Category: Road Trip

Camping – Dinosaur Valley State Park – Texas

4 Days. and 3 Nights Camping at Dinosaur Valley State Park - Texas

I would like to start off this travel log with an apology to the people in hike-in site 1. Don’t know who you are, but I know we caused more havoc after 9:45 than you deserved.  The little folding camp chairs sitting next to your fire ring were a cute reminder that your crew would be paying us back around 6:30 am.
Camping - Dinosaur Valley

And so we ran back to the parking lot twice trying to be as quiet as possible.
We set camp and were down by 11:30. Must have been 2 am when we had our first visitor, a raccoon. They would come to visit each morning between 1 and 2. They do throw a bit of a fit when you tie down the trashcan lid.

Day 2 at Dinosaur Valley State Park

I needed to go to the car and grab a few things to get breakfast going but wasn’t willing to do the walk of shame past campsite 1. So we waited till they packed up before we showed our face. We ate a big camp scramble using out turkey fryer and big castiron skillet.
Recent rain had brought the river level up a bit and provided the day’s entertainment.
River fun at Dinosaur Valley State Park
We could not keep people from walking through our camp. This was really annoying. By day 3 we blocked off the makeshift trail from the river to our site. That night I had to be in Stephenville, Texas to shoot video for work.

Day 3 at Dinosaur Valley State Park

After a big breakfast, we packed up and hiked while it was cool. The first half of the hike was pleasant. Most of the hiking trails at the park are located on the other side of the river. So coming or going you have a chance to cool off. We hiked up a way and had lunch on the trail.

Once back at the tent we found a baby squirrel inside.

The afternoon was a repeat of the previous day.
Kids in water, then napping, then I head off to work on a video production.
I made it back to cook tacos for dinner and then hang out by the campfire till bedtime.
Once again the raccoons made a visit, but this time it was while Kendra and I were sitting by the fire.

This trip provided some of the best camping sleep I have ever had. It does help that we used the big camp cots. Grason chooses to be tough and sleep on the floor of the tent.

As people passed by the tracks close to our campsite we would overhear discussions. The best quote all week was,

“There is no way these are millions of years old, they would be washed away long before now.”

Camping at Dinosaur Valley State Park is Awesome.

This is not meant to be the worlds best travel log but a reminder to me and the family about the fun few days we spent on the bank of the Paluxy River in Glen Rose, Texas. The State Park was great and we will be back again to play in the dino tracks, hike and bike the trails.

Thanks for reading,

Derrick Perrin

Paluxy River
bikepacking the AZT300

Finished – How one man lied, cheated, and stole his was to completing the Arizona Trail Race

Derrick Perrin on bike

Things didn’t work out as planned this year, they never do. Never! In 2016 everyone around me was healthy and I tapped out of the (Arizona Trail Race) AZT300 due to an illness. Jump to 2017, I’m healthy and everyone around me is sick.

On one hand, planning, workouts, sponsorships came together perfectly, and then there was chaos falling apart in the opposite direction.

It takes me back to my chemotherapy treatment days. For every victory out there, there was something kicking you in the nuts trying to break you.

Every decision had a bad effect on someone.

I had a mission to go and complete this race and dedicate it to the memory of James A. Ragan.


My family was not going to make the trip to Arizona so I offered up a seat to my aunt Tish. She jumped onboard and me, my mom and my aunt took off west.

Mountain bike on a suv rack

April 5

Balmorhea, Texas to Sonoita, Arizona. We made one pit stop in El Paso, TX to pick up a new set of grips. Thanks, Crazy Cat Cyclery. You have a nice shop.

As a small business owner, you have to complete all the to-dos before getting on a bike and riding off into the wilderness. My last to-do was a big law video production. To get this one completed I found myself in a parking lot 35miles west of my cozy bed at 3:30 am. Not having internet sucked. By 4:30 the edit was complete and uploaded, everything had been checked off the list and it was time for rest.

April 6

Prep day Thursday
The first day to have all the bags loaded up. A small amount of anxiety knowing that day 1 and the Canelos are calling. At the Xanadu guest ranch, I had a great talk with Don, a road tour rider from Nebraska. Don spent the last part of March traveling Arizona by bicycle. He and his riding buddy were quite the inspiration.

Packing bike bags is a problem without a perfect answer. You must keep heavy stuff down low, items needed quick need to be close, and bedding gear tends to be fluffy and bulky. So if you pack for weight alone you will not have quick access to the things you need. If you pack for quick items you might have a lopsided bike. If you pack your pack… blah blah blah, I will figure it out as I go was the plan.

There were fires causing a detour in the route up Mt Lemmon. I was bummed hearing this because I wanted to trudge through the suck that came with taking off to Redington Road and climbing the mountain.

Camber frame bag

Move on to AZT Race Day 1

AZT17 Planning

Tuesday April 4, 2017

Tuesday April 4, 2017

Stay at Balmorhea State Park.

9207 TX-17, Toyahvale, TX 79786
(432) 375-2370

Reservation Confirmation – 18062157

Travel Time
6 h 58 min

Wednesday April 5, 2017

Wednesday April 5, 2017

Xanadu Ranch GetAway
92 S.Los Encinos Rd, P.O. Box 1291
Sonoita, Arizona, 85637-1291, United States
520-455-0050

Travel Time

7 h 11min

Thursday April 6, 2017

Thursday April 6, 2017

Xanadu Ranch GetAway
92 S.Los Encinos Rd, P.O. Box 1291
Sonoita, Arizona, 85637-1291, United States
520-455-0050

Local tourist attraction day.

Friday April 7, 2017 - Race Day 1

Friday April 7, 2017

Xanadu Ranch GetAway
92 S.Los Encinos Rd, P.O. Box 1291
Sonoita, Arizona, 85637-1291, United States
520-455-0050

First fay of AZT 300

Drop of Derrick at Parker Canyon

Kendra and Crew do local attraction

Race Information

Broken, Busted, But ready to do it again.

This scrap of note was found in my draft bin. Just sticking it out there as a reminder of how I felt coming off the AZT.

Day 3, my last day on the Arizona Trail.

I unpacked my bags off the bike and was able to get my bike on my rack. I had to have help using my tie down straps. My hands were not functioning well. Hand strength was something of a sore subject. I didn’t have much in the ring and pinky department. Kendra had to thread the come-a-long strap so I could ratchet my bike in place. The previous night I had dumped my regular glasses on the trail so I was left with only sunglasses.
My fingernails were dinged up and needed cut. I didn’t have the strength to trim them. I had to put the trimmers on the counter and then insert a nail before pressing down with my palm. This got the job done but made for ugly nails. I had issues controlling my body temp at night. This might have something to do with the abundance of iodine I was taking. This was all in the name of pure water. Well, water that was good enough to keep me hydrated.

Sea to Summit Bicycle bar bag.

Bikepacking the AZT300

Update

In 2017 I was able to make it to Parker Canyon and start the Arizona Trail Race again. If you care to read about it, please move on over to the page. Thanks for reading about my adventures.

Frank Lloyd Wright Origami Chair

Back in 2006 my wife and I went to Las Vegas for wedding video training. This was a long road trip with a few sweet stops. We stopped by Frank Lloyd Wright’s western headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was the first time for me to sit in a Frank Lloyd Wright Origami Chair. The other name for the seat is the “upholsterer chair”

One day I would love to own a pair of chairs like this. The comfort factor was nice.
-Derrick

Texas Road Trip & Sugar Problems

So sweets are a problem….  a seriously huge problem. Plain sugar, sugar substitutes or anything that has a huge glycemic index will cause you problems.  So choose your poision in the form of sugar or sugar substitute, they will kill you.

There off my soap box now.

This week’s forecast is set for travel with a chance for answers:

Tuesday – We drop off our little crew with family in Port Lavaca.  They are amazing and the kiddos love it there. So thankful we have them in our life and our kids are so loved by so many.

Wednesday – Austin, Texas is the home of N4H Research.  Glen R. Luepnitz, Ph.D. is the man with the plan. He holds a doctorate in Nutritional Counseling and that is really cool. I’m going in to pick his brain on nutritional oncology. That would be the type of oncology that does not involve chemotherapy.

Thursday – The Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas will be our destination.  Stanislaw R. Burzynski, M.D., Ph.D. is a cancer mad man. This is a good thing. 10 years before I was born he  identified naturally occurring peptides in the human body which he concluded control cancer growth. He found that there is a marked deficiency of these peptides in cancer patients. My M.D. Anderson oncologist doesn’t care what causes cancer and only has one way to fix it…. Chemotherapy.

Friday – Well that is up in the air. We are hoping to get into Dr Hammond’s office in Dallas.  He reads the RGCC Blood test and dissects what works best in the body.  I had blood sent to Greece in September and it was tested against a board of chemos and natural substances that kill the cancer in my body.

I’m really looking forward to getting into Hammond’s office. His office has real promise in my world.

We will keep you posted on what is going on this week and how the travels are going.

Take care,

Derrick Perrin

Derrick Perrin - 1992

Cold ride home – Basketball trips

Here comes a throwback story from my childhood.

Back in the spring of 1992 I was an 8th grader and my brother James was  completing his junior year of high school.  Snoop Dog had just made his debut in the radio-rap world. My family has this thing for basketball and we were pretty good at it. James was invited to play in a high end league based in Houston, Texas. The basketball kids were the best of the best from the south east Texas region. Any given Friday night you would walk into a gym and there would be division 1 college scouts sitting there waiting to pick the next crop of freshmen college b-ball players. The logistics of getting out of school in the afternoon and making it to Houston on time were rough. We were prepared to hit the road running when the last bell rang. It took about 3 hours with no bathroom breaks to get there in time for James to walk in for the last 5 minutes of warmups.

To get ready for the trips I would have my pillow and blanket packed in the car so I could sleep on the way up. Once in Houston the games were always entertaining and worth watching. We would hit up Ninfa’s Restaurant and head back on the same night. That is right 6 hours of driving for a one hour basketball game. Did I mention we had a thing for basketball in our family? The end payoff for all the travel was a basketball scholarship that covered Jame’s full ride through his undergraduate degree and priceless family memories. The Houston basketball league trips evolved into a family road trip to Arizona. That trip will be its own blog post or quite possibly its own blog.

Plymouth Sundance Duster

Well back to the quick trips to Houston. One night riding back I woke up between El Campo and Victoria and being a smart ass kid I popped off to my brother who was driving. I asked, “Hey James do you think it can get any colder in here?” He didn’t say anything. He just reached over and turned the A/C on to max. My mom loves the cold so there we went down the road in a meat locker. I had my blanket and pillow and it was still not enough. Being the little brother you take crap to prove you are man enough to hang out with big brother and all the perks that come with that. So I just sat back and figured, If he can take it, I can take it.

The next 2 hours home were bitterly cold. I shivered, I shook, but I did not break.  I’m not sure if there was a true winner of the cold weather stand off, but we have a story to tell because of it. I was so happy to get out of that car and get into my warm bed.

Well that is the way I remember it.

-Derrick

 

 

Going to Houston and were going to have a good time


So we are packing for a trip to MD Anderson and we are taking the kids with us to Houston.

The doctors in Lymphoma say clots are common but want me to have it checked out just for fun. So we are headed to Houston and will be back in Corpus Christi late on Tuesday.

I’m shooting a commercial on Wednesday in Corpus Christi and then will be shooting a pharmaceutical video in San Antonio on Thursday. This is looking like it will be a good week…. well minus the blood clots in my arm.

We will keep you posted.
-Derrick

Blending in Bucces

image

We are on our way to Houston and had to stop at Buc-ee’s. We always do. This was a different because of my diet. I eat, uh I drink my meals these days. After looking all around the parking lot we had no luck finding a power plug to run the blender. My mom asked and we were granted access to the plug in the center of the store.

image

So we blended two smoothies why the customers scratched their heads.

Sorry folks no samples today

Super Dude – Grason

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Meet Grason out 6 year old. He loves his Henry Bear (dressed in red short sitting in lap) and wearing super hero capes. This cape is a new one made by his Gramsy.

Each time we visit my Doctor in Wimberley we take time to enjoy the surroundings and swing on the rope.

It was a long day but a good day.
Derrick

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