SAN ANTONIO TEXAS

San Antonio was well worth the side trip. We enjoyed the day, beginning with The Alamo, originally named Mission San Antonio de Valero (a home for missionaries and their Indian converts) with construction beginning in 1724. In the early 1800's the Spanish military stationed a cavalry unit at the former mission. The soldiers called it Alamo which is a Spanish word for cottonwood in honor of their hometown. The first recorded hospital in Texas was in the Long Barrack. It was home to the Revolutionaries and Royalists, the Spanish, Rebels, and then Mexicans until the Texas Revolution. It played a critical role in the Texas Revolution (a thirteen day siege in 1836).

This monument, telling the history and naming the key players of the area, was across the square from The Alamo.

After this leisurely tour, we walked across the square and down a flight of steps to the River Walk (20 feet below street level) brought to life by Robert H.H.Hugman in 1939.

We walked for a few blocks along the Walkway and then had to surface again to go down on the other side of a street to get their barge for a ride.

When we surfaced, we saw the sphere built for the Hemis Fair (the southwest's Fair of the Americas in 1968. This tower boasts being 750 feet compared to the Seattle's Space Needle at 608 feet and also has a revolving restaurant.

Returning to the man made portion of the river for the barge, we took the ride for only 7 miles round trip. The Walk with a combined man made portion and the natural river is 14 miles long. Interesting and fun!! Enjoy the sites along our ride!!

The walkers and shoppers are everywhere. The street stores also have a lower level in addition to the many other stores and restaurants.

In addition to the many ducks and goslings, this curious fellow kept watch.

This is an outdoor theatre with concrete steps on the opposite side of the canal, being the bleachers.

Note the gargoyles on the top.

A free standing wall?? No, an illusion as the building does not have a square corner!! An olive tree full of olives!!

Part of a mural depicting much of San Antonio history.

From the street above, after our tour, we watched a barge full of children on a school trip. They were having a lot of fun and waved as they crossed under our bridge.

This was a monument built by Mexico as a tribute to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Next we will be in Louisiana and then the Mississippi coast areas. Stay tuned.

TRAVELING WITH OHIO FRIENDS INTO TEXAS

We got a decent start on our trip leaving Arizona on Sunday, April 1st. No Fool's Day for us!! We were leaving the blowing sands behind as you can see in this picture. The visibility if the mountains was not very clear because of the winds!! However, about three days into our trip the wind and cooler air made us wonder why we were leaving Mesa!! I always enjoy the change in the terrain. Our first day in Tucson was spent going through Pima County Air Museum. There were many planes from the various wars (even a Japanese plane) and a large field outside with a huge variety. They also told of a plane graveyard across the road at the Air Force Base, but it was closed on the weekend. so we did not get to check that out. You can see that the guys were very interested and asking many questions. Day two was spent driving from Tucson on to El Paso over many miles of Interstate. So Gary decided that it was time for me to hone up on my driving skills again. Tough when it is a year in between my driving experiences. But I managed to keep us safe. The winds did pick up after Gary took back over at the wheel!! That evening we even decided that we would spend an extra night in the casino parking lot if the winds did not die down. But the next morning was good!! On our third day we checked in with friends, Bob and Donna from Salem only to find that we had missed them. They were on their way to Las Vegas. On one of our re-fuel stops, I saw a trailer that is what Gary would like to have to haul the Jeep and Vino cycle. It would be so much simpler to tow with all four down , or all four on the trailer, rather than two on and two off!! Our next stop is a roadside rest where we will say our goodbyes to Bill and Jane as they head off northeast. We will be joining them in Ohio in late May to workamp at the same resort. It is windy and has been tough driving and windy for a couple days, but little did we know that they were heading off toward the tornadoes that hit Ft. Worth. Thank goodness, it was a day ahead of them as they stopped for the night at Midland TX. After our stay in the Walmart lot at Ft. Stockton TX, our next stop was for two nights at Top of the Hill campground where we were looking out over Interstate 10 and the hills across the highway. We had a bit of a scare when we first stopped with a small patch of water on the floor near the kitchen sink. Gary removed the kitchen drawers and we found where it had come from, but did not know why!! After a check with our motorhome mechanics back in Ohio, we found out that the part is a relief valve. But that did not answer why it had overflowed. Since this was the first time, Gary is waiting for a response from Gulfstream!! He may have to pull their chain some more. We did not even know that these valves were behind the kitchen drawers!! We were told that the sunsets were very pretty from this park, so Gary had the camera ready for that and the moon as well. We stopped for dinner that first evening at PoPo's Family Restaurant right down the road. The food was good and the walls very interesting with the plate collection of the previous owners (from their travels). The next day we take a journey into San Antonio to see the Alamo. So stay tuned and I will do a separate Blog for that day as we saw more than the Alamo