Tracy Hills Update

Posted on July 15, 2018 by vanbraman

Back in December I wrote a post titled Tracy Hills Construction Begins. I decided tonight to give an update as I found out that Google Maps has a new satellite image of the area that is quite interesting. But first a bit about Corral Hollow.

Tracy Traffic Troubles, Tracy Hills, Road Closure, Landscaping, 11th street, 580, Corral HollowEarlier this year Corral Hollow was closed entirely for utility work to support the Tracy Hills project. See my post Tracy Traffic Troubles for more details. There were many upset people who had to find other routes for their commute.

Corral Hollow, New Island, Tracy Hills, ConstructionCorral Hollow is now back open and includes a traffic island for the entry to the Tracy Hills project. My Sunday morning drive to Patterson is a bit shorter now 🙂

Blurry images brought to you by my dirty windshield which the camera focused on.

Tracy Hills, Tracy California, Corral Hollow, New HomesHere you can see road construction equipment at the Tracy Hills project. They are getting ready to start paving the roads throughout the project which is one of the last steps before houses start rising from the ground.

Tracy Hills, Tracy California, Tracy ConstructionHere is the new satellite image from Google Maps. You can see the general outline of the roads in the project. It was interesting to compare it with project maps available in Tracy Planning Commission meeting minutes.

Housing pads, Tracy Hills, Tracy CaliforniaHere is a closer look at the satellite image. You can see the individual parcels of land where houses will soon be built.

I am not looking forward to all the commuters this project will generate. But, perhaps they will get the metering lights on the Altamont activated before they will start having an effect on my commute. See: Metering the Altamont

Steven

Posted in Construction, Local, transportation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Virtual Hike to Liberal, Kansas

Posted on July 14, 2018 by vanbraman

I am a bit behind both on the reporting of my Virtual Hike and also the actual walking that is reflected by the virtual hike.

I reached another destination while I was in South Africa last month. The most recent destination was Liberal, Kansas which is a place that I have visited many times in the past.

Liberal, Kansas, Kenton ,Oklahoma, Panhandle of OklahomaThis segment of the virtual hike started in Kenton, Oklahoma. See my post: Virtual Hike to Kenton, Oklahoma

Oklahoma Panhandle, wheat fields, pasture, big skyThe route was through the Oklahoma Panhandle and much of it looked just like this screen shot from Google Maps. The Oklahoma Panhandle is full of pasture and wheat fields and most of it is very flat.

Speaking of flat makes me think of ‘flat as a pancake’ and here is an interesting fact about Liberal, Kansas.

Liberal is the home of one of the two pancake races that are run on International Pancake Day on Shrove Tuesday. See my post International Pancake Day for more information about this event.

Dorothy's House, Wizard of Oz, Liberal KansasLiberal is also home to the Dorothy’s House and Wizard of Oz museum. It is right behind the hotel that I would often stay at while visiting Liberal.

Liberal Hospital, Liberal, KansasBack when I worked as a field service engineer I would often visit Southwest Medical Center in Liberal. It was a very long trip to get there and would make for a very long week when I would get an emergency call.

I am slowly getting back on track with my walking. While in South Africa I could not walk much for safety reasons and during the last night I stubbed my little toe in the middle of the night on the way back to bed. It was a very bad stub, but it is slowly getting better.

I have a good start toward the next destination on my virtual hike, and for those that know me well they can probably deduce my next destination which is about 75 miles from Liberal.

Steven

Posted in Memories, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment