Day 44: To Fort Worth

October 22, 2014

Today is the last day of the tour. The distance is short and the terrain is easy. But traffic will be heavy and I have a couple of tourist stops to make.

On the road at 8:45, another beautiful sunny but humid day. Awful road construction for a couple miles going west on University Drive as the 6-lane road is being extended out into the countryside. I turned left at the first opportunity to cut over to lovely Jim Christal Road which connects to FM 156.

Live oaks shade Jim Christal road west of Denton.

I pedaled south on FM 156 all the way to Fort Worth, through the little towns of Justin and Haslet. It has heavy truck traffic but a wide shoulder as well. Much of the traffic is related to oil and gas development. That doesn't exactly cheer me up. It's hard not to think about how much better off the planet and all its inhabitants would be if all that money and ingenuity was applied to something beneficial instead of causing the earth's 6th great extinction.

I passed very near Alliance Airport, an industrial airport that generates a lot of truck traffic. And on the north edge of Fort Worth I passed a super-secure facility run by the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving. One of only two facilities in the U.S. that manufacture currency.

On the edge of Fort Worth I stopped for lunch at a Wendy's restaurant just south of loop 820. Then onwards to the Fort Worth stockyards, mostly downhill with a tailwind. That was fun.

Billy Bob's Texas night club on the west side of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

I stopped to look around the stockyards for a few minutes. I've been there several times before. It's a big tourist attraction, and relatively authentic. Fort Worth had a huge stockyard decades ago. Also a big Swift meat packing plant. It's also arguably the birthplace of rodeo culture. The stockyards and meat packing plants were closed long ago, though. One major cattle pen has been converted to a tourist shopping mall. Fortunately the main street, Exchange Street, has survived intact.

Exchange Street is the main tourist strip in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

From the stockyards I turned south onto Main Street. Only 3 miles to downtown Fort Worth. It was a nice ride. I crossed the Trinity river into downtown Fort Worth and rode through downtown.

Main Street crossing the Trinity River into downtown Fort Worth.

I rode to the south end of downtown, past the new convention center. Then north on Main Street towards Tarrant County courthouse.

Looking north on Main Street towards Tarrant County Courthouse. John F. Kennedy spent his last night in the hotel on the right.

Solar powered bike share station near the convention center.

I took a long stop at Sundance Square Plaza which was only built 2 years earlier. It looks great. Finally Fort Worth has a big people space downtown.

Downtown Fort Worth seems to be doing well. Downtown used to be "all business", but the last couple decades have brought extensive residential and retail development in and near downtown. Central Fort Worth is developing into a high density urban (but still car-dependent) city.

Ceremonial finish at Sundance Square in the middle of downtown Fort Worth.

Downtown Fort Worth is the ceremonial end of the trip, but I still have to pedal another 5 miles east to my parents' retirement community. I had never been there before but the navigation was extremely easy. East from downtown on 4th street, which somehow turns into 1st street. After 3 miles 1st street turns into Randol Mill road which leads to my parent's retirement community. No turns!

I arrived at 2:20 PM. My parents arranged for me to stay in a guest room for the next 3 nights. No real fanfare. Suddenly the tour is finished.

Today had a high of 79F. Sunny in the morning, but more cloudy in the afternoon. Nice for late October. The terrain is very easy but traffic was heavy for much of the day. The gentle headwind didn't slow me down much.

I spent the next two days resting and visiting with my parents. While there the retirement village had a scheduled "armchair travel" presentation. I offered to talk about my tour and they eagerly accepted. Several dozen people came to see the bike and ask questions. I was a celebrity for pedaling from Pittsburgh to Fort Worth at age 53. Most of the audience was more than 30 years older.

Distance: 50.3 mi. (80.5 km)
Climbing: 1042 ft. (316 m)
Average Speed: 12.4 mph (19.8 km/h)

Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 2,209 miles (3,555 km)

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