Finally, a trip downtown to San Antonio

The weather warmed up a tad today and we got out and took a little adventure downtown San Antonio.

(Scroll down after this post for more photos.)

We’ve been here for 10 days and this is the first time we actually made it downtown. Part of the reason is that our good friends, Jan and Norm, from California are currently enroute here and we have plans to hit the high spots in San Antonio with them when they arrive here next week.

Joan on a bridge over River Walk

The other is we sometimes get so busy that we don’t really relax and enjoy our trailer and RV park. So this trip we are trying to do a little of both.

We’ve enjoyed taking part in some of the park activities and communal dinners and had a chance to meet many of our RV neighbors, which is something we don’t always get a chance to do.

But the city bus stops right in front of the RV Park and several people told us that the $1.10 bus fare is cheap compared to driving downtown and paying to park. So we wanted to try it before Jan and Norm arrived.

The people were right, the bus service was great and we probably saved a few dollars in gas and parking by leaving the Tahoe at home today.

Me in front of the Alamo

Once downtown we walked around to get the lay of the land and stayed long enough to have dinner, but still get home before dark. We did a little souvenir shopping, but didn’t buy anything yet. My favorite t-shirt so far is the one that shows a mean looking Texan pointing a gun with the words: “Texans don’t call 911.”

Once again I tried to talk Joan into getting grandson Griffen a child’s bow and arrow set or a pocket knife, but ran into a stone wall. She did not think John and Nicole would appreciate such fine toys for a young man.

One time my step grandmother, Wheat, bought my brother and I real switchblade knives, which we thought were great, but which came with a lot of rules laid down by my parents. Not sure they fully appreciated what a great gift the knives were for two young boys.

After walking by the Alamo, but not going in, we took a couple photos and then headed to the River Walk, which was all that it was advertised to be. What an amazing attraction and it made me wonder why Flint didn’t think to do more with its riverfront property so many years ago.

The RV Park gave us a free coupon book and we stopped at one restaurant so Joan could enjoy a Margarita and then we ate dinner at a Tex Mex place call Rio Rio Cantinas. We had the enchiladas and left very, very full.

A decorative tile downtown

The ducks and birds were everywhere and all I could think was how my late mother would have freaked out at having ducks and birds flitting around her head while she ate dinner.  My mother was not fond of birds, especially when they were in the same zip code as she was.

After dinner we headed back to the bus stop and caught the southbound No. 42 bus and were home about four hours after we left. A very nice man, who apparently rode the northbound bus with us early in the day pulled the bell cord for us so we would get off at the right stop on the way home.

It looks like there will be plenty to do when our friends get here on Saturday.

This morning it looked like a minor park evacuation as many folks pulled out and went on their way today. By the time we arrived home tonight we noted three new states, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Nebraska had checked in since yesterday. That brings it to 33 states that have been in the park, or in the park since we arrived.

More photos of San Antonio

Joan pointing out the historical marker

River boat tours on the River Walk

Joan in the Alama courtyard

River Walk

River Walk Fountain

Joan enjoying her Margarita

Downtown office building with Texas flag.

Our dinner table view of the River Walk

A sad day at home, and here

Today was a bitter sweet one for Joan and I. A good, good friend, Rocky C. died early today. Rocky is one of the nicest people we know and while he has been struggling for some time and we knew this day was coming we still grieve for his loss.

Rest in Peace Rocky

It is hard to be so far from home when something like this happens, but we know that Sue and his family will be surrounded by many, many close friends and family so we feel comforted by that.

Rocky was the first to teach me and mentor me as a follower of Jesus and I will always be grateful to him for that. Also, there are dozens of young children in Malawi who in part owe their better circumstances to the work that Rocky did on their behalf in this country.

Rest in Peace, pal.

Today was kind of a catch up day in which we got our laundry done and then made a quick trip to the AT&T Center to pick up rodeo tickets for next week when our friends Jan and Norm are here with us.

We also stopped in the fan store at the arena to look for souvenirs of our San Antonio Rampage game last week and discovered that the prices were pretty high. The game jerseys were $125, which is the same you would pay for a Detroit Red Wings jersey. Even a small child’s t-shirt was $28.

We left empty-handed.

Joan cooked up a meatball crock pot dish, which we took to the RV park potluck dinner tonight. Joan also did our laundry so the closet and drawers are full of clean clothes again.

It rained hard again today, which means we have been here for both significant rainfalls in San Antonio for the past four months.

Took my daily walking tour of the park and found two new states have checked in since my last walk. Virginia and New Jersey showed up since Saturday (we didn’t take a walk on Sunday) and we were once the only visitors from Michigan, today there are four RV’s with Michigan plates.

