like hitting a specific roulette number in Vegas.
We then decided to watch a DVD Grand Torino with Clint Eastwood. Great movie but it is not easy getting it all set up late at night with low lighting.
Philip is coming up from behind me to see if I need help.
Here is a shot of Steven, Paul’s son. Not Paul and Star’s son but Paul and Angela.
Val takes a rather strange shot of the TV and deck.
I ended up getting the cot out and my sleeping bag and sleep outside that night. I sleep like a baby, as it was fantastic outside. The neighborhood cat sleep on top of my sleeping bag all night so I knew it was unlikely that I would run across any unfriendly animals with out knowing about it. Our yard backs up to the woods and we have all kinds of critters hanging around at night.
The next day, Saturday, Jim, Philip, and I decide to take a motorcycle ride. But first some food was in order so we decided to head down town Fort Worth to a place called Love Shack. That was not the place we were headed for but as we were looking to park in front of the White Elephant Jim and Philip went down the road while I found this little ramp area on the side walk. There was already another bike parked there and a little alley that I went down and parked for a few minutes. I went walking around the back of the little alley to see if I could better hide my bike since there was a no parking sign on the wall of the building. I did not find a better place to hide the bike but I found a little river walk park that I never knew was there. It was called Sanders Park.
Curiosity got to me so I walked a bit further down.
If you look to the right and what looks like a fence that is were I came from. You make a right and then your back into the alley.
Another shot looking back South.
It was time to head back to see if I can find Philip and Jim. But first I went into the stores that lined the alley where I had my bike parked “illegally”. The first vendor told me that the sign was not theirs and she did not care. The second vendor said the same thing and said have at it. I looked at the sign and it was not an official police type of sign so I figured I was good to go. As I walked towards the street a car just pulled out of a spot so I ran back to the bike, traversed the wrong way on a one way street for about 30 yards and pulled in. Walla, no problem now and it was not long before other bikers parked next to me.
Sure enough Jim and Philip came walking down the street, they had to park way on top of the hill. It pays to run slower and look around.
We decided to go into the Love Shack to eat and found we had to order from the front, they gave us a number and would call our name. The line went fast but it was longer then what I would want to get a second beer so I asked if I had to wait in line again for a second beer. She said yes, so I said make it two now.
We went up stars to the balcony but there was only one table that sat more then 2 and it was occupied so we headed by down stairs and found a little table. As it turns out I am kind of glad we did. As we waited on our number to be called I went for another walk about. Sure enough we were on the other side of the creek at Sanders Park.
The next two shots are from the down stairs away from the stage. If you look closely you can see the balcony. Philip and Jim are at the table to the right.
I saw this dude on the stage behind us setting stuff up, and I noticed a back door open that looked like it went out into the other side of Sanders Park so off I go on my walk about.
Cool area.
Here is a shot to where I was earlier.
I went back in and found Philip went off, so I told Jim what I found, so he came out with me. A shot of him and then I.
My impression of the Love Shack was cool atmosphere and friendly people. The only problem was the line deal but then the cost was lower. Philip order Ice Tea and his complaint was that it was not free refill. But the Onion Rings were great, the fries good, and the burger, which is a mix of sirloin, and brisket was cooked to my liking and very tasty. A bit greasy but very good! Here is a shot of the stage with the dude I saw earlier playing some fairly good music.
Well time to start the next part of our journey. Philip has the lead and takes us around the south end of Lake Worth. We enter this dead end road and find this cool little eatery and bar over looking Lake Worth. Here are two shots from the front, I found some shade to park my bike in.
Here is a shot over looking a cove from where I parked my bike.
From the patio of the bar “The Point” you can see the 199 or 280, not sure which at this point, bridge over the lake.
Jim and Philip take a little walk about down by a couple of boats.
Time to hit the road again. As we traverse along the south side of the lake I notice this abandoned castle like building. Philip then pulls over so we all stop. There are these signs that say “You are on Police Surveillance Cameras – No Treaspassing”. So I take a few shots, but as I walk up to the main entrance we hear a dog barking from within the building. I got a shot below of the address and Google came up with nothing on it. Philip was told it was Ruby’s place and used for drinking and prostitution during the prohibition days.
After taking the shots above I shot a couple of the Lake on the north side of the road.
We took off once again and Philip mentioned that I should just blow my horn if I wanted to pull over for a photo op. Well sure enough I see this beach and then we come up to a pull off area with some shade so I honk and pull over. Mental notes to self always bring swimsuit during the summer time. This is a place we need to return to for a cook out and a swim. Here are some shots of the area.
I decide the heck with it and take off my boots and shocks and going wading. Philip grabs the camera and takes a shot of me.
Philip then spotted a FlyCatcher with a bug so we take a shot.
We then road the 199 to 820 and right after 35 Philip takes a sudden exit and I lock up the breaks to follow suit and sure enough as I went around the exit turn I saw traffic was at a stand still. So we went south and had a beer. We then proceeded back north to hwy 10 and took that on home.
The next day, Sunday was even better weather wise then Saturday. Val was all giddy about finally getting to go for a ride. So no matter how much I was not really all 100% in the mood I was going to take her for a ride. We decided to go down to the Texas Riders Helping Texans Feed the Kids Rally in Mansfield at Fat Daddy’s. It was as great turn out and I got to see some of the Rally Up Texas Family including BA our founder. It was a great time, the only problem for me was they did not have an ATM system so in order to pay for some stuff and contribute I had to ride down to the QT. I needed gas anyway so no big deal, Val ordered me a cold one before I left so I was refreshed and ready. Here are some shots of the Rally, I wish I would have shot more of the folks from RUT who were there, but I have a feeling that will be well covered by others.
We then headed back and decided to stop at this little place in Grapevine on Main Street. We were going to eat lunch there but as we had our drinks we decided to go to WienBurgers instead. I think I killed the spelling there. Here is a shot of the first place we stopped, it used to be a feed store on the corner of Main and Dallas.
It was a great weekend and we had a lot of fun.
