Rio Cibolo Ranch Walk - Sat., Oct. 19

Whoa! Two hours for an 11K (6.8 mi.) walk! Must be the cool air and chilly breezes (and need of facilities) that made me walk so fast today. Temperature at the beginning of the walk was 57 degrees (minus some for wind chill). By the end of the walk it was 66 degrees and breezy. My sweater stayed on for the whole walk.

While I was walking, Bob went to the gym to play basketball with his buddies. He said his game was off, but at least he ran up and down the floor.

The Zuehl, Texas walk I participated in this morning was an event sponsored by the Randolph Roadrunners Volksmarch Club. That means club members staffed the start area, checkpoints and finish. Thank you to the many volunteers who made this beautiful autumn walk possible.

Where I'm headed to do the walk.

At the beginning of the walk we registered at Zuehl's Hall, a large building that can be rented for weddings, parties, family reunions, etc. From the Hall, we walked through part of the 130-acre longhorn cattle ranch. In addition to the Hall I saw the: Saloon, Frisbee golf course, hay ride wagons, canoeing area, 100-year-old pecan orchard, a place for barge rides, horseshoe pits, Kiddie Korral, softball field, and picnic areas. What a beautiful setting, made all the more lush because of the recent rains in south Texas. The plants, grass and trees are green again.

Main gate at Rio Cibolo Ranch

Zuehl's Hall for events.

"Come Walk with Us" banner.

Blacksmith shop.

Hay rides...but not today.

Llama and longhorns.

Burros.

Texas longhorns.

Longhorns and grackles.

100-year-old pecan orchard.

Cibolo Orchard sign

Barge not open today.

The barge rides weren't open today, but Volkssporting also includes boating sometimes. Today, there was an option to go kayaking. Kayaks, paddles and life vests were provided. If I didn't have an appointment to pick up my hearing aid at Costco at 2:00 p.m., I might have gone for a paddle.

Horseshoe pits.

Saloon.

Unique landscaping.

Took me a while to realize this is a BBQ'er.

Pretty flowers in bloom in October.

Our first checkpoint was at Zuehl Field, a WWII airfield. Locally it is known, tongue in cheek, as the Zuehl International Airport. It's claim to fame is that Robert Redford was here to film "The Great Waldo Pepper."

Sod airport runway.

The runway.

We walked along the left edge of the runway.

What's an airport without planes?

Don't know what happened to these!

There's quite a relic.

We walked along many country roads.

Family bar, The Double Ringer

Formerly Clemens School, 1891-1966 (now you can rent it for parties)

Fall berries.

The lane into Rio Cibolo Ranch.

Creative birdhouse.

River in Zuehl, Texas.

Lovely walk today and definitely not hot outside.

Just a note: I bought gas at Costco this week. It was $3.00 per gallon. You read that right: $3.00 per gallon. Wow!

Must get a move on to my appointment at Costco. Then Bob and I are going to see "Prisoners."

Travel Bug out.

Movie Review: Prisoners - Sun., Sept. 29

This was quite a Sunday. At 11:00 a.m. my girlfriend (from my days of working at AAA) and I went to see the movie "Prisoners" starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhall. I was reluctant to see the movie because of the ratings saying there were scenes of torture. But after I read more reviews about how this movie played out like a Hitchcock story, that it is a thriller, and you need to watch closely for the clues, I decided to go see it.  

While there are some violent scenes, everything worked together to make a top-notch movie. The story was well written and the actors played their roles very well. My favorite character was Jake Gyllenhall as long-suffering Detective Loki who is doing his best to follow the evidence to find the kidnapper of two little girls. 

Hugh Jackman was over-the-top as the father of one of the girls who decides to take the law into his own hands. He feels the police aren't doing enough to find his little girl. He is sure he knows who took the girls and wants answers from that person. The lengths he goes to to try to elicit information are extreme.

Overall, I really liked the movie. The suspense was intense throughout as we rode along with Detective Loki while he tried to track down the kidnapper. The ending was as suspenseful as the rest of the movie. Very scary.

After the movie, Cathy and I went to Gustav's German Restaurant for lunch and caught up on our lives. She and her husband, Bob, just finished a 4,000 mile vacation through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah so we got to discuss travel as well.

From lunch, I headed out to Troutdale, Oregon, to meet our good friends Claude and Penny for dinner. Claude and Penny own Marco Polo Designs which sells jewelry of their design made from hand-blown glass beads which they have custom made in Italy. They live in their 5th wheel close to where their storefront is located. We headed over to the 5th wheel to talk and I got my kitty fix too. They have two gorgeous black Persians. Their boy kitty decided my lap was a good place to land. Very sweet. 

They then took me to dinner at a good Italian restaurant in Troutdale close to their shop. We had a yummy meal.  I had a big chicken/avocado/mango salad, Penny had Jambalaya and Claude had spaghetti bolognese. For dessert we had decadent light (almost a sponge cake) chocolate cake with fruit (pineapple, peaches, grapes) in it. We liked it a lot. I headed back to Mom's at 7:00 p.m.

Stormy, dark, windy describes the conditions I drove home in. It was really nasty weather. The car was hydroplaning and the spray from cars and trucks made it hard to see. I was really happy to get off the freeway tonight. It was a 45 minute drive home.

At 8:00 p.m. Amazing Race was on TV so I got to see the season opener. What a fun show.

Tomorrow will be busy as well. For lunch, I plan to meet Linda, one of my blog followers, for lunch in downtown Portland. In the afternoon, Mom and I are going to see "Rush" at Cinetopia, an upscale, living-room-type movie theater with comfy recliners. Groupon had a deal for both of us to get in for $10 which includes a bottle of wine. Should be a good movie-going experience.

I'm cooking dinner for Mom, and my sister will come over after she gets off work to visit once more before I fly home on Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned. Travel Bug out.