Soaring above the trees, on the longest zipline in Texas, the machismo set in and — for some dumb reason — I let go of my rope.
The pulley held my weight as I spun in circles, taking in breathtaking views from 100 feet above the ground. A pond nestled in the valley, far below pine-dotted ridges and clear blue skies.
Scott Brunner/News-Journal Photo |
Head guide Carson Shultz, 20, speeds toward the landing on one of the lines at New York, Texas Zipline Adventures. The course is the only canopy tour in East Texas and boasts the longest zipline in the state.
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Suddenly — "Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!"
I had forgotten one of the first rules of our tour at New York, Texas Zipline Adventures, a high-flying course about an hour and a half southwest of Longview: Raise your legs and feet, and keep them that way. Still flying forward, my feet pounding the tops of the trees, I righted myself only to see our guide's eyes widen with alarm.
He waved: Stop! Stop!
I zoomed toward the end of the line, directly into the path of a thick pine tree. If I couldn't stop myself, the tree was sure to make an efficient, bone-crunching job of it.
Thrills and spills
It had been an adventuresome day, to say the least.
In the fifth day trip of the News-Journal's summer series, we decided to forego the many historical museums and other educational and cultural offerings of East Texas. Instead, we set off to chase a few mindless thrills.
The first of them came on the looping tube water slides at an indoor waterpark south of Tyler — the Silverleaf Resorts Waterpark at the Villages.
"Just sit inside the tube when it twists and turns everywhere," advised Paiton Mitchell, who was taking a break from the slides. "When you get off you splash in the water like 'plunk.' "
To celebrate her 10th birthday, Paiton, of Chandler, said her friends were treating her to a trip to the waterpark.
"This is my present," she said.
When not plunking into the water from one of the park's four water slides, visitors float along the lazy river or wade in the wave pool.
Screaming kids also climb on the "Forest Ranger children's playscape" or stand under the "dump bucket," which drops 1,000 gallons of water every 5 1/2 minutes.
The park is open year-round. To stay warm, it uses an elaborate system that sucks humidity from the air and runs it through condenser coils, generating energy that heats the water to 85 degrees.
On warmer days, a retractable roof lets in the sun. The 25,000-square-foot facility is on the grounds of a private lakeside resort, but the waterpark is open to the public.
"We get some retirees, some young people, but the majority are families," said Cathie Hayward, operations manager.
These pigs have wings
After drying off, and with time to spare before our zipline adventure, we headed down the road to the Purple Pig Cafe.
The barbecue joint in Flint boasts a hodgepodge of American Indian decor, ranging from a Totem pole and stretched animal furs to a framed portrait of Geronimo, as well as purple-feather dream-catchers and a giant tepee outside.
But the real reason to visit is a heaping plate of tender, smoky "pig wings."
Pig wings are actually rib tips, a poor-man's cut of meat that is trimmed from the rest of the rib when preparing St. Louis-style spare ribs.
To eat a pig wing, douse it with the Purple Pig's sweet and spicy rib sauce, nibble away at it till the whole thing will fit in your mouth, then suck down the rest of the meat till all that's left is cartilage.
Spit the cartilage onto your plate and grab another.
"Do y'all like the pig wings? Aren't they good?" asked our server, Chelsey Sawyer. "I could eat them all day long.
"I do sometimes."
We could have, too, but it was time for our next adventure.
Zipping through New York
It's a leisurely 20-minute drive from the waterpark and Purple Pig all the way to New York, home of cheesecakes and ziplines and not much else.
"It's a feed store and a church is all it is," zipline guide Chad Shultz would inform us later.
We took our time getting there, down narrow roads that wind through the rolling countryside southwest of Lake Palestine. Passing another car was an occasion that warranted a friendly wave.
The driveway to the Shultz house and zipline course climbs almost straight up. The ascent leads to one of the highest points in East Texas, at 772 feet, and from the perch on their iron ore hill, the Shultz family can see downtown Tyler more than 30 miles away.
The view alone is worth the drive.
"The ziplines were an afterthought," said Connie Shultz, the family matriarch, relaxing on the wrap-around porch of her century-old, two-story home. "We weren't thinking about that when we bought the property."
Her husband, Charles, is a home mover who put the house on the hill in 2001. Later, he was watching a Discovery Channel show about ziplines when it dawned on him that his 55 acres would be perfect for a course of his own.
The family operation didn't start small. The Shultzes' first line is 900 feet long, the longest zipline in Texas. They added five more lines to form a course that takes about an hour and a half to complete.
"When we first started I was really nervous, but once you're on it, it's a good way to just escape and relax a little bit," said Carson Shultz, 20, the head guide.
His 25-year-old brother, Chad, is the lead guide. They work together, leading an average of eight tours a day.
Wearing a harness and helmet, zipline guests spend most of the time standing on wooden platforms built high in the pine tree canopy. Guests are always fastened to safety lines that prevent them from plummeting to the forest floor.
Gliding through the trees is a thrilling experience, but it's also gentle enough for children and elderly people, Carlton Shultz said.
"It's something they can still do with their grandkids, not just playing checkers," he said. "Nothing against checkers."
He hooked me in for my next ride.
"Can I get a running start?" I asked.
"Go for it," he said. "We're the coolest guides ever!"
On the sixth and longest line, confidence was high. I turned loose of the cable, swirling around to absorb the panoramic views, but when my feet started smacking the tops of the trees I turned around to see I was hurtling toward a pine tree.
I reached up and grabbed the cable and squeezed it hard, the friction burning through my gloves. I raised my feet just in time to set them on the wooden platform and slung myself onto it, skidding to a stop a few feet from the tree.
Disaster averted, we unloaded our gear and kicked back in the shade of the Shultz family's porch. The brothers told us to come back any time.
"In the winter, it's a different course because there are no leaves on the trees," Carson Shultz said. "In the fall, all the leaves are changing, and it's really, really colorful. In spring, the leaves are coming back, and in the summer it's just great to get out there in the sunshine."
*****
On the trip
Silverleaf Resorts Waterpark at the Villages
An indoor waterpark about 15 miles south of Tyler, featuring water slides, lazy river, wave pool and playground equipment.
Where: 18270 Singing Wood Lane in Flint
Phone: (903) 534-8400
Web site: www.silverleafresorts.com/waterpark
Purple Pig Cafe
Tempt yourself with succulent ribs, pulled pork sandwiches or catfish while taking in the American Indian-themed decor.
Where: 19785 Texas 155 in Flint
Phone: (903) 825-6800
Web site: www.purplepigcafe.com
New York, Texas Zipline Adventures
Where: New York community south of Brownsboro
Phone: (903) 681-3791
Web site: www.goziptexas.com
About the series
News-Journal reporter Wes Ferguson and Web site Content Editor Scott Brunner are spending part of the summer traveling around East Texas, giving readers ideas for day trips. See past stories and videos online at news-journal.com/daytrips.
June 22: On and around Caddo Lake
June 29: From Gilmer to Lone Star
July 6: Crossing the border
July 13: A maze of kitsch
Today: Soaring through the trees
July 27: Nacogdoches? hidden gem
