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Ths71

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Posts posted by Ths71

  1. Brother in law’s wife who pilots for a major freight company just got back from her East Asian route:

    “Several people have asked “what it’s like” to fly over in Asia with the current world situation. I was lucky to only lay over in Narita (Tokyo) this trip, flying down to Shanghai and back during the day. You start feeling sort of like a “hot potato”, because once you’ve hit one country, the next one doesn’t want anything to do with you. China was particularly challenging, and way more challenging for our crews actually staying there vs. passing through. Chinese airspace was so quiet, it truly was eerie. Japan seemed a little more “normal” on the ground...except it’s not. Schools are closed, many public venues are shut down. Annual Sakura celebrations cancelled, tourist attractions such as museums and Disney are closed. I really don’t suggest traveling to Japan or anyplace else over here unless you have to.”


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  2. Wife of my brother in law pilots big planes for a global delivery company. East Asian route. Been off last couple of weeks but headed out a couple of days ago.
    She was at Narita International, Japan and said traffic control was quiet and TCAS that shows air traffic was empty.
    Said the Shenzhen, China layover hotel had “temp takers” an “snot testers” and police guards outside. Crews are restricted to one wing and no housekeeping.
    Her main concern was the Lobby Bar was closed.
    Am not inviting her over when she gets back.
    8ce9831c6742928c1ed96b69ad2ae458.jpg


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  3. Thought the best part was the studio guy who sent Bill Ham for BBQ..liked how he explained the sound he wanted. 

    Robin Hood Brians is an East TX. icon. Hid produced lots of regional garage bands back in the day.

    “Since he opened his studio in 1963, Robin has recorded hits for the Five Americans, The Uniques, David Houston, Mouse and the Traps and John Fred & His Playboy Band. He also recorded ZZ Top‘s first four albums and had a hand in Willis Allan Ramsey‘s classic album from 1973. Even James Brown and Ike & Tina Turner have stopped in to lay down some tracks.”




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  4. Kind of crazy to think how normal it was to drive across the border and cruise around in Mexico. The last time I was in a border town was Matamoros about 16 years ago before shit started to hit the fan and even then things were getting sketchy.

    9/11 2001 is when things changed. Especially in the Lajitas and Paso Lajitas area.
    We started going to the area not long after Pablo was killed and would cross the river to ride to San Carlos on our mountain bikes. We would eat lunch there and ride back. Portions of the ride went through Mimi’s ranch. There is a cool waterfall on her property. I think she worked at the Lajitas trading post for a while before it was sold.



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  5. I kind of assume it was a jump area with a bit of trail at first?  The jump people seem to be less DORBA-ish than the rest of the trail workers.
    Yeah I am just complaining about detailed information on the trails goes on private FB and DORBA just gets to hang.  The KJP issue is one, the Frisco NW re-do is another.
    Only Jack, the Rowlett Creek steward, ever puts any info on the forum about RCP.


    From the current KJP trail steward concerning the fence:
    “Sit tight for a few weeks on access issues. Solutions are being explored.”


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  6. I eschew the facing book.  Unfortunately, most trails use it for trail news and updates.  Worse, I assume because of spam, most trail pages are now "closed" so you actually have to be a member to even view it.
    Meaning since KJ became an official trail?  Or since the complex closed off the yellow loop?

    Before it became an official trail. You don’t have to be a member to view the trail conditions updates on the website. Last update on KJ Feb. 28. Open/closed denotes if the trail is open or closed. Probably more info on the FB page but I’m not on that.
    Not a bad idea to give DORBA a few bucks for a membership if you enjoy mountain biking. The do/have done a tremendous amount of work.


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  7. The Great Pyrenees puppies are almost 6 weeks old. It is going to be a sad day when they leave, but I won't miss cleaning up the endless amount of shit.

    The rescue has officially put them up for adoption. I don't think it is going to take long.