Three of our Canadian neighbors have packed up and moved on this morning. It appears that about half the park are folks here for the winter and the other half are stopping for a day or two, or four, and then moving on. We’re somewhere in the middle.

There are probably nearly as many Canadians here as Americans. (One of them told me they love our beer prices, so I guess they have their priorities).

An All-Star day in San Antonio

Just because you have to have a photo

Church, grocery shopping and two All-Star games about sums up what we did today.

Like last week we attended Holy Trinity Anglican Church, whose pastor is a long time friend of our pastor in Flint. It was another wonderful worship service which included two powerful testimonies from members of their congregation. We are so glad we went.

After church we headed back to our park, but stopped at the nearby Walmart grocery store before coming home so we will have food in house for another week.

We soaked up a little sunshine after putting the groceries away and did some reading. At 3 p.m. we watched the National Hockey League’s All-Star game, which is pretty useless as far as good hockey, but is good theater and fun.

Following that we checked in on the National Football League’s All-Star game which is equally worthless as a sporting contest. Less so now that the two best teams in the league don’t send representatives because they are getting ready for next week’s SuperBowl.

We had a COR dinner, which stands for Clean Out the Refrigerator, and ate up the odds and ends left over from last week.

It was chilly in the old trailer last night as temperatures dipped into the 30s, but got back up to 68 this afternoon.

A crazy bird and a little hockey made this day just about perfect

Joan and I are on completely different sleep schedules. She is the night owl and I’m the early bird. We’ve worked it out in our own way and most of the time I am up and at ‘em a couple hours before she opens her eyelids for good.

This morning was a good example, although I actually slept in until 7 a.m., which is about 30 minutes later than usual. My routine is to get up, check my e-mail and blogs and then I go for a little walk and work out at the park fitness center.

By the time I get back to the trailer, about 9:30 a.m., there is a slight stirring from the bedroom and within a few minutes Joan is up and ready to start the day.

The AT&T Center in San Antonio

Just the opposite is true at night. While I am drifting off to sleep about 10 a.m. in my chair, Joan is ready for another couple hours of television (which includes shopping channels after I am asleep). Somehow it works.

After a quiet day around the trailer we headed to the San Antonio Rampage hockey game at the AT&T Center which was sponsoring a “Faith and Family Night” promotion for the game. Each ticket purchased for $15 had $5 go toward a local Christian food pantry, so it was for a good cause.

The hockey wasn’t bad either. The game reminded me a little of a hockey game my Dad took me to as a boy at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. I think that team was called the San Francisco or Golden State Seals, can’t remember exactly.

Tonight’s game was a cross state rivalry between the San Antonio Rampage and the Houston Aeros. The Rampage team is a farm club for the Florida Panthers. The game ended with a 5-2 Rampage win so the crowd, and we, were happy.

Late in the third period, the score was 3-2 in favor of the home team and people started chanting “We want chicken!” “We want chicken!” We were totally confused thinking they must be looking for a player with a nickname of “chicken.”

When the Rampage scored the fourth goal we learned why people were chanting. Whenever the home team scores four goals, the local sponsor, Chick-Fil-A, gives away a coupon for a chicken sandwich to every fan at the game. So we left the game armed with our coupon for a free sandwich.

Representing the Red Wings in San Antonio

During one of the intermissions, someone in the rafters of the beautiful AT&T Center (it’s also where the San Antonio Spurs play) dropped toy cows attached to parachutes, which was another Chick-Fil-A promotion. We were not lucky enough to catch one.

There were plenty of nifty goals and one good fight in the game, so everyone went home happy. The locals here seem to love to pound on the glass. The folks with front row seats pound on the glass when the referees are nearby, when the opposing players are nearby, when no one is nearby and just about any time they want to. Bizarre, really.

We also have tickets for next Friday’s game against the Lake Erie Monsters, which is also a fund-raiser for the Susan G. Komen Cancer group and the local players will wear pink jerseys and they promise that they will dye the ice pink, which should be different. I represented tonight wearing my Detroit Red Wings hoodie.

T-Bone the Rampage mascot.

Love the Rampage mascot, which is a angry looking bull with a jersey with the name “T-Bone” on the back. Only thing missing was my buddy Greg and his friend Pam, or Red Wings companions back in Michigan.

Today was a little cooler than yesterday, with tonight expected to be down in the 30s, with no chance of freezing, which is a good thing because otherwise I would have to take some precautions with the trailer.

