PBnJ5 Adventures

We are at our last day in Flower Mound, TX at a really beautiful campsite right on the lake. We have had a wonderful time exploring Dallas. We went to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, which was really fun and the boys had a great time. Tucker was especially excited to see the dinosaur exhibit. We also went to the Fort Worth Stock Yards and watched the cattle drive. Don’t get too excited it was like 6 cows that walked two blocks. A bit more touristy than we excepted, oh well it was still fun. We also had a wonderful dinner date and left the boys with our friends, the Nobles, who let us sneak away for an hour and do laundry! We drove through the Texas Speedway Christmas Light display, but poor baby Zac didn’t see a single one. His eyes were too heavy after a busy day to make it. Tucker and Max liked it and it was a cool experience. We also went to Kid Zania, it is a city for kids to learn about different careers and how money and jobs work. Tucker had the most fun as it was a little over the heads of Max and Zac. But man I was Zania’ed out by the time we were done with that.

After three long busy days we needed a day to just relax and work on the RV before packing up and heading to Waco. It was sunny and 60 and a great day for a bike ride. So right after breakfast Tucker and I went on an impromptu ride. What I thought was going to be a quick ride around the paved camp grounds turned out to be way more than I bargained for.

After we had made our loop and visited the dock, the bath house, and played a few games of ‘last one there is a rotten egg’, Tucker found a little dirt trail and asked if we could go down it. It looked like a fun little adventure down a wide flat gravel path so sure why not, I like a little adventure every now and then. The trail was nice and flat and covered in leaves a nice cool breeze and I had seen trails that popped out at different places along the road. I was sure that if we stayed on it for little while we would just pop out someplace on the road and head back to the RV, no big deal. Well soon the trail turned a little more narrow and started getting a little rocky and steep in some places. It’s okay we can just get off our bikes and walk those place that might be a little tough. I am sure we are almost there. We start walking more and more places and then we start getting passed by people. Now these people I am noticing look nothing like us. They are middle aged men who are fully decked out in mountain bike gear. I am talking about helmets, some full face helmets, fancy biking clothes, Camelbac water bottles, riding gloves, clip in shoes and not to mention the very impressive looking mountain bikes they are riding. We also get passed by two different men who are running this trail who also have an interesting amount of gear on. After getting passed by about 6 different people who are all incredibly friendly and say things like, “Great day for a ride”, “Good Morning”, “Have a great time”, “So good to see you out here”, “Great day to be alive”, I am starting to wonder what kind of trail this might be and when we will pop out. Now let me just give you a picture of what Tucker and I look like to these men, and you can question with me their analysis of the situation. I am in a sweatshirt and yoga pants on my sweet mint green Huffy with no helmet, (don’t judge I thought it was a 15 minute ride around the park), my sweet 5 year old is on his little bike with a bell that is ringing pretty consistently with every rock he is pushing his bike over, with his little helmet and long sleeve cotton shirt. I mean if there was ever a fierce bike riding duo – we are it. I decided we had been gone about 45 minutes so I should probably text Luke and let him know where we were and that we might be a few minutes still. Now at this point you might be thinking, much like Luke was, “Why don’t you just turn around?” To that I say, I am a very stubborn person when I want to be. I was just sure that we had to be almost there and we would pop out at any moment. As Luke was following me on Find my Friend he was starting to raise a little concern in my head that we were getting further and further away. So as we continue to push our bikes over big rocks and hold onto them down the steep trails and over logs, I had a narrator the whole way just to top the experience off. We were being chased by raptors and were trying to catch up to the T-Rex, and we could hear them coming and the toe claw of the raptor was about to get us. I mean who wouldn’t enjoy the constant chatter of a 5 year old with a vivid imagination and way too much information about dinosaurs rolling around in his head.

Well by now it is getting close to lunch time and I am starting to think we might not be popping out anytime soon as the trail keeps going further from the road. I decided to put on my big girl panties and ask the next intimidating rider where we were on this trail. Thankfully, it was a very nice woman who was out riding with two college aged girls that we came across next. It turns out – the trail is 10 miles long, it starts and stops at about the same spot and we are about a mile from the end where we had started because we were going the wrong way on a one way, gracious. Okay well we won’t be popping out anytime soon and we could die out here if we don’t turn around. A slight blow to the ego but I cannot carry my bike, a 5 year old and his bike out of here, so turn around we must. At some point in this journey my Huffy takes a hit and bends part of the metal that covers one of my sweet 7 gears, but we can still ride. As I am trying to navigate this trail and give Tucker some pointers on what to watch for, I quickly come to the realization I don’t know much about trail riding. The only thing I know is how much I laugh at my cousin every time he crashes on his bike when he goes and how much humor I find in his scratched up body. Well this time it doesn’t feel as funny especially when I am in charge of my kid.

Well I am happy to report that after preserving and coaxing a tired boy with the promise of marshmallows we did actually pop out on the road. However, it is not any where near where we started so I am still confused on what path we missed. What should have been an easy 15 minute bike ride turned into literally a 3 hour tour of the woods of Flower Mound. But we made it and Tucker was a trooper, I was so impressed with him. I wish I could tell you that Luke was as impressed with me, but alas that was not the case.

As I was walking through the beautiful woods, thankful that it was not warm enough for the snakes to be out, I was thinking about what lessons I could be learning from this experience. The first thing that came to mind was forced exercise. I guess take it anyway you can get it, but for my third bike ride in 5 plus years it seemed a bit excessive. The jello in the legs was real by the time we got home. The next thing that came to mind was questioning my mothering abilities. We have no water, no food, I have no helmet, not the right equipment, no map, no real idea where we are or when we will get out. What I do have is a 5 year old who could decide at any moment to stop walking or stop having a positive attitude and who is trusting me to get him out in one piece. That is kinda a lot of pressure for 11am on a Saturday morning. The third thing that comes to mind is making memories. Oh the memories. Good or bad memories are being made. I hope they remember the good more than the bad. Also, I should probably be less stubborn.

We still are having issues with the RV. On top of the slide issue which we are still working on, we are now having some plumbing issues. But our neighbors at this RV park who also have a Class A and a Jeep Gladiator and are from Colorado, are having coolant issues and water pump problems. So it could be worse. We have had a great week and are ready for our next adventure. I am ready to go visit Chip and Jo!