The Katy Trail is kind of a place to be seen, especially if you want to get fit.
"I did a double take. I couldn't believe it," said Diane Moten, jogger.
Milt Strong, 69, is one walker who gets a lot of looks. He’s on the trail five days a week, wearing the wide-brimmed hat and pushing his red stroller.
"When I looked over, I told my girlfriend, I was like 'That's a rooster.' She's like are you for real? I said 'Yeah, that's a rooster,’" said Moten smiling.
It's actually a hen in Strong’s stroller. She's a year and a half old and seems to enjoy the ride.
"I asked him what his chicken's name was and he said 'Summer.' Seems appropriate for the heat,” said Simon Webb, jogger. “He's going to have a baked chicken if he's not careful."
Strong’s story, first reported in the Dallas Morning News, has generated both stares and smiles.
He’s a retired pharmaceutical sales representative for Merck and said he started walking his chickens to poke fun at people who push pets in strollers.
"I noticed there were a whole lot of golden doodles. You know, that's kind of the national dog of Highland Park because they're expensive. I thought ‘I've got a cock-a-doodle,’” he chuckled while chatting with an employee at the Katy Trail Ice House who came out to meet him.
"That was initially why I started doing the chickens. After a while I could see the smiles on peoples’ faces. And it gets me out here to exercise," he continued.
Strong needs it. He just had open heart surgery on his 69th birthday in May.
Summer is one of three chickens Strong regularly walks. He said he’s usually walking one of them by 7 a.m. while the rising sun still casts some shade on the trail.