We took another walking tour of the RV park and we sat outside and read this afternoon, but slightly more bundled up than usual. I began my newest Master and Commander book,” Treason’s Harbour,” which is book nine in the series.

Since my post with the states represented in the park I have discovered seven more out-of-state license plates, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming,  and one new Canadian province, Saskatchewan. More than half of the states are represented here and I won’t even pretend to know how many Canadian provinces there are.

Our free sandwich coupon.

In my post on Thursday I forgot to mention a minor annoyance that occurred when we stopped at Dairy Queen for a little after dinner treat. We both ordered medium Blizzards (me: Snickers, Joan: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup) and the young clerk automatically tacked on a 10 percent senior discount.

Joan and I had a small disagreement over the automatic discount being added. Joan was happy and grateful, but I was a little put out that the young woman assumed (correctly, by the way) that I qualify for the 62 and over discount for the restaurant.

To be clear, I’m not unhappy about getting the discount, but it would have been nice, and polite, for the woman to ask me first if I qualify instead of looking at me and making the assumption that I’m old. 

Joan doing the "booga-booga"

One of the highlights of my day has become the time in the morning that we are bombarded by a young male Cardinal who insists on bashing into our back picture window. Apparently he sees his own reflection and believes that his area is being violated by another young male Cardinal.

The highlight isn’t the bird hitting the window, but Joan’s interaction with the bird in which she looks back at the bird and cries loudly “booga-booga,” which I guess is a word meant to tell the Cardinal to go away.

I’m not sure which is more annoying, the bird hitting the window or Joan’s continual “booga-boogas.” I’ll keep you posted. Church in the morning and shopping the afternoon tomorrow.

Our Mission for today: Mission San Jose

After a week of camp chores and hanging around the trailer we decided that we should do a little minor exploring and sightseeing today.

The entrance to Mission San Jose

On a couple of our recent runs out of the park we noticed Mission San Jose, a  National Park site, just about a mile from our RV park. From Roosevelt Avenue we could only see a high stone wall, but decided that we should stop by and check it out.

So after lunch (and Joan’s soap opera) we headed to Mission San Jose. Arriving about 2:15 p.m. we got there in time to see an interesting documentary film on the several missions along the San Antonio River and how they were interconnected.

As a Californian, I am very familiar with the Spanish missions in that State. Those were roughly placed a day’s ride from each other to facilitate travel in the early days of California. Not so in Texas. The five missions in the San Antonio area were placed in close proximity along the river for protection of the native people who sought protection from hostile Apaches from the Spanish.

The Rose Window, part of the original mission.

After the movie there was an announcement for a one-hour tour by a park ranger. That sounded pretty good to us, so we formed up outside the Visitor Center and ended up the only ones on the tour. Our guide, Park Ranger Tatum, happily agreed to give us a personalized tour of the mission as long as we agreed to ask lots of questions so she wouldn’t feel ridiculous giving her speech to just two people.

Over 100 years the former mission had fallen into disrepair and the former occupants, the Native Americans, stripped much of the former masonry and stones for use in building houses near the site. In the 1930s, workers hired by the government during the Depression rebuilt the mission based on old paintings and drawings. Only about 30 percent of the San Jose site is the original construction.

Many of the foundations were still in place so workers and designers knew pretty much where the old walls and rooms were, Tatum told us.

Nearby Mission Concepcion, which we plan to visit next week, was not stripped and is about 90 percent of it is original construction.

While the walls and rooms around the mission are part of the National Park Service, the church building is the property of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Antonio and is still an active church. Tatum said there are five Sunday masses and all are completely packed each week.

The church is currently making renovations and improvements to the interior and exterior of the church and the outside original statuary is beautiful. One of the current fixes is a statue St. Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary. A decade ago a young boy not being watched closely enough by his parents climbed up on the statue and ended up getting trapped which resulted in masonry arm of Joachim being broken.

Recently the broken arm was located in a diocesan storage area and an artist was working on it today to reattach and fasten the arm to the statue.

Inside the church some amazing gold leaf and other work has been done to the altar to enhance the color of the interior.

The cactus is quite hardy.

The site has a working grist mill which we enjoyed watch grind some flour.  Tatum turned us loose to tour some of the out buildings, but we dropped by the visitor’s center to put in a good comment card on our ranger.

Back at the trailer, Joan put together her homemade cheese ball and crackers and we took that to the 5 p.m. Happy Hour at the park recreation hall.

The ladies sit at one table and the men sit at another table and I met a number of nice men, mostly from Canada. One of the men was from the Toronto area and with all of our travels through Ontario and a mutual interest in hockey the hour went quickly.

Most of these folks have been coming to this park for a dozen or more years, which makes Joan and I the newcomers.

