September 19, 2021
Not a lot to report on today’s dirt road adventure. Except…more HORSEFLIES. They’re everywhere, and in great numbers. Well, at least in the woods.
We ate lunch at the Bullet House Grill in Point Blank this afternoon, then headed down FM 156 to Harrell Road. This road runs mostly through woods and connects to FM 946. It’s a pretty drive except for a couple of spots where people have dumped their garbage. Oh, and there were horseflies, so we didn’t stop to take any pictures.
We turned north onto FM 946, then turned right onto Snow Hill Road. Snow Hill also connects to FM 156. There are a few more houses along this route. Oh, and there were horseflies, too; so, still no pictures.
I was curious to see whether there were large numbers of horseflies in one of our favorite spots in Sam Houston National Forest, so we headed over to FR 213 off of Four Notch Road, south of Huntsville.
There is a parking area at one of the trailheads just inside the entrance. A vehicle was parked there, so I reasoned that the horsefly population in the area might be more tolerable.
But a short distance from the trailhead I saw several horseflies following us in our slipstream. I stopped the truck, and we were immediately surrounded by a frantic swarm of the things that was as thick as the one we had encountered in the Davy Crockett National Forest the other day. I cannot imagine what those hikers were experiencing. Maybe the flies are more attracted to little white pickups than people, but my personal experience suggests otherwise.
We turned onto FR 223 and looped back around to Four Notch Road, then headed to the Dairy Queen in Trinity, where we sat and ate ice cream in the truck while listening to Norm MacDonald talk about his Christian beliefs. Gonna miss Norm.