Oct. 8 Work Session

Took some photos of crossings that I cleared during the Oct. 8 work session, using Lou Houck's camera during the Oct. 22 excursion.  This is the Campa Pajama crossing to the east of Lake LBJ and the Spyke's BBQ lunch stop:

Here's the other side of that crossing.

Here's a close-up of an area I had to cut with a lopper since the stalks were too tough for my weedwhacker.

Here are the excursion motorcars parked at the other Campa Pajama Lane crossing that I cleared.

I'm glad I cleared these areas with my push weed-whacker (a DR trimmer) to make the excursion a safer and more enjoyable experience.  But the fact that it took about 3.5 hours to clear the intersection shown in the first three photos says to me that I was using the wrong tool.  Indeed, the five to six-foot weeds were wrapping themselves around the shaft, forcing me to shut it down after only 15-30 seconds each time.   Jerry suggested that I could use a lawn tractor, but that isn't a great option when you can hit rocks and throw a blade.  So I went looking on the internet and found a sickle bar mower on a BCS two-wheel garden tractor.  Went up to Lago Vista on Saturday, bargained with the owner and got it for a reasonable price.  Of course, it needs 10 new teeth so there is some work to be done on it, but I think it might just work for these railroad ROWs where you don't know what is underneath that tangle of grass and weeds.  The sickle bar is 45" wide so it should be able to cut a pretty good swath.  Will post a picture of it soon.