After happy hour we turned into our trailer for a quiet night in front of the television. To see more photos of today’s adventure, simply scroll down a little for some more photos. On tap tomorrow: San Antonio Rampage hockey!

More photos of Mission San Jose

Ranger Joan

The Mission Church

Restoration work on church

Ongoing interior work

Ranger Tatum shows us part of the defenses of the mission

It's a very old mission.

Garden cross.

Junior Ranger Jim.

A tour of the States in one small RV park

After yesterday’s monsoon I spent part of the morning re-cleaning the car inside and out. Washed all the windows on the Tahoe and found later that one of those noisy birds found its target right on my clean windshield.

But the weather today was beautiful and after a cool morning we moved outside and basked in the warm afternoon sunshine. I finished Book 8 “The Ionian Mission” of the Master and Commander series and Joan read her Good Housekeeping.

We took a walk around the park and enjoyed a nice pork roast for dinner.

During our stroll around the park we noted license plates from the following states and Canadian provinces: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa,  Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia; Canadian Provinces: Alberta,  British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.

We might have missed a state or two and we’ll add them when we find them.

Rain: Too much of a good thing

Remember that rain I told you about yesterday. Well, it turned into a monsoon overnight.

What we woke up to this morning. Lake Traveler's World

During our travels we’ve encountered numerous weather challenges, like our trip last winter to Florida, our Kentucky snow and tornado warning, the gale winds in Ludington, but the gully washer we had last night was pretty incredible here in San Antonio.

Several lines of thunderstorms moved through the area during the middle of the night dumping several inches of rain and leaving the trailer half high and dry, but the road in and out of our space underwater.

Both of us were awakened by the cracks of thunder, the flashes of lightning and the sound of the rain pounding on the trailer. With the potential for a tornado Joan asked me what we should do or where we would go before we went to bed

Well, without a basement or other viable option I suggested we pray.

My plans to go work out this morning in the recreation center were swept away in the flood and I just hunkered down in the trailer waiting for the water to dry up or absorb into the ground. Gone with the wind today was the Internet so we spent the morning without it.

The view out our dinette window.

We tuned into the Weather Channel this morning and watched for any possible repeats.

The evening news was filled with stories of damage and a tornado touchdown, but folks here are pretty happy to get the significant rain as they were facing some severe water restrictions if they didn’t get rain soon.

Most of the rain had dried up this afternoon in the park, except for a couple low spots where fifth wheels and trailers were still surrounded by about 4-inches of water.

Tonight the aquifer report showed that more than a half of foot had been added to the local aquifer from the recent rains with more water still filtering down with expectations that it would increase by tomorrow.

We pretty much hung around the house today, but we did take a quick break so Joan could get her nails done and I could get the car fueled. When we arrived home we did our daily trip around the park noting license plates from many states and provinces in Canada. More on that later.

Joan cooked a dinner of hot dogs and salad and we are settled in to watch some Detroit Red Wings versus Montreal Canadiens hockey on Versus tonight.

Much need rain doesn't dampen our day in San Antonio

Into every life a little rain must fall and today was our day. Yes, folks, it rained in Texas which to the folks down here is a very welcome thing. More rain is on the way tonight along with hail and other scary stuff.

Texas soaker today

If you read yesterday’s posting you could have predicted the rain because I took a couple hours to wash, vacuum and detail my car which is like cloud sprinkling. I’m glad they got the rain they need, but it would be nice if the Texas folk would refund the $5 worth of quarters I used to wash my car. Just sayin’.

Before the rain fell this morning, I took a couple laps around the park and then moved inside to use the treadmill and stationary bicycle in the game room here at the RV park. Always like to get a little exercise in each day.

Joan attended the ladies’ work out class at 10 a.m. and had a great time.

This afternoon we drove to a nearby Cineplex and took in the movie “Red Tails.” The movie is the story of the Tuskegee Airman in World War II and was pretty good. I know my father would love the airplanes, both the real ones and the computer generated ones. The special effects in this movie were outstanding.

We, well, I, was also excited to see in the previews that someone has finally had the good sense to make a new “Three Stooges Movie” which I will look forward to in a couple months. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Joan is not as geeked as I am about the new Stooges movie.

As we watched the local news tonight we were struck that during the weather reports each day the meteorologist reports the current depth of the local aquifer and whether it has gained or lost any depth over the past 24 hours. I told you they need rain. Today the aquifer was up .2 inches.

Joan fixed us the perfect cool, wet evening meal: Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (made with milk, only).

