by Flash Alexander | Mar 27, 2026 | Featured, Galleries and Display, HDR
Flash and Jan—clearly demonstrating a healthy disregard for staying in one place too long—hauled their fifth wheel from Topsail Island and eventually all the way to Loveland, Colorado, collecting camping stories like some folks collect refrigerator magnets. Along the route, they sampled a little bit of everything… but one stop deserves a sandy, slightly windblown spotlight: beach camping on the Bolivar Peninsula.
Now, “camping on the beach” sounds glamorous—and it is—but it also comes with a few unadvertised perks, like a fine, ever-present layer of sand in places you didn’t know sand could go, and a steady Gulf breeze that occasionally upgrades itself to “hold onto your hat and your awning.” Still, park your rig with the waves rolling in just steps away, and suddenly you’re convinced you’ve outsmarted the entire hospitality industry. Rocco the dog agrees.
Just outside Houston on the Gulf Coast, Bolivar Peninsula serves up miles of wide, drivable beaches that feel equal parts freedom and mild rebellion. Crystal Beach and Gilchrist are a quick five-minute drive—close enough for convenience, far enough to justify saying, “we’re getting away from it all.”
But here’s where things get interesting. If you can pry yourself away from your beach chair (and that’s no small ask), the surrounding area turns into a choose-your-own-adventure book:
Head inland to Big Thicket National Preserve, where Mother Nature decided one type of plant wasn’t enough and added carnivorous ones—because apparently the regular kind weren’t exciting enough.
Paddle through Galveston Island State Park, where kayaking trails wind through marshes that are peaceful, scenic, and just mysterious enough to keep you paying attention.
Or venture to Sea Rim State Park, where a casual game of “I spy” might escalate quickly if someone spots an alligator. (Pro tip: let the alligator win.)
Back on Bolivar, your accommodations can range from “fully loaded luxury cabin” to “we brought everything we own and parked it on the sand.” Either way, the peninsula delivers a rare combination: raw coastal beauty with just enough creature comforts to keep things civilized—depending on your definition of civilized, of course.
In short, Bolivar Peninsula isn’t just a stop on the map—it’s the kind of place that makes you question why you ever paid for oceanfront property when you can literally park on it.
by Flash Alexander | Jun 3, 2024 | Featured, Roxanne
Summer of ’23
Rox Baby had a great summer when Flash & Jan had returned and setup camp at Riverview RV Park in Loveland Colorado. Flash drove Roxanne from her garage hole in the Fort (slang for Fort Collins) and out into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Roxanne provided pickleball transportation through that summer, but alas all good things must come to an end; Roxanne had to head back to her Fort Collins storage garage. Flash disconnected her battery and poured a fair amount of Stabil into the gas tank.
Beach House a Bust
The beach house was supposed to be finished June 1st, whereupon Flash & Jan would be living there and getting every room outfitted with new furniture and assorted amenities. The Topsail Island vacation scene kicks off Memorial Day weekend and goes full steam until mid September. They had hoped to have their ocean view marvel ready for renters by July 1st, and thus receiving rental income to offset the oodles of cash that had been slipping through their fingers since they had the idea to purchase land on the north end of the island.
With a new finish date of August 31st, it was crystal clear that move in and furbish date would have the home rent ready after the season had come to an end, and so a new plan was born. The traveling duo now plan to return to Loveland and move into the Micro Ranch; a half acre property with views from the west foothills to Devils Backbone to the east. This property too will become a seasonal AirBNB rental, so it, like the beach house, will have to be furnished and outfitted.
Good News for Roxanne
At the Micro Ranch, Rox Baby will be moving into her own garage, this time with shop space! She’s hoping those rumored upgrades will become a reality. Will it be disc brakes? A new suspension would be nice. Maybe a Mustang II front end! Or how about shining up the stainless grill bars and putting them on over a new coat of paint?! Time will tell. A lot of her future will depend upon how lazy Flash is ;-P
by Flash Alexander | Apr 12, 2024 | Bric-a-Brac, Featured, Galleries and Display, HDR
Famous People
The Wright Brothers
On December 17, 1903, two brothers from Dayton, Ohio, named Wilbur and Orville Wright, were successful in flying an airplane they built. Their powered aircraft flew for 12 seconds above the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
“If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance.”
– Wilbur Wright
People
Orville and Wilbur Wright
“We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity.”
