In Search Of A 2-Year Old Lead

It has now been just over two years since I got a lead on an outdoor activity that is tied to a couple of sports. However, confirming it has been something of a treasure hunt. Yesterday, was a day that could be spent on following up on where we left off  the last time. The end result was about the same, although, we did see a picture that the lead is more actual than rumor. So, although we didn't get a resolution on this trip, we feel like we are getting closer. We will keep you posted.

One thing we did notice yesterday was the fact that some of the mileage covered an area where we have shot some pretty interesting coverage before. So, overlap has occurred  But, the area has changed drastically with growth and expansion. Some of the scenic pastures have now become shopping centers, with nearby developments of  hundreds of new rooftops and even a hospital on one hillside. This much I know:  It ain't gonna stop there!  There were signs of future expansion all along the way.

At one time not so far in the past, driving from an urban area into the more rural and countryside was measured by not time or miles but in number of tracks on a CD. Now, it's measured in the number of CD before a traditional rural setting can be spotted.. However, keep in mind, I don't drive the tollways or expressways on the route circuit. If I did, all I would see is semi-trailers and McDonald signs! So it's surface streets and roadways and some county roads.

 With increasing traffic and  spotting  not one or two out of state license plates but 7 or 8 on an average trip, adds new meaning to the old car vacation game of calling out state's names. The number of new plates is,without doubt, growing. So, with camera riding shotgun, here is a couple of roadside pastures we passed.

A real live Texas Long Horn with a nice span of horn.

Even animals like to be close to the road

I Love Scenes Like This.

Being In The Right Place At The Right Time

The afternoon started out with a plan. That plan had holes in it from the beginning. The old water tower in Rowlett that survived the Christmas Tornadoes a year ago, was later determined to be unsafe and would have to come down. That day took a year to come to the point that today would be the day. So, since it is pretty much a straight shot for me to get there on my spoke wheel shooting route, I stopped at Whataburger to get the namesake burger and a chocolate shake. I had hardly made it into Garland when Garland police were racing up and down side streets. It was pretty obvious that they were looking for something or someone.
As I drove along sipping on my shake that was so thick I could have done better with a spoon. That's the way that I like shakes and one of the big reasons why I still go to Whataburger for my shakes.  Every one else has changed up there shakes to make it more "Starbucky" I suppose. Even the last hold out was DQ and when they went to the plastic top stuffed with whip cream and a cherry, I said to my self," Self, we are going to Whataburger from now on for our shakes."

I'm now about three miles up the road and this motorcycle cop come whizzing by zigging in and out of traffic doing every bit of 75 or better. Then here comes a regular SUV patrol car trailing the cycle cop.By my last car count that was a total of 6. The guy got his man, he had the guy and his little white sports car pulled over in a garage parking lot and the SUV patrol car was coming out of the car. Don't want to know what that was about. But, driving on, when I got to Rowlett, there were 5 Rowlett police cars sitting at the light. Again, I didn't even want to know what was going on there.  I got to what I thought was the water tower-- only to find out it was farther north.

While there, it was time to check on the sellout job the city of Dallas did on the city park that was right on Lake Ray Hubbard. The city even put it up for a vote and it was one of those deals where the wording was yes for no and no for yes. It even tricked me. Then I found out listening to Dallas City Council Meetings on WRR that the city sold out to raise money. Not in the best interest of all citizens. They gave away one of the best pieces of ground in Dallas county to the city of Rockwall basically because they were desperate. And the land is in Dallas Country but now owned by the city of Rockwall  of the same county. Oh it will be for the  developer, not the city( laugh here please). The property will match the other side of the causeway. In short, our elected officials sold us out lock stock and millions to  line someone's pockets. ( We all know where those kinds of deals go and the city never sees the money anyway.)  I learned from the city of Detroit when in high school that you didn't use Police and Fire Pension Funds to finance construction projects. The city of Dallas is looking at a major shortage in just that department right now because they financed a high rise lux condo tower across from the Arts District.