The President is to speak tonight, but fortunately we have Versus, so instead of listening to that we’ll be watching hockey. Talk to y’all tomorrow.

Cleaning, cleaning, more cleaning, potluck and hockey. All in a day's work

Another quiet day in San Antonio, although we both got a lot of work done. With the trailer now in its third year, the condition of the awning has been bugging me a little. So today was the day for pulling out the awning and employing a little elbow grease to get it clean.

Moisture gets into the fabric and it has a tendency to start mold growing. So with a little mixture of bleach and water I set to work to clean it up. At one point Joan saw me working hard and suggested I try her “Magic Eraser” sponge, which worked really well.

With only water, the sponge did a better job than the bleach mixture and with a lot less effort. “So how long have you been hiding this little miracle of household cleaning from me?,” I asked.  Anyway, if you have a tough scrub job, I highly recommend the “Magic Eraser.”

It took about two hours to complete the job, but both sides of the awning look almost like new.

With that project done, I looked sideways at my car and decided this was a good day to get it washed. A u-wash place is just a block away and I drove the Tahoe there, vacuumed the inside and washed the outside. I really like this wash because you can operate it with just two quarters at a time, which meant it cost considerably less to wash my car here than at home.

While I was doing my cleaning, Joan was hard at work washing the towels and linens which we have been using for a week. She also was preparing a large meal of beef stew for the potluck dinner in the park tonight. I wore a cool airplane Hawaiian shirt my father recently sent to me.

I was hoping for leftover beef stew for dinner on Tuesday, but apparently the folks here liked the stew and devoured the whole thing.

So at 6 p.m. we headed to the recreation hall where we joined a few dozen other park visitors for the weekly pot luck. We had to introduce ourselves because this was our first visit. Folks were very friendly (we sat with a lady who originally came from Ferndale, Michigan) a couple from Illinois and another couple who come all the way from San Antonio, Texas.

Back at the trailer, I found that Versus was carrying the Detroit Red Wings vs. St. Louis Blues game so life is good. Especially since the Red Wings won in a feisty contest by a 3-1 score. Go Wings. Also we bought tickets to the San Antonio Rampage hockey game, which is Faith and Family Night which we heard about at church on Sunday.

Something ironic about going to a fight filled hockey game on Faith and Family Night.

Tomorrow Joan is going to the ladies’ morning exercise class and I plan to do, well, nothing.

The picture accompanying this post was sent to me by my father in sympathy for the noisy bird than continues to assail us.

Church, shopping, football and the patter of really little feet

We enjoyed another quiet, but football rich, day here in Alamo town.

Joan outside the church in San Antonio

The patter of little feet, the four-legged variety, has been entertaining us all day. A squirrel or very big bird has been doing a tap dance most of the day on the roof of the trailer. Between that noise, a man working on remodeling a small trailer in the space next to us has created a symphony of pounding noises.

This afternoon while we watched the Ravens vs. Patriots game a female Cardinal drove us crazy flying into our rear picture window on the trailer. Joan thought by opening the shades the bird would have less of a chance of seeing its reflection, but alas, no. After bouncing off the window a dozen or more times, he gave up.

At the suggestion of our home pastor we attended Holy Trinity Anglican Church here in San Antonio. It was a spirit and music filled experience one we hope to enjoy two or three more times while we are here. The church is also having a family trip to the local San Antonio Rampage hockey team game next Saturday and we are planning to attend. One can never get enough hockey.

The church is located in the penthouse of a beautiful office building and like our church at home uses simply outside signs to alert people to the location. The praise music was very familiar to us and the nice folks there made us feel welcome and at home.

Lobby church sign

After briefly meeting with  Father Chuck Collins and giving him greetings from Rev. Dave Kulchar we headed to a local farmer’s market to check out the offerings. It was a pretty small market, but Joan found a couple Butternut Squash she couldn’t live without.

Enroute we drove by the world headquarters for Whataburger, which we didn’t even know existed and also cruised next to a place called “Piranha Killer Sushi,” which sounds like a really bad name for a sushi place.

Then it was off to a Walmart Superstore for some grocery shopping and we arrived home just as Steven Tyler was choking out the National Anthem for the start of the first championship game.

Dinner was a picnic type meal, hot dogs (or as my father would call them “tube steaks”), some baked beans and vegetables. Except that only Joan ate the vegetables.

After dinner we settled in to watch the 49ers vs. New York Giants game. Another quiet, light work day around the trailer, is on tap for tomorrow. Sorry to say my old favorite team the Niners lost in a heart breaker in overtime.

A quiet beautiful day in the San Antonio neighborhood

Today was all about organization and clean-up. With all the traveling there has been little time to clean, organize and spruce up the trailer, so today was the day.

