Remember the Alamo! At 1 o'clock in the afternoon

Rain, and more rain today. The drought busting continues. This morning I got in an early work out and discovered a new license plate in the park: Nevada.

Joan and I used the city bus service that picks up and drops off right in front of the RV park to head to downtown San Antonio and meet our friends Jan and Norm in front of the Alamo at 1 p.m.
As we departed last night, Jan said “Remember the Alamo – 1 o’clock.”

At the Alamo

It is always good to be with long time friends and Jan and Norm are the best. We had a lot of laughs and spent time talking about the old days and the new days. And we toured the Alamo and went to the IMAX theater for a showing of the Alamo: The Price of Freedom.

Funny story about the movie: When we arrived at a couple minutes after 1 p.m. we couldn’t get into the movie because it had already started. So we planned to go back at 2 p.m. and see that showing. When we arrived back at 1:45 p.m. we discovered that the 2 p.m. showing was going to include 150 public middle school students.

The noise level in the lobby was somewhat akin to an aircraft carrier deck during launch operations. Joan, a former middle school teacher, opined that it could go one of two ways: Either the students would be noisy and rowdy, or some competent teachers would threaten the students with harm and they would be well behaved.

Jan, Joan and Norm (and a Alamo Ranger in back)

Norm and I betted the former and we changed plans again and came back for the 3 p.m. showing after the mob of students was gone.

Instead we walked across the street to the Alamo and did our touring first. The Alamo itself is small and much of what was the compound in 1836 is now the site of sidewalks, streets and buildings, but the original Alamo, extensively restored, remains.

For me it was kind of surreal to be standing on a site that I heard and read so much about as a boy. As we travel, there are times that I kind of pinch myself that I am where I am at particular times. Looking out over the current San Antonio it takes a little imagination to remember that at one time a great battle was fought there.

Jan and Norm had one of those old time black and white photos taken and I’ve got to say, Jan looked great in her 1800s dress, but Norm looked really authentic in his duster and cowboy hat. If I didn’t know better I would have believed he was Doc Holliday.

IMAX Mexican soldier

Probably a lot of the Alamo story is legend and myth, but it is still pretty incredible to stand on that ground and remember.

After the movie, which was quite good (I love IMAX movies) we walked back to Jan and Norm’s hotel (The Embassy Suites River Walk) where we sat and enjoyed each other’s company in the very nice restaurant in the hotel.

The food was great, but the company was better. We sat in the lobby for a while and then it was time for Joan and I to catch our city bus back to the RV park.

It was incredibly cold (for San Antonio) today and waiting the bus seemed a lot longer than the 15 minutes we had to wait in the cold. Jan and Norm offered to drive us back, but the bus service here is very reliable and cheap.

Back at the trailer we arrived in time to watch the third period of the Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyote hockey teams, which unfortunately the Red Wings lost.