Stories and Not So Tall Tales

A few years back the family went on a road trip to Texas to visit friends and family on the way to a  week on the coast on North Padre Island. This was back before the days of Google Maps and having directions at your fingertips via your cellphone. No, we traveled with a huge Road Atlas book along with printed out Mapquest directions I had in a Trip Binder.  We were the advanced travelers of the day, the day being in 2003. One evening, somewhere on the northeast-ish side of Ft Worth, I got a hankering for a DQ chocolate shake.  For those of you that don't know, before Chick-Fil-A, the best chocolate shakes came from Dairy Queen. DQ's are a bit of an Institution in Texas, and every one-stoplight town had one. In major cities you could pretty much find one within a mile or two from where you lived. The outskirts were a different story. I had recalled on an earlier trip from our motel we had passed one, but we had gone in so many different directions I wasn't sure WHERE I ha...

Back in spring 2019, I decided that I should hike up Barr Trail to the top of Pikes Peak.  All 12-13 miles, 14,100' tall,  with a nearly 6000' elevation gain.  My hubby, daughters, along a few other sons and daughters of other dads and mothers have done this hike.  It was my job to drive up and fetch their tired, but happy asses and bring them back home safe and sound. It was now my turn.  I began by walking the granddog daily, increasing our walks until 3 miles was the norm, with the intent of going up the Barr Trail in earnest in 2020. Well, Covid decided to rear its ugly head and keep me from hiking for many, many months as the trail remained closed.  There went my 2020 plans. Things gradually reopened and by late spring 2021, I had begun to occasionally go up the Barr Trail, but mostly try to extend my weekend walks with my wonderful hubby Mike as we were walking further than I did with the Granddog so the Granddog's feet didn't fall off. He's a Mini-Au...