With light winds and temperatures in the low 70s, it was a good day to clean out the storage area under the trailer and reorganize and clean out three years of dust and clutter.

Joan worked on the inside of the trailer and did our laundry after a week of travel.  

With all the chores done we pulled out the trailer awning and enjoyed the warm sunshine outdoors. I picked up “The Ionian Mission,” which is book 8 of the 21-volume “Master and Commander” series by Patrick O’Brian. This is a volume I started last spring in Florida, continued in Arizona and will likely finish tomorrow.

Annoying bird

I save the books for our trips and don’t read them at home so I have many more years of reading ahead.

While we were sitting outside a local bird resident, we believe a Great Tail Grackle, that has not been happy with us since we landed yesterday began making its weird noises and letting us know again that he is not happy we are here.

We were also visited by a small woodpecker to be identified and named later. Joan didn’t get her bird book out in time to identify it.

New bonnet

Oh, and Joan decided today was the day to debut her new bonnet.

About 3 p.m. as we do nearly every day we are in a park we took a walking tour and waved to our many neighbors. Jim met a man – Tony – who is from Minnesota who said he and his wife came here on a short visit 12 years ago, loved the place and have come back for 12 consecutive winters.

For dinner we enjoyed leftovers from “The Hungry Farmer” last night and enjoyed a day with no driving.

After pulling out the awning I noticed it needs some attention and will likely clean it on Monday. Tomorrow promises to be another quiet day with church in the morning, grocery shopping after and then home to watch football.

When it came time to put the awning up (we don't leave it down because it is vulnerable to winds and that is something they have in abundance here) I decided to leave the tie down rods in the ground. The tie down roads are used to anchor the awning so if a sudden wind came up the awning won't rip off the trailer.

Within 30 seconds of unhooking the tie downs and putting up the awning I tripped over one of the rods and fell flat on my face (sorry, no photos) and nearly broke my glasses and nose. I hurt my pride more than my face although I skinned up my nose and forehead just slightly.

After that I pulled the rods out of the ground and put them away.

The back roads of Texas, "Now this is what I thought Texas would look like"

The Eagle has landed! After a year of planning, months of preparation and logistics that would make the Army proud we have reached our first winter destination of 2012.

Our San Antonio park

Our leisurely trek south through the center of Texas was pretty uneventful and stress free. The last 12 miles, through the heart of San Antonio and its crazy Friday afternoon traffic, made up for all the stress free driving early in the day.

Good grief there was crazy traffic and the drivers were blocking lanes and trying late merges onto crowded off ramps that made me break out in beads of sweat because I was trying to maneuver a large trailer through it all.

But let’s start at the beginning. We got up early, took our showers and made a quick exit from Buck Creek RV Park and began the trek to San Antonio. As is my custom I always claim that Joan has made us an hour late in leaving. The joke is I always tell her the night before we’re not in a hurry, but then kind of push the envelope for an early departure in the morning. Joke is probably the wrong word as Joan doesn’t think it is very funny.

Space 112 - our little piece of San Antonio

This was a rare driving day for us and most of our travel was along small two-lane and four lane state highways with only interstate driving for the first 13 miles and the last 40 miles of the trip. With light traffic we didn’t impede traffic much and more than once I heard Joan say: “This is what I imagined Texas would look like.”

We say beautiful ranches and not-so-beautiful ranches and plenty of cattle. If you closed your eyes, which would have been a really bad idea for me because I was driving, you might imagine cowboys driving cattle across the wide open plains 150 years ago. Today everything is pretty much fenced.

My only concern today was whether I would find a gas station large enough to receive our large rig on those back country roads. Fortunately in Brady Texas, about 100 miles into the trip, we found a two-pump shell station that was next to the highway with pumps in just the perfect position for an easy entry and easy departure after fueling.

The Hungry Farmer Steakhouse

With a full tank of gas I knew we had plenty for the remainder of the trip. Fueling was a lesson I learned the hard way on our first ever trip with the trailer when I pulled into a small gas station and blocked a street with the trailer while I got gas. I’ve been much more diligent in planning my stops since.

We did pass through a Texas town with a name I never expected to see here: Santa Anna, Texas. From my history I thought that Santa Anna pretty much wore out his welcome here when he slaughtered the defenders of the Alamo.

We arrived in San Antonio in the middle of the afternoon and we had a few anxious moments as I had to back the trailer into a tight spot in the back of the Traveler’s World RV Resort. But with a little help from Joan we didn’t knock down any power poles or run into any fences and were set up in about an hour.

