Honkin' Mad

Flying saucers invade North Texas!!!

Well, they're flying saucers of the Frisbee variety ... Check out this video about disc golf, which is booming in North Texas.

No, it's not the usual coverage of commuting headaches, congestion, etc. I did it for fun.

Even so, this is a traffic blog, and I'd be remiss if I didn't give you some transportation info. So, here's a map of area disc golf courses.

E-mail me at gdickson@star-telegram.com if you need directions to a particular course. Watch for a print version of this story Saturday in your Star-Telegram print edition. (You remember, right? It's that rolled up thing in your driveway.)

Pix from today's rain-soaked Dallas Cowboys practice

The Dallas Cowboys held their first open practice in 17 years, and 15,000 any-weather fans braved a 45-minute downpour to cheer their team and get autographs from legendary players. Read the story. Here are some snapshots from my cellphone:

Cowboys executive Stephen Jones signs autographs.

Hall of Famer Bob Lilly signs autographs in a downpour.

A fan from Mineral Wells shows his love for the team.

Defensive lineman Marcus Smith comes out of the tunnel.

Linebacker DeMarcus Ware emerges from the tunnel.

The Dallas Cowboys begin an open practice Aug. 20, 2008.

Free stuff for commuters

Keep track of your commuting, and become eligible to win stuff. Details here
Pic: www.namedevelopment.com

TxDot official injured in car wreck

Maribel Chavez, Fort Worth district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, was hospitalized Tuesday after being injured in a car wreck Monday night in southwest Fort Worth.

Chavez was injured when another driver ran a stop sign and struck her vehicle, a department spokeswoman said. Chavez's right arm was broken in two places, and she suffered numerous cuts and bruises, but her injuries were not considered life threatening. Doctors at Harris Methodist Fort Worth surgically repaired her arm during a 2 1/2-hour procedure Tuesday afternoon.

Chavez had been scheduled to testify Tuesday during a legislative hearings on toll projects at the Texas Transportation Summit in Irving.

Bus crash is big topic at summit

Seat belts could have saved many lives. Latest story. Also, in that story are links to our coverage the past five days.

Swanky place

Omni Mandalay, Las Colinas, Irving, Texas.

Elected officials from across the region spend their constituents' money to come to this place and talk about transportation.

Bloggin' the transportation summit

Each year, more than 1,000 politicians, engineers and other transportation experts get together for a four-day Texas Transportation Summit. I'm covering the event all week, so if you've got a transportation-related question, ask me and I'll track down the person with an answer for you. This year it's at the Omni Mandalay hotel in Las Colinas ... Just about everyone is here ... Members of Congress, state legislators, county commissioners, highway and rail people, Texas Department of Transportation and North Texas Tollway Authority people, DART, the T and Denton County transit ... and consultants out the wazoo!

-- Gordon.

Summit agenda: http://www.2008transportationsummit.com/

Vickery Video

Check out the latest traffic info for U.S. 287, the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway, on this video.

Full o' hot air, but tellin' you about I-30 road work

Check out my latest video.

Fast food ... For the bird, not me

Stopped at a Taco Bueno today near North East Mall and the drive-through was slow.

However, the delay was mitigated by a heck of a nature show in the restaurant's shrubbery near the drive-through lane ... Not four feet from my driver side window, a grackel that had been perched on the drive-up menu board dive-bombed into a bush and snatched up an unsuspecting bug, which I'm pretty sure was a grasshopper. The bird then landed in the flower bed, with the struggling grasshopper in its beak, and slammed the bug to the ground, apparently to disorient his or her prey. Then as the dazed bug tried to crawl away, the bird used his/her beak to methodically squeeze the bug's head. About 10 times in a 5-second period, the bird, calmly and with precision, squeezed the bug's head and neck -- squeeze and release, squeeze and release -- until the bug stopped moving. Then, the grackel grabbed the lifeless grasshopper by one wing and swung it harshly to the ground, causing the wing to snap off. The grackel spit out that wing, and repeated the procedure with the other wing. I didn't see what happened next, 'cause the bird hopped behind a bush to finish its freshly killed and cleaned lunch, and about that time the drive-through line began to move, and I got closer to mine.