Fourth of July bike ride is not my usual agenda for the day but this year the situation was different and I rolled out the driveway at 10:20 AM. I chose the “Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch” route to avoid the parade route and crowds in Kingwood.

Traffic was light along the route except for a 4 vehicle wreck at River Walk and FM 1314. This must’ve happened a few minutes before I arrived from Cumberland to the west. A blue pickup truck was sideways in the intersection with two small cars sandwiched between the side of the pickup truck and a SUV. It appeared the SUV rammed into the small cars which then crashed into the pickup. The airbags in the SUV deployed as did the ones in the small car on the left. The small car on the right looked like an older VW Bug. I couldn’t tell if anyone was hurt. Traffic was going around the pileup as a Montgomery County Sheriff deputy worked the scene. After I passed the wreck a Porter VFD engine appeared from Sorters Road. Not too long after that an ambulance passed me heading to the scene followed by two Texas DPS state trooper cruisers. This was not the excitement the people in the vehicles expected on their 4th of July.

Early this morning a rains storm passed through the area and I waited a little longer to start the ride. Some of the streets had puddles but on FM 1314 it looked like the rain skipped there. Weather during the bike ride: start 82 (95% humidity, 80.1 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 7 mph. Finish 91 (71% humidity, 80.6 dew point), overcast, wind SE 13 mph. The wind made it hard pedaling from Valley Ranch to Northpark Drive.

I stopped at the Valley Ranch Texaco and took these photos.

These flags caught my eye as I rode through Woodridge Forest near the end of the ride.

They looked special today being the Fourth of July with the wind blowing them out.