The weather was warm and humid and I quickly changed out of my jeans into shorts, so my winter retreat has officially begun. We’ve already been welcomed to the park by a number of “winter Texans” and are looking forward to a good month here in San Antonio.

After the long drive we decided to eat out tonight and when most of the familiar restaurants we like (Logan’s Roadhouse, Olive Garden, etc.) were too far away we played a little OnStar roulette and let the advisor send us to the nearest steakhouse they could find.

The Hungry Farmer turned out to be an excellent choice and we both enjoyed a T-bone steak at a very reasonable price. (I could only imagine one of those cattle we saw grazing along the way today as my current meal).

Hungry Farmer sign

We at early, so we were back at the trailer about 6:30 p.m. in time to catch the national news and then take an exploration walk around the RV park. It turned out we missed the Friday night “Happy Hour” and several people invited us to come back next Friday.

Tomorrow morning is a breakfast and sometime next week is the Chili Cook off so it appears there will be plenty to do here. Adjacent to the park is an 8-mile hike and bike trail that runs along the San Antonio River that I plan to explore tomorrow.

Life is good.

We love church signs and we spotted these two gems today:

“Do you keep your Bible as close as you do your cell phone?”  and

“Where will you spend eternity? Smoking or Non-smoking?”

Mileage out: 4914

Time out:  8:30 a.m.

Mileage in: 5166

Time in: 2:20 p.m.

Today was a blast from the past

Today was all about the past, Abilene’s past and America’s past.

Entrance to Buffalo Gap Village

Getting the best value out of our $15 Abilene ‘passports’ we visited two more local attractions today and took full advantage of not just the bargain tickets, but of the gorgeous weather. Today’s high was 75 and we have not seen one cloud in the sky. With what is happening back home, I’ll not mention the weather again in this post.

As usual I was up bright and early (6:30 a.m.) and got cleaned up and then patiently waited for Joan to arise. Joan loves to hug her pillow as long as she can and whenever I can I try not to schedule things too early.

But we were on the road by 10 a.m. with our first stop at Buffalo Gap Historic Village. Buffalo Gap, Texas got its name from a cut in the mountains through which buffalo hunters, both Native American and cowboys used to hunt the gigantic herds here in the 1800s.

When we were doing research on Abilene we found the Buffalo Gap Historic Village and it looked like something we would be interested in. So grabbing our picnic lunch we headed to the village. When we arrived there I realized that I left my camera at home. So all the photos you see on this post were borrowed from the Internet. The lady at the reception desk told me to use them, so I did get permission.

The old Texaco station at Buffalo Gap

The Historic Village is similar to Crossroads Village back in Flint, but with a decidedly Texas flavor. But all the buildings from the Sheriff Tom Hill’s turn-of-the-century single family home, to the courthouse and two-room schoolhouse (they always do things one better in Texas) were wonderfully furnished and appointed with appropriate period furniture and knick knacks.

Using the self-guided radios we spent more than three hours touring the 18 buildings on the site. I especially enjoyed the old fashioned Texaco gas station and the print/newspaper office.  The only other visitors to the village were a couple outdoor cats who annoyed us endlessly when we tried to eat our small lunch.

And for all the Joan bonnet fans, she found yet another Amish bonnet, this one made in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that she had to have. So look for the new bonnet in coming photos.

After exhausting all the village had to offer we headed back to Abilene to visit the U.S. Army’s 12^th Armored Division Museum in downtown Abilene.

Courthouse at Buffalo Gap

Expecting to spend an hour or so we were enthralled with all the exhibits, photos and displays at this very good World War II museum. We stayed so long that I ran downstairs to make sure I hadn’t gotten a ticket at the two-hour parking spot that I left the car in. The nice young woman at the reception desk said she would keep an eye out of the meter man and make sure I didn’t get a ticket.

I got to play with a World War II M-1 rifle and just as I do every month at the National Cemetery had nothing but trouble closing the slide without busting my knuckles. Actually I couldn’t get this one to close and I told the young woman to tell some old soldier to fix it and blame it on a Navy man who didn’t know what he was doing.

We learned that the 12^th Armored Division was one of the many Army groups that liberated German concentration camps and the display section of the museum for that history was profoundly disturbing.

In addition to the U.S. exhibits, the museum includes a very extensive section of German army memorabilia. A volunteer at the museum told us that none of the items were purchased, but that all the German souvenirs were confiscated from dead or captured German soldiers as the 12^th Armored Division pursued the German Army across Germany.

Some of the German officer uniforms and hats looked in incredibly good condition and we were told that movie makers had visited the museum to study their collection in order to replicate German uniforms for films.