Just last week, I was talking to a guy who brought up Para sailing and I mentioned to him that I had shot a lot of images out there but since it is fenced off and posted and all  private now (so much for the citizens benefits). I had mentioned to him that I was still looking for where the group had gone or what happened to the group. When, to day, out of the corner of my eye, I saw beautiful para sails in the sky in the same place that they once had used, only this time, they were the only ones that could get into the place. So shooting could not be like before.

When I got out of my car, here comes this big F250-maybe even a F350, I flagged him down, but later realized he was checking me out or the car or what ever and that he was watching the properly, even the open boat dock. I mentioned to him in our short conversation that I was still a bit mad over the way the deal went down in city hall.  He rubbed this index finger and thunb together and said lots of money. I later said, $14 million. Then he drove back to were he was parking and re parked. I shot the para sailers only to see one sail come flying off the ground and into the lake. With gust as has as 32 mph and steady winds of 20 mph the waves and swells were growing and lapping at my feet on the dock area. I continued to shoot the sail as it would lift out of the water and then fall flat on the surface. Then out of the corner of my eye again, I saw a guy in a full wet suit running along the curving shoreline as the para sail continued to move away from the shoreline, although I had already figured out that once it got a bit farther out, it would begin to come my way as the 3-5 foot swells were coming right at my feet.

The pictures will tell the rest of the story except that another guy in a Range Rover and wet suit  arrived just as the other guy had jumped into the water to try to catch the sail before it was snagged in the trees and underbrush. He also jumped into the water. I drove back to the guy in the big F-what ever and mentioned to him that the number that I had tossed out to him had come from Dallas City Council meetings that had aired over WRR. We agreed that the less number was for the land, but that the final deal of many millions more was for other rights and goodies. He mentioned $45 million. I'm getting the impression that the guy has a stronger tie to the deal than just sitting in a big Ford F1 or 2 or 350. Did you know that Ford even makes a F650? Well, they do. It's a big monster, too!

I never did find the water tower. It was on the news tonight. Lots of people were there. All I found out was that the next time I'm going to Rockwall, I'm going to Boots Hamburgers. The guy still runs the hamburger joint out the back of his house (legal of course) and is only open about 2 hours a day. Like he said," It's my business. I can run it when I want." I grew up with a hole in the wall burger joint that I still get that smell in my head today and have never found a burger that comes close to it other than a plan Whataburger with mayo. So going to Boots is now a mission in search of my childhood burger taste for another day.

This is the guy that was chasing the sail from the shoreline

The shoreline here is very rocky.

The swells were 3-5 feet with gust winds of 32mph and substained winds of 20MPH

University of Central Oklahoma Women's Rowing Images

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Texas Sailing

Dropping the Sail

Open Water Headed Inbound

High Up on Winfrey Point Looking Down on the Marinas

Minutes beyond first bell, a loud clap of thunder hit this morning as a squall line moved passed. The sun was out by noon and it was time to get at least some walking in before ending the outing at the grocery.

The temps were in the mid 60s with a breezy southwest wind 10-12 knots. That meant the sailing clubs would be on the lake at White Rock. Beautiful day for a sail.


The shot at Winfrey Point was shot about ten days ago but gives a view looking down over the Marinas  going toward the bike bridge. That day the fog had hung over downtown for most of the day. You can still see the haze in the air.

Paddlesurf

                                                                                                                                                                      It's always a gift to get a 60-plus degree day in                              

A super nice paddle board he sells at their shop

I watched him put this in the water and it was one of the most easy I have ever witnessed.

Off from the ramp and headed toward the dam. I saw him from the road down at the dam later enjoying his paddle surf

Mid January. With plenty of blue sky early on, before the high cloudiness rolls in toward sunset, it didn't take much to get me motivated to get out and walk. Deciding where to go was the next problem as Dr. Oz was at Cowboy's Stadium giving free physicals to over 1500, the annual Stockyard Rodeo  Exhibit will be filling the stockyards in Ft. Worth with a million visitor, Founder's Plaza at DFW had aviation geek weekend going on at Texas Trail and Airport West so the magic rabbit in the hat is always White Rock Lake. With all the good weather, there would be people all over the lake and that means finding something unusual and not normally found. Well, as the luck of the  draw happens.......White Rock was a winner again.