Located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in Dare County, the Town of Kitty Hawk offers year-round residents and visitors alike many spots for Kitty Hawk beach access, and a unique and relaxing vacation environment with plenty of things to do. The origin of Kitty Hawk’s name is still a matter of local debate.
by Flash Alexander | Apr 12, 2024 | Bric-a-Brac, Featured, Galleries and Display, HDR
Jan Baby and I stopped at Goose Creek State Park and Campground on a quick trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The park is a scant twenty minutes from Washington; AKA Little Washington, or as the locals proudly proclaim, the Original Washington. Yes, the town has a rich history. The campground has rich sunsets! I put my drone up in the air around sunset to have a look around. The trees in the Carolinas are so numerous and dense, that you can’t hardly see anything! Compare and contrast that to Colorado, where you can see natures beauty for miles. Sure, I love trees as much as the next guy, but will likely be spending most of my time near the coast/
Goose Creek April 3rd Sunset – After the Storm
Goose Creek Campground Drone View
Goose Creek State Park Boardwalk
Goose Creek State Park Resident
Goose Creek State Park Spring Flower
Goose Creek State Park Cabins
Lets Go Avs – Washington North Carolina
by Flash Alexander | Sep 25, 2019 | Featured, Fort Collins Running
September 23rd at 4AM I was quick out of bed and feeling good. The weeks leading up to this momentous event were not without trials and tribulations. Training never goes as planned and when plantar Fasciitis reared its ugly head I thought I would be looking for a bib buyer at the last minute. But a couple test runs earlier in the week gave me hope that I might just pull it off.
Anything Missing?
My morning routine consisted of coffee first, fresh ground from Starbucks beans followed closely by a small bowl of raw oats covered in almond milk (30%). I had my fanny pack of water, gels, credit card, cash, phone and several tablets of Ibuprofen ready from the night before. I pulled up the checklist on my phone to make sure I didn’t forget something important. It has happened in the past where I rush out the door and forget my phone, foot pod, HRM – once I forgot my water and gels?!
Did you see any omissions on that list? That notwithstanding, I used the bathroom and casually excited to my more modern F 150 pickup, put the key in the ignition and I was on my way to the park and ride. Green Events, the event organizer had arranged for school busses to transport all runners to the race start.
N
Dress
– Compression Socks
– Tank Top
– Sexy Shorts?
Pre Race
– Oatmeal
– Coffee
– Sunscreen
Other
– Water Belt w/ 2 full Bottles
– Bag ‘n TP (optional)
– Bib
– HRM
– Foot Pod
– 4 Gels
– Phone
– Ibuprofen (6)
– Cash & Card
– Sunglasses
– Sweatshirt
– 2 Extra H20 bottles at finish line
The trip from home to Poudre High School was uneventful, but interesting. At 4:45 AM all the cars on the roads were going to the same place. I parked my truck, skipped the porta potty and packet pickup and got into the buses line. As I neared the bus I remembered that my bib was my bus pass. Oh crap, I left my bib at home. What an IDIOT! I called Jan Baby several times and texted here but no joy. She was still catching zzzzz’s. So I jumped into the Ford and blasted home, running only one red light and doing a modest 55 in the 40 MPH zones. Got home, dashed inside and grabbed my bib, dashed back to the truck and on the return trip I upped the MPH by five and ran four lights; it worked. I got onto the last bus up the mountain, phew! While in route I pulled out my phone and added “bib” to my check list 🙂
Bus ride was a hoot. We were not singing songs, but we should have been! Upon disembarking at Mishawaka I went directly to the porta potties, no, I did not pass go nor collect $200.00. For you history buffs, Mishawaka was homesteaded in 1916, so it has some great Americana charm. That went smooth so from there I found a place to change out of my sweats and get into proper running attire; compression socks, over price New Balance running shoes, the briefest of shorts – sporting the Colorado logo no less, fanny pack with supplies, sun glasses and my favorite tank top in a lovely teal blue.
The final step before the gun was to get into the bag drop line. Green Events provided a honkin’ big box truck with volunteers stuffing bag after bag into the box of the truck. From there I spotted the 2:30 pacer about fifty yards down the road from me and the 2:45 pacer (Melody White) thirty yards up the road; a good place to get into the throng of expectant runners.
Looking at my watch I realized I didn’t have much time, just a minute or so and to my delight the race announcer got the race started exactly at 7 AM! Now that is refreshing.
I got off to a slow start. Bear in mind this race is 99% downhill, but not a steep downhill. I was literally just coasting along with the crowd. There was a racaus bunch behind me hooting it up AND they had a ghetto blaster blasting away. Looking back over my should I spotted Melody with her merry band of 2:45’rs. They were gaining on me so I picked up the pace to around 11:15/mi. I had it in my mind I would be doing 10:30/mi. more or less but everybody including myself said to take it easy at the start.
At the first pit toilet, somewhere around a mile down the road there was one runner exiting. At the second pit toilet, around mile 3 there were three women waiting. At the first water stop there were a row of porta potties with lines! Can you imagine having to wait in line to pee in the middle of a race? It was around mile five that I started to pick it up and got my pace down under 11/mi. As the miles slipped by I thought I was getting faster but when I would look at my Garmin it told a different story. The beautiful scenery was taking my attention more than my racing apparently.
Zack Sanchez with Flash Budddy First Glimpse of Sunshine Hitting mile eleven was a joy. Nothing was hurting too much. A little calf tightness still hanging around and maybe some foot soreness from the plantar fasciitis – though by now I had popped a few Ibuprofens ;-P Every step I was saying to myself; “new record, new record” since I had never been over eleven miles in my training prior to this run. At this point I knew I was going to finish the race. I was still cracking jokes, I slapped some old guy on the ass and said; “pick it up old man, we have to REPRESENT”. He gave me a big smile and fist bumped me. The whole route, when I could catch up to some other runner I would ask them if they had seen the 2:30 pace guy. “some where down there” was the answer. I was mystified, I felt like I was going to make it under 2:30 but I couldn’t spot that dude anywhere?!