    Here are some pictures from this weekend.

    a4b5402298058241bd14a43d05e4e374.jpg11fe1926e5d72aec9856004915de82ca.jpg9cd4bb2ec7336c3468b3cd32170ff26c.jpg9f6cad37444cc12211ba932208e2c1db.jpg9dc752a11c0a430a9212f021571677e0.jpg

    My Great Pyrenees/Aussie mix is the sweetest dog I’ve ever had.


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  8. Speaking of trail stewards, went up to Katie Jackson/Collarbone park.  Lots of trees down and some considerable re-routing and building of features over swamp.  This is another North Texas black dirt trail where big trees just fall over every time it rains.  Bigtime chainsaw work involved.
    Aaaand half the trail has been fenced off by an adjacent apartment complex.  Was kind of funny, I go along the closer-in loops, finish them and head up to where normally you get up on a sidewalk/walkway next to an apartment complex and ride a couple hundred yards to drop in to the rest of the trail.  Well, I go along the usual route and there's a wrought iron fence between me and the walkway.  Wut?  I look left and right, no gaps in the fence, nowhere to go,  I ride around looking for a gap in the fence.  No dice.
    So i rode around the inner loops 3-4 times until I got bored.  Finally ran into a family heading to the jump/pump track area (which is on the fenced-off loop) and am told the only way is to hike-a-bike down along the creek.  I watched the guy go down some limestone, some of which was wet, and he verified that there was actually "shoreline" that would permit you to go down to the other loop/jump area.  I decided that was too much trouble.
    Weather was great.  Trail an odd mix of hero dirt, mud, and kitty litter, and some flat-out swamps that they should have taped off.  Decent ride for the fourth this week.

    Haven’t been there since it became “official”. Talked to the guy who was the original Trail Steward there but he doesn’t know what’s going on out there now.


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  9. I spent hours and hours with Mapsco and USGS locating areas, surveying them and trying to find out who owned them.

    It was challenging because there were so many different entities to deal with. City, county, TP&W, Corps of Engineers etc.


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  10. I went to the shooting range yesterday and when I came home my neighbor was loading a bunch of bottled water into his garage. There was this surreal moment when we locked eyes while he was carrying his water and I was carrying my rifle. He realized he just bought my family a shit ton of water. 

    I actually saw a dude wearing a mask yesterday. In Kroger. In Frisco.


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  11. That's crazy.
    Because so many trails here are in river/creek bottoms and flood plains, I've noticed this mode of weather destruction that's really common:  the ground gets wet and soft and the wind kicks up and pretty damn big, old trees just keel over with the root ball just sticking up and a big hole in the ground where it was.  And those trees take out a bunch of other stuff on the way down.
    The trail stewards around here really earn their keep.
    A related freaky deal.  Last year, I was riding concrete trails north of White Rock Lake, some of which skirt around Royal Oaks Country Club (this is the area where former Texas WR recruit Thomas Johnson murdered a jogger with a machete).
    Well at one point the "wrought iron" fence around the Royal Oaks golf course is leaning way out over the trail.  Turns out brush and crap had caught on it and the floodwaters pushed on the "clogged" fence, pushing it over while also washing dirt out around the fencepost pilings.
    But the wildest part was where the fence and debris were hanging over the concrete path, a bunch of shiner minnows and a couple of bluegill had fallen out of the debris and died on the sidewalk.  Mind you, there's not any standing or running water normally for probably a quarter mile in any direction.

    When we started building trails the only place to ride was the original section of Northshore and an “illegal” area on Hwy 360 south of the airport.

    It was a real challenge finding suitable public land in D/FW, a large urban area in a state with very limited public land. Not only that, most of the land managers knew next to nothing about Mountain Bikes. They were also used to dealing with “user groups” like equestrians who pretty much whined and made demands about the trails.

    We told them all we wanted was access and we would build and maintain the trails. Win/ Win for them. We started the official trail steward program in the early 90s.




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