Celebrate Mardi Gras with a Trinity Trail Ride and Gumbo Dinner

NOTE: This ride has been rescheduled for Sunday 5 April 2009.

The Trinity Trail Preservation Association (TTPA) will host a Mardi Gras trail ride and Gumbo dinner on Saturday, March 28 at the Brockdale Park trailhead in Lucas, Texas, weather permitting. Arrive trailhead at 1:30 PM. Ride out at 2:00 PM. Dinner at 5:00 PM.

TTPA members Steve and Debbie Bourgeois have offered to make chicken and sausage gumbo for dinner. Please RSVP to Debbie at 214-383-0164 or email Debbie at dgbourgeois at dfwair.net so we can better estimate how much gumbo to make.

TTPA suggests a $5.00 donation to help cover dinner costs. Please bring garlic French bread and a dessert if you can. Join us for some great conversation with other riders. TTPA is encouraging all to wear purple, green and gold for the ride.

The ride will be automatically canceled if it is raining or if there has been so much rain as to make the trail extremely wet, muddy and dangerous. To check on trail conditions call Trail Steward Charlie Gaines at 972-824-3369.

Don’t forget your current negative Coggins Certificate for each horse, as state law requires us to check. You can’t enter the park without one. For safety reasons, dogs will not be permitted on the trail. They must remain tied at your trailer in camp. For more information, see the Trinity Trail Preservation Association’s website at http://www.trinitytrailriders.org.

Directions to Brockdale Park Trailhead

Lucas is northeast of Dallas, TX. From Dallas, go north on US 75 to the Bethany Drive exit in Allen and go east. Take Bethany Drive through Allen into Lucas (about 5 miles). Counting the light at the expressway exit, you will go through nine lights. The ninth light is at Bethany and FM 1378 where Lucas City Hall will be on the left. Go straight. In about ½ mile, when the road makes a sharp curve, you will see a stoplight and the Lucas Food Mart and Fina station will be on your left. Turn left here on FM 3286 and go less than a mile to Brockdale Park Road. There is a brown Brockdale Park sign on the right just before the turn. It turns off to the right. If you get to the bridge over Lake Lavon you have gone too far. Follow Brockdale Park Road around to the trailhead. You will drive through three 90-degree turns. The trailhead is at the 3rd 90-degree turn on the right and is bordered by white pipe fence. If you get to the boat ramp you have gone too far.

About Trinity Trail Preservation Association

The Trinity Trail Preservation Association is an all-volunteer equestrian organization whose main purpose is to maintain the 17-mile long trail on the Corps of Engineers land along Lake Lavon and to network with other trail riders. Besides maintaining the trail, the group sponsors trail rides and cookouts and has quarterly meetings with speakers on horse-related issues. The group is truly regional and has over 130 member families from Addison, Allen, Aubrey, Blue Ridge, Celeste, Celina, Dallas, Fairview, Farmersville, Forney, Garland, Josephine, Lavon, Lucas, McKinney, Melissa, Mesquite, Murphy, Nevada, Parker, Pilot Point, Plano, Pottsboro, Princeton, Quitman, Richardson, Rockwall, Rowlett, Royce City, Sachse, Sanger, St. Paul, Van Alstyne, and Wylie. In addition, riders and hikers from all over the Metroplex come to enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of the trail. The trail runs from Brockdale Park in Lucas through Collin Park in St. Paul to East Fork Park in Wylie.

The TTPA members are currently working with the Lake Lavon Army Corps of Engineers and Texas Parks & Wildlife to extend the trail northward to Fairview. They are also working with Collin County Parks and Open Space and the Lake Lavon office of the Army Corps of Engineers to build an equestrian campground at East Fork Park in Wylie, Texas. Officially organized in 1997, all funding has been from 50% matching grants awarded by Texas Parks & Wildlife and Collin County Parks and Open Space, cash donations from members, thousands of volunteer hours and the help and support of the Corps of Engineers, and the Cities of Lucas and Wylie. The group publishes a monthly newsletter filled with upcoming events and dues are $25 per year.

For more information, call Membership Chairman Ruth Blom at 214-418-4106 or contact her via Email at frblom@tx.rr.com. To support the trail and get regular delivery of the monthly newsletter, send $25 to Trinity Trail Preservation Association, c/o Pat Martin, 4040 Avion Drive, Wylie, TX 75098. For more information, see the Trinity Trail Preservation Association’s website at www.trinitytrailriders.org and the TTPA Blog at http://www.trinitytrailsblog.org.