San Antonio Loops -- Sun., July 1

San Antonio, Texas:

Normalcy returns. We spent time together traveling around the San Antonio loops -- I-410 and 1604. Found movie theaters to see summer blockbusters, restaurants to try, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Seaworld with a new waterpark called Aquatica, caverns, a laser tag arena (Susan LOVES laser tag!!), bike paths everywhere, Hemisphere Park and Tower of the Americas. So much to do and explore! We're back in our element.

When we started our drive this afternoon, Bob took the route he will take to work while we're in San Antonio. It is about 25 minutes away. Here are some pics of where he will work when we're not "remote."

The office

Their trucks. (Bob will use his own truck, not a company truck.)

After searching out his work, it was lunchtime. Right down the street we found Culver's. Good find! It's an upscale fast food restaurant similar to DQ but with a much more fun menu. I had a classic Reuben sandwich and a chocolate/peanut butter malt. Bob had a cod sandwich and fries. The food was excellent and the decor was very clean and pretty. Culvers has been in business 20 years. They're located all over the midwest and as far west as Arizona and Utah. Photos of Culver's in San Antonio...

Culver's interior decor.

Our drive started out going east on the I-410 freeway around the outskirts of San Antonio. That didn't take us too long, so I said, "Let's drive the Hwy 1604 loop too." Turns out that took a lot longer. It took us through rural farmlands on the south and east sides of San Antonio. We saw a park as we were driving by one spot at 60 mph. I caught a glimpse of a sign that said something trail. "Let's go back," I told Bob, "It might might be a bike trail." Turns out it was Saspamco Paddling Trail. Here's a photo and a link for our RV friends who like to paddle.

The north part of Hwy 1604 went past shopping malls, laser tag arena, upscale shopping malls and construction of new freeway overpasses. At the 1604/I-10 intersection we finally saw Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Now I know where to go for my thrill ride fix! 

Toward the end of our drive, we took I-10 west toward Boerne (pronounced Bernie) to look at another RV park. It was right next to the freeway and not near as nice as the one we're in. Both of us agreed it was "okay" but there was no "it" factor. 

After we left that RV park and headed east on I-10 toward San Antonio, we could see the storm that had been threatening to break out all day finally had. We couldn't see the hill about 1/2 mile in front of us. Then we drove into a wall of water and hail. Lightning flashed. We could barely see the cars in front of us. This was at 6:30 p.m., full daylight. We saw brake lights as everyone slowed way down! Some cars pulled over on the side and stopped. We continued, went about 20 mph, and kept lots of distance between us and the car in front. The car behind us stayed way back. We made it through. The temperature had dropped from 95 to 75. 

It sprinkled most of the evening. When I went outside the 5er around 9:00 p.m., the humidity must have been about 95%...it felt like a sauna. The temperature was back up too. Thank goodness we have two workhorse air conditioners.

We had a wonderful time driving, sightseeing and talking. Gate guarding taught us how important our travel time together is. When we don't have that time, we really miss it.

This morning while cleaning, Bob was reinstalling the air filter for our air conditioner. He had a supervisor making sure it was put together per specifications.

Bowie supervising Bob (and taking up half the stepladder!).

Bowie wants to do everything we do!

Tomorrow morning Bob is back to 40 hour weeks for the next three weeks. I will be cleaning the 5er from top to bottom, starting with the ceiling, then the walls, counters, and appliances. When I get done with all that, we'll rent a carpet shampooer and scrub that caliche dust and any wayward bugs out of our carpet. On any given day, when I'm sick of cleaning, I'm going to take off and see a movie. So many to catch up on.

Currently, the fur-kids are running laps in the RV, flying over the stairs and each other. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, let's not forget the mountains of furniture to climb! Bowie hides in the bathroom and when Sunnie runs by Bowie ambushes him and the race continues.

Bob is out for his training run/walk. Said he'll be gone one to two hours. Tomorrow, I can start my workouts in the AIR CONDITIONED exercise room. 

So thrilled to be back in a city, especially one that's new to us. Exploration awaits.

Travel Bug out.

A New Month, A New Location -- Sat., June 30

Cotulla and San Antonio, Texas:

Here we are. Lovely San Antonio, Texas: Riverwalk, The Alamo, green, hilly, varied flora, freeways, big grocery stores, shopping malls, restaurants, Six Flags, botanic gardens, a zoo, the Hemisphere Tower, caverns, history galore, paved bike paths, cheap gas. Today we made our move from Cotulla to San Antonio, about 1-1/2 hours. We just finished dinner at the Mexican (Jalisco state) restaurant across the street.

But let me back up. After four hours of sleep, I woke up and finished reading "One Ranger" (the second book) so I could take it back to Jerry and Kit today on our way out of Dodge, er, I mean Cotulla. The "One Ranger" books are a fascinating read about the history of the Texas Rangers and their crime-fighting skills.

Bob woke up about 2:30 a.m. and had some traffic coming and going through the gate so he didn't get his usual nap from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Both of us were very tired today. We knew our gate guard replacement was coming around noon. 

I played Suzie housekeeper to get ready for the move and Bob did his manly preparations outside. I vacuumed, washed counters in the kitchen and made sure interior items were battened down for the move. (Except I can't move the heavy recliners very well, so Bob took care of moving those out of the way of our slide.)  

Bob swept under the slide awnings to get out any spiders lurking there (at my insistence, being faint of heart at the sight of a spider). He put away the fresh water hose, took down our air card booster, emptied the grey and black water tanks, filled LOMA's generator with diesel and put in oil, took off the wheel covers, removed the chocks, hooked up the truck to the trailer, stowed the propane tanks and garbage can.

We were all done with our preparations at 11:00 a.m. While we waited, Bob took a nap and I started reading Kyle Mills "Storming Heaven" and checking vehicles in and out. 

Remember the Bewicks' wren we tried to discourage from building a nest under our dining room slide by removing all her nesting materials and putting up duct tape around the area to keep her out? Well, when Bob was cleaning under the slides, he found her nest. She had gotten around the duct tape and built a perfect nest. It had three little eggs in it. Oh no! Now what do we do with that? This is what we tried to avoid. When our replacement arrived we showed him the nest. He said he'll try to put it under his trailer. Who knows if the wren will be able to find her nest. We feel so bad. Pout.

Our supervisor and our replacement, a single guy, arrived at our site about 12:20 p.m. We gave our replacement the log books, instructions, and gave him a tour of where the motion detectors are located. Then we took off. I headed to Kit and Jerry's to return books and say good-bye. Bob headed to San Antonio. I followed close behind him.

The  RV park we're in is plush compared to the South Texas Brush Country. All it takes is two months in the middle of caliche dust and bugs to make you appreciate something different. 

Tonight's weather forecasters in San Antonio predict a 50% chance of thunderstorms. We'll see what develops.


Time for life's next adventure. I am looking forward to what's around the next corner.


Here are today's pictures:

Where the ground was wet, about 20 of these beautiful blue butterflies had landed.

The scissor-tailed flycatcher posed for a photo op.

Our site. Look....SHADE!!!

And a picnic table!

A view down the road in the RV park.

Our patio. Oh, look, a rainbow! Where did that come from?

The Escape pod at Travelers World.

Time for lights out. (I fell asleep sitting at the computer.)

Enjoy Sunday.