I was at mile 13 and I still couldn’t see a finish line. By this time a finish line would have been a very welcome site. No, I wasn’t dying but I was really ready to be done running.
Finally I spotted it. Looking at my watch I saw I was now at 9/mi. and speeding up. Entering the finishing chute I was flying, now 7:30/mi. Don’t we all like to finish strong? Apparently not as I was flying by other runners in the chute. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough room to get around ’em all but somehow I didn’t clip anybody and made it over the finish line in 2:28:11. See, I was under 2:30. Where was that 2:30 pacer? I didn’t realize that I had passed him at the finish until my wife showed me the photos she had taken. You could just see my shoe in front of him.
Lauren Prince came up to congratulate me, I got a hug and wondered what my wife must be thinking when she’s right behind me watching me hug this tall slender athletic college aged woman. Turns out they had met on the bus and thus acquainted – phew! . I was taken aback by her interest in an old and slow guy like me. Lauren is a real runner! I had met here on one of the Wednesday morning Fort Collins Running Club Riverbend Ponds runs. She was chatty, a college student working on her doctorate as I recall, and able to handle the 10:30 Riverbend Ponds pace. Following her on Strava I discovered she is the real deal; a multi sport athlete turning in amazing results.
Next up was the donut line. Greedy as usual I filled my plate with strawberry filled, lemon filled and and old fashioned donut. Horse & Dragon Brewing Company was on hand to quench thirsts, though I ran into a little interference trying to fill my commemorative cup with one of their brews. I ran into the ID Nazi! “Where’s your ID tag sir? You have to have a tag to get beer!” Seriously? Look at me, how hold do I look to you? “It’s a rule”. I reply; “What is the reason for the rule, aren’t there generally reasons for rules?”. Confidently I explained to her that I was going to use my ugly face as an ID and see. She actually followed me along in the line to the point where the beer meister eagerly filled my cup and she didn’t quite know what to do at that point.
The after party was great. My favorite irreverent group was playing and announcing results. This events has an amazing group of sponsors and holy cow, the shear number of smiling helpful volunteers was amazing, except for the ID Nazi, she wasn’t smiling.
One of my favorite Strava followers Zack Sanchez strolled by and I shouted out to get his attention. This guy amazes me. He started running a few months prior and was running twelve minute miles. He finished his first half marathon with a blistering 9:30/mi. pace. He just keep getting faster. I expect he’ll be in the eights by next month.
by Flash Alexander | Jun 5, 2018 | Featured, Roxanne
Drove Roxanne to the Old Town Car Show here in Northern Fort Collins – 2018 edition. If your new to my blog here, Roxanne is my new girlfriend; 1950 Dodge B-2-B-108 Pickup Truck. Spent some time earlier in the week cleaning her up – got out the pressure washer and sprayed her inside, outside and underside. One doesn’t see much of an improvement but the driveway stains and dirt told another story. I went a little crazy spraying down the engine and got a lot of grease and dirt off – was a little freaked out that she might not start after water gets into the generator, starter, carb, etc. etc. so on and so forth… but she started right up!
My son Max walked over to the show from his Old Town apartment (he lives in a basement) and hung out with me. We enjoyed talking with one another and too with the car show attendees. Max was a good sport and tracked down a couple good burgers for lunch. I paid of course! It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to hear some of the stories car show visitors seeing Roxanne elicits. One fellow wanted to give me the original brochures and manuals he had from the truck his family moved from Nebraska to Colorado in. Their truck was long gone but the stories remained.
Rox Baby was the only vintage Dodge truck on display at the show! – Easy to see how she had garnered herself a first place finish in the Survivor class. The original paint, upholstery, even period correct tires with all the sidewall cracks you might expect.
NoCo Magazine wrote up a nice article on the show and featured Roxanne. That’s my girl.
Bus ride was a hoot. We were not singing songs, but we should have been! Upon disembarking at Mishawaka I went directly to the porta potties, no, I did not pass go nor collect $200.00. For you history buffs, Mishawaka was homesteaded in 1916, so it has some great Americana charm. That went smooth so from there I found a place to change out of my sweats and get into proper running attire; compression socks, over price New Balance running shoes, the briefest of shorts – sporting the Colorado logo no less, fanny pack with supplies, sun glasses and my favorite tank top in a lovely teal blue.
Former photographer, now WordPress aficionado and website developer - spending most days working feverishly, passionately and relentlessly from a Fort Collins, Colorado basement; occasionally accompanied by Jan Baby (the wife), Zac (eldest son), Max (humorous son) and or Molly the dog.Lunch is at noon, quitting time depends on whether or not I'm skipping out for a drop-in or stick & puck session; hockey eh?!Friendly to a fault, chatty and wannabe humorous, generally a helpful kinda guy. Poke Flash Buddy on Skype (flashhq) or send a message.
