23-Jan-2026 -- With any major road trip, I tend to scout my planned route for any accessible confluence sites. Driving to Houston for a conference, I was delighted to find that 33°N, 97°W would only require a trivial detour from I-35E in the DFW metro. Conveniently, the site is situated on an easily accessible grassy field within a massive 168-acre business complex.

Had I not been out of town on a random weekend in June, I would have probably visited this confluence sooner; my college friends, led by experienced explorers Michael G and Jack S, travelled to this confluence on a warm, sunny weekend in June this past year. Travelling in mid-January, however, my experience was much different. During my visit, the DFW metro, along with a large swath of the US, was bracing for a catastrophic winter storm, with significant sleet and icing forecasted for DFW (and significant snowfall for my dwelling in central Oklahoma, meanwhile) within 48 hours of my travels. With travel likely to be near impossible on Saturday and Sunday, these factors had led to my early departure from Oklahoma on Friday.

Following in the footsteps of Michael G's squad, I briefly stopped for lunch at the In-N-Out in the rapidly expanding DFW suburb of Denton. Being the nearest In-N-Out location from home, it's a natural stop for us Oklahomans driving to DFW. After a short 15-minute drive southeast along I-35E, I also approached the confluence site from the north, though my GPS took me through a slightly more circuitous route via Bellaire Blvd and Edmonds Ln rather than TX 121 and Round Grove Rd. After passing several atrocious speed bumps along the lengthy driveway to the massive business complex that the confluence is situated on (any speed >5 MPH was insufficient), I had reached the site.

Unlike my friends' visit, I had arrived during business hours on a Friday. While there weren't any vehicles parked in the section of the lot immediately adjacent to the confluence, and I never spotted anyone, I had an ominous feeling I was being watched through the dark, opaque windows to the east, from what appears to be a walkway between buildings.

While avoiding the wintry precipitation, my journey was also characterized by light rainfall, breezy 15 kt northeasterly winds (per DFW ASOS), and chilly temperatures in the mid-40s (7-8°C) as a shallow cold front was beginning to pass through and isentropic ascent accompanied it. The gloomy skies and damp, cool conditions perhaps more closely resembled Joseph Kerski's previous visit in 2013.

For the sake of avoiding undesirable attention and the unpleasant weather conditions, I hastily walked the unremarkable ~30 meters to the confluence through wet grass, took my photos, and left. Distinct from the many rural and often hard-to-reach confluence sites most common across the US, this confluence was a walk in the (business) park.

Satisfied with my fifth confluence visit, second solo visit, and first visit of 2026, I continued onward through light to moderate rainfall and mild DFW traffic toward my final destination of Houston by nightfall.