Riding the trains to Boxers by Bruce

Pantego is a nice mature community nestled between Arlington, TX and Dalworthington Gardens / Fort Worth TX. This is where all my maintenance is done by Bruce of Boxers by Bruce. He is a meticulous and fair mechanic who used to work at Perry's.

The mission was to pick up my new (new to me) 1983 BMW R100S without bothering anyone for a ride or to borrow or rent a truck or use a taxi cab. I learned how to utilize public transportation when I lived in the San Francisco Bay area from 1998 until 2001 and actually liked it. There you could take your bicycle to a lot of cool places though.

Well I was pleased to see the light rail system of Dallas when I returned from the Bay area but disappointed that there are no bike carriers on the front of buses like they have in Fort Worth. With this knowledge of utilizing public transportation I was now ready to tackle the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex!

Arlington has everything, ie. Six Flags over Texas, Ranger Stadium, the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium, High taxes and NO BUSES! This is where the plan to ride the train to Richland Hills and then Ride the "T" (Fort Worth) buses as close to Pantego as I could get came about. Which as close as I could get was about 4 miles. I nice walk.

Slamming the alarm off every 7 minutes about 3 times and I was finally out of bed and ready for my adventure. By 6:00 I was walking to the Pearl Street DART light rail system. By 6:15 I had purchased my premium one day fare for $4.50 which would take me all the way to my final destination.

I got on at 6:20 and off at Union Station at 6:30 in time to grab a cup of java before the 7:02 TRE which heads west to Fort Worth. At 8:15 I got off the TRE (Trinity Railway Express Train) at Richland Hills and had a 5 minuite wait while the Bus driver on the Route 40 bus finished reading his newspaper. I transferred to Route 2 who was waiting for me at the transfer stop. I got off route 2 at Handley and Lancaster at 8:30 and really, really needed a bathroom. I walked east on Lancaster towards 820 adding an extra 1/2 mile to my walk to Pantego and found the absolutely best place to have home cooked breakfast that I have ever ate at and about this time I was getting pretty hungry.

The Dixie House Cafe at 6200 E Lancaster Road in Fort Worth cannot be beat from a food taste, quality, service and price stand point. I strongly reccommed you to go out of your way to eat there. They open until 2:00 in the afternoon except on Fridays when they are open until 8:30 pm.

Well I had a great breakfast and I was treking on foot to Boxers by Bruce by 9:10 a.m
Wow, this seems much longer than 4 miles. Wheew it is getting hot! It is time to peal some of these clothes off. Finally I stop at Pioneer Parkway and Park Springs to buy a coke at a conveinece storeand I see a Jeep Cherokee filling up with gas that has a Harley Davidson plug stuck in his trailer hitch receiver. I walk in buy a coke come back outside and start to drink my coke while acting exhausted, which was very easy because I was, and the man begins to ask me if my bike broke down beacuse I was carrying my helmet. I explained the situation and he offerd me a ride. I was very gracious and accepted. However to my surprise in about 200 yards we were there. Arrival time 10:30 a mere 4 and 1/2 hours later!

Future recommendation is to buy Bruce breakfast at the Dixie House Cafe!