This gentleman is a partner in a paddle board shop and had with him one of the new stand up paddle boards. The shop has some unique activities planned for a bit later on this spring. It  sounded awesome. His shop: RIOSUP. They offer: Core Fitness Training and also have boards/gear/Eco tours.


  

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Winterized

One of the Rescue boats used when the rowing teams are on the lake practicing.

Across the lake from the last shot is the marina for one of the sailing clubs. I love sailboats.

The day before this shot, high winds blew through the area disrupting cell phone towers, breaking branches and limbs off trees. Later, the temps shattered records from a few to several degrees. There was a guy walking the docks at the marina for a sailing club to make sure the tie-downs were still secure. That's a nice volunteer service at any marina.

Paddle Boarding on a Fall Afternoon

A paddle boarder works his forward stride.

Now, the glide from the stride!

A paddle boarder gets in a good workout on the lake between the dam and the water pump station at White Rock. The pump station building--a historic landmark--is getting a face lift thanks to the city of Dallas and the water district. The trail across the top of the dam and the front of the water pump station are currently closed,although the risk-takers continue to make tracks.

In Great Admiration and Respect

Today, in the warmth of a delightful fall afternoon, I started out in search of that one fall splash of color that say, "here, it's not New England but it can be from time to time almost as perfect." Last year, I found it in a patch of woods beneath the dam at White Rock  in the old fish hatchery stands. It was every bit as pretty as I've seen in New England, which is hard to wrap my mind around while remembering that while there are stands of maple trees in Texas, they are many,many miles away from the Dallas area. But every fall, I begin the annual search.

My mother, as a little girl, had grown up with some pretty famous names in baseball coming around. She was nearly 80 before I was able to find out that she had been a Dodgers fan and even rooted for the Yankees a few times. On the other hand, I had grown up on the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Detroit Tigers, but I did know the big names of the day even if they played for the opposing teams. Thinking back now, I had shoe boxes of baseball cards. and mom was hard to beat in answering questions about facts printed on the cards. This really was a side of my mom that I wish that I had understood more then than I do today, but thankful I heard her tell some of the stories when she was growing up.

Yet, when I start out on a shooting trip, the trips are pretty much routed out in a circuit and it follows the events and on-going construction, openings, discoveries of new projects starting or seasonal event. The shoot schedule isn't that large of a schedule but it does have to consider car or train, walks or doctor's appointments , shopping or living in general. The price of gas has cut down on a lot of travel by car and the trains have been a good back-up, but  sometimes, there is that magnetic-like pull that causes you to follow your instincts. Today, although it didn't start out that way, ended up that way and I'm happy that it did.  Mom was a rather self-contained person that would be like an earthquake that she knew or even had a friendship with some people. But, the proof was in the pudding as they say and she usually came out on top in that department. Yet, even today, I pay respect  to the dearly departed  when I can. After paying tribute to one of mom's -never-would-have-guessed friends, I decided that I would go in search of one of my boyhood idols that was in the same cemetery and not very far from where I stood while visiting one of mom's friends.



The plaques on the crypts of Mickey Mantle and his wife.
The two boys are in crypts below their dad.

Note the rows of copper (pennies) stacked up from visitors to the crypt. The two that I found most interesting were the stone and the bent nail. Stones are usually a Jewish tradition left after a visit. The bend nail, I am not sure, but it has it's significances most certainly.

The American Flag stands in the corner of the private crypt area where Mickey is entombed.

It is with much respect and admiration that I post these images in the love for the sport, the players, the institution that baseball is to so many. Mickey, you were my hero in baseball.
 

Dallas Little League Make the Big Leagues!



Close up  of the Big New Board

The Big New Sign Board

The Second and Smaller Score Board

Dallas Little League not only got new fields with lights, the new score boards are up,too! They look very nice. This summer at Winfrey Point will be a class act on the diamonds.