Its time for the annual TTPA Chili Ride. The Trinity Trail Preservation Association (TTPA) will sponsor a trail ride and Chili Cookout, Saturday, January 15 at the Brockdale Park trailhead in Lucas, Texas.

Trail Ride: Arrive trailhead at 2:00 PM. Ride out at 2:30 PM.

Dinner: Chili dinner scheduled for 5 PM. TTPA will be providing a bonfire, beverages, and Texas chili. Bring cornbread to share and a lawn chair.

There will be a $5 donation to cover chili and paper goods. Chili Dinner will be served at 5 PM after the ride. Join us for some great conversation with other riders. You can adjust your ride to your own schedule.

Please RSVP to Lana Gilstrap at lanagilstrap@sbcglobal.net so we can get a head count and know how much Chili to make. Sharon Berryman will be making the chili with assistance from the TTPA chuckwagon folks.

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.

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 gas 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 25.5-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 nearly 200 member families from the nearby communities. The trail runs from Highland Park in the north through Brockdale Park in Lucas through Collin Park in St. Paul to East Fork Park in Wylie.

For more information about TTPA, call Membership Chairman Ruth Blom at 214-418-4106. For additional information, see the Trinity Trail Preservation Association’s website at http://www.trinitytrailriders.org or the TTPA blog at http://www.trinitytrailsblog.org/.