Preston Ridge Trail

[gurdonark]

Today we went to the Best Little Bakery in Texas, the doughnut emporium in Allen which greeted us with a 'closed for equipment malfunction' sign a few weeks ago. Today the sign said GRAND OPENING, and we were delighted to see the store in full operation. As we were ordering our food (a jalapenoa kolache for my young friend, a cinnamon roll for me), the owner, a really chipper, pleasant person, said "doughnuts fresh out of the oven--your lucky day!" and proceeded to give us newly-ready glazed doughnuts, warm and so very good. We like the new owner very much and will be regulars at this shop.

We then headed to Alma Road and Spring Creek Road in Plano, where we parked my Chevrolet, got out our bicycles, and began to ride Plano's Bluebonnet Trail. This trail runs under power lines in wide open spaces
amid stands of wildflowers. The Spring wildflowers are almost gone. The bluebonnets long ago ceased their bloom, and the fields of flowers now include mostly firewheels (blanketflower) that is past its prime bloom.

We rode west on this sidewalk path, past the dog park and over little creek crossings, until we got to the
Preston Ridge Trail. We turned right onto this trail, which headed north. We rode it to its end which is
very far north in Plano or Allen, not far from my house. We turned around and rode back to the place we started, after a slight detour off-sidewalk for a bit of exploration on a less-paved trail.

As we crossed on suburban street, Foxglove, my young friend spotted a wallet lying in the middle of the road. Inside the wallet was a driver's license, credit cards, and the other emblems of modern wallet style.
The driver's license told us that its owner lived a few blocks away, also on Foxglove. We pedaled our way over, rang the doorbell, and waited for someone to answer the door. After an interval, an attractive young woman wearing a headscarf answered the door. We explained we were bike riders who found the wallet in the middle of the road. She gave us a big smile, said "thank you!", took the wallet, and closed the door.
We resumed our pedaling to my vehicle, stopping here and there to drink water from a fountain and to
sit on park benches to rest. We saw lots of mockingbirds. I liked the one that was vigorously chasing a squirrel,after the squirrel had apparently given offense. Mockingbirds tend to be strict enforcers of social etiquette.

In all, our bike ride lasted 2 hours and 50 minutes. We covered over 12.8 miles. Then we went to Firehouse Subs in McKinney. I had a roast beef sandwich. My young friend had a King's Hawaiian--ham and cole slaw on King's Hawaiian bread. The manager was nice--when I asked for nutrition information on my friends' sandwich, he texted to me a pdf of the nutrition label. The sandwich contained dozens upon dozens of grams of fat. I am glad I chose instead a simple roast beef sandwich.

My friend and I stopped at the Game Stop in Allen, where he got a used XBox 360 game. Then I drove him home. I liked the herons and egrets I saw when we crossed the Lake Lavon bridges. I listened to a song I like called "Uncle Lijah", during my drive home.

When I got home, I found my wife had gone to visit a co-worker in the hospital and then to shop. I fell asleep at 2 p.m. and awoke at 5 p.m. My wife returned home, and we decided to go see "Moonrise Kingdom" at the movie house in west Plano. We got our tickets, and then went to Lover's Egg Roll for dinner. I had spicy Korean chicken, served with steamed rice (and a surprising number of chopped jalapeno peppers). My wife had
chicken with steamed vegetables.

We enjoyed the movie a lot--the scenery details reminded us of our childhoods. Then we went and had frozen yogurt at the Velvet Spoon in the Market Street shopping area on Bethany Road.
We finished our night by watching two episodes of the first season of the show "Game of Thrones".