They had the uniform of a German colonel who had served as a concentration camp commander and who tried to disguise himself as a civilian when the American troops arrived. Camp prisoners pointed him out as the former camp commander and when he denied that he was the leader the soldiers decided to take it a step further. The soldiers of the 12^th forced the man to try on a uniform they found in the commandant’s office and when it fit perfectly they arrested him.

12th Armored Division Museum

Later the man was hanged for war crimes related to his operation of the concentration camp.

At one point, we learned, the 12^th Armored Division was ‘borrowed’ by General George Patton and actually supported the Third Army which meant that for a time they were part of the same assault force that Joan’s father, who was in the 75^th Division, was involved in.

The 12^th Armored Division received the nickname “The Mystery Division” as they were ordered to remove any patches that identified them with their former division so the Germans wouldn’t realize that they had left their former position and joined Patton’s soldiers.

One of the many 12th Armored displays

Outside the museum is a small, but growing exhibit, of World War II era vehicles, including a tank and a well restored Jeep.

We highly recommend this museum to folks with any interest in World War II if you are in the Abilene area.

On the way back to the trailer we topped off the gas tank and while Joan prepared dinner I got the truck and trailer ready to hook up first thing in the morning for our trip to San Antonio.

Favorite line of the day: "Come back and enjoy the best barbeque you'll ever dip a lip in."

Again the photos with this post are not my own.

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!

Our virtual trail guide at Frontier Texas!

One of Joan’s frequent comments is that we don’t spend enough time just sitting around the trailer enjoying some peace and quiet. It’s usually my fault because I try to find interesting, and inexpensive, things to do when we are visiting a city for the first time.

So when we pulled into Abilene, Texas yesterday my plans were to have no plans. I was thinking we would Just have some down time for a few days before we head to San Antonio.

Imagine my surprise when Joan asked me indignantly what my plans were for our short stay in Abilene. I had to first admit I wasn’t planning any excursions until our departure Friday. But with her sudden interest in discovering Abilene I hit the Internet and found a number of local attractions that sounded interesting.

Looking down on a giraffe at the Abilene Zoo

The local Chamber or business organization offers a one-time-pass to six local attractions for $15 a person. If you just visit two of the attractions you break even and a third and fourth just increases your value.

So today after a short walk to a nearby RV parts and service center where I picked up a new water filter and spare parts I hooked up the water to the trailer and about 11 a.m. we set off to the Abilene Visitor’s Center in downtown Abilene.

(I made the water hookup sound much easier than it was because for some odd reason it took a long time for the hot water to warm up today than it usually does. My theory is that some residual water was frozen in the tank and it took a considerable time to thaw that water out. But anytime I get to use my drill driver and several of my tools is a good day.)

Looking for love in all the wrong places

The visitor’s center is located within one of the attractions, Frontier Texas!, which was one of the places we expressed an interest in seeing. We were met at the front desk by some nice local Texas folk who sold us the $15 pass and we immediately cashed one of the tickets in to see Frontier  Texas!

This was a really cool exhibit that included projected actors talking directly to you about Texas history. The story of Texas 1775-1880 was told through the stories of a few historic Texas figures. Some of the interactive displays put you in the middle of a buffalo stampede, a poker game shootout and in the middle of a bar room discussion about a very bad man.

The trip's first bonnet photo

There was a lot of difficult history about the treatment of Native Americans who were here long before the Spanish, Mexican, buffalo hunters or Texas settlers arrived.  The exhibits included weapons and other interesting displays and we thoroughly enjoyed Frontier Texas for about two hours. Pretty much we were the only people there.

Following that experience we headed to the Abilene Zoo where we again joined an intimate group of folks in a tour of the small, but interesting zoo. Going there cashed in a second ticket on our attractions list, so we are already even on our purchase.

Joan and I enjoyed a close encounter with a couple zebras and were within a few feet of a Lion female and male. The male lion was trying his best to romance the female lion, but she was having none of it. Eventually the two got into a loud and sometimes frighteningly sounding roaring argument.

The “Creepy Crawler” building housed a number of venomous snakes and reptiles and with the cooler temperatures of the day at least a few of the usually nocturnal animals were out and about, or at least visible.

After visiting the zoo we headed home to the trailer about 3:40 p.m. Joan fixed cold cut sandwiches for dinner and we took a short walk around the RV park after dinner. Temperatures are supposed to reach into the 70s tomorrow and stay above freezing overnight.

 (Scroll down to see more photos of today's adventure.)

Tomorrow we plan to cash in a couple more of our fun pass tickets. Stay tuned.