Car Tripping to San Antonio

A minor glitch in the system and we find ourselves minus our home for a few days. It is visiting its "other home" and I don't mean its home away from home, the storage unit. No, I mean the repair shop where routine maintenance occurs. Because of this and a desire to not be watching over the shoulders of the mechanic, we left to visit some areas that we have wanted to see for some time now.

San Antonio - the site of the bravely but disastrously fought Battle of the Alamo in 1836, an equally interesting Mission Trail of Catholic Spanish missions, and the famous River Walk on the San Antonio River, right through the heart of town. Oh don't misunderstand me here, it is not all educational/historical monuments and sites, there are also the money-making tourist venues: A theme park, Fiesta Texas; a water park and one close to town; an Imax theater; buggy rides; boat rides; walking/running/bicycle tours; and don't forget, geo-caches! And we did a fair amount of almost everything.

The skies remained totally overcast and fog enshrouded the area until way late in the afternoon. As a result, photos were hard to get. But hey, not a problem, surf the net and find what you want as long as you identify where it came from, right? (i.e. public domain) Well, we shall see!

The Torch of Friendship, downtown SA, a gift from Mexico

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_San_Antonio

 http://www.katiehaugland.com/the-torch-of-friendship/

The best way to see a new town IMHO: 

 http://www.sanantoniotours.net/offer/14381/Hop-On-Hop-Off-Double-Decker-Bus-Tour-in-San-Antonio#.VSKT2VriN-Q

 Nothing like a good cold morning and an equally cold wind while riding the open top of the double decker bus, to start the day off right.

The RiverWalk, a venue for all hours of the day or night, where a venue that makes San Antonio what it is today could have been lost forever if it hadn't been for a very civic-minded group of ladies:

 http://www.isironline.org/2012-san-antonio/#prettyPhoto

 http://www.utsa.edu/ee/APSI/Accomodations_DT.html

Of course, we rode the boats and walked part of the walk. You can also walk/bicycle the whole thing or even kayak/canoe the outer reaches of it, neither of which we were inspired to do this go around.

The Museum of Art, on the RiverWalk as well as the double decker bus tour, a fantastic overview of world civilization. Found in a revamped Lone Star brewery complex, it offers permanent and traveling exhibitions:

 http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60956-d108442-Reviews-San_Antonio_Museum_of_Art-San_Antonio_Texas.html

The Alamo:

 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/520953/San-Antonio

The Mission Trail, a series of 5  (used to be 6 in their heyday) missions along the San Antonio River:

 http://loscompadres.org  Concepcion which has been restored and is now a full blown service church.

And who could possibly ignore the Worlds largest cowboy boots (?):

 https://twitter.com/purosanantonio

 Entrance to Sea World San Antonio:

 http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sanantonio/

where one has to go through in order to go to Aquatica, 

 http://top-touristattractions.blogspot.com/2013/10/aquatica-san-antonio.html

I do so love to go to water parks, but alas, not in early spring where the temps are more conducive to ice skating than water fun.

And I could go on and on and on ....... but the time came all too quickly for our departure for Austin ... >

Sunshine, a novelty these days

We broke our run of dull, dreary, rainy days - how many, I haven't kept count but it definitely started before Christmas, for all of one day. Average daily temps about 45' F, más o menos. But today, yes! we had sunshine all day; temps still in the mid 40's but by golly, sunshine. A couple of days when it rained all day we actually had temps in 60's and 70's. All that did was increase the humidity vastly and because of this, one still felt a little chilled. Still there were times during all of this that we saw an hour or two more of sunshine.

To get out and walk - what a pleasure. Danny and I were able to get to all manner of geo-caches which, in turn, had us walking all over the park. We are currently parked in Double Lake Recreation Area, close to Coldspring, Texas. Beautiful park, centrally located to all manner of hiking and activities. From here we even got to go to one of Brooke's basketball tournaments. We will have to spend more time in State Parks when in Texas as there are rumors and talks of closing many of them down because of supposed budgetary shortfalls. We will try and do our part to keep them open.

Friends came in to visit and we had a blast geo-caching and visiting with them. Of course, it continued to rain throughout the whole time of their visit. The last evening however, it cleared and we able to have a bonfire and make s'mores. It always sad to see friends leave or for you to leave friends behind. But they go with the knowledge that we will see them again soon, as they, like all friends, are constants.


Glitter Graphics
The year is breaking in nicely. Plans are now underfoot for Danny's dream hike - the Appalachian Trail. He has been talking about this since I met him and now it will finally come to fruition. The optimum time for a beginning in Georgia is mid to late March but he has decided to flip-flop hike it. He will start in Pennsylvania and head north. This will allow him to start in a flatter section with warmer weather and prevent our being in this same area during the extreme heat of the summer.  Once we get to Maine we will drive back to where we started and head south to Georgia. He will mainly be slack hiking or essentially day hiking most of the trail. When he slack hikes I will be carrying all his gear except his daypack (sagging) and we will spend these nights together. There are sections that are too long to do in one day and for these he will carry a backpack and campout along the trail or stay in a trail shelter. He has decided to "ultralight" hike which involves parring the weight down to the bare minimum in areas such as the tent, backpack, etc. For now he is getting his legs in shape by hiking each and every trail that he can find wherever we are.  It will be lengthy endeavor - can take upwards of 5+ months to walk the 2000+ miles from Georgia to Maine. It will be an experience, you can bet. Santa anticipated this hike and gifted each of us with a trail guide. It is amazing just how much preparation there is for a trip like this.  For now we are reading everything that we can find on this subject to better improve the quality of the experience. [photo] More to come on this later.

Danny will give this hike from his perspective as well during the hike. His will be so much different from mine, and definitely much more interesting ...

For the immediate future, we are anticipating a quick visit from Bennison. It will be good to see her again and Danny has all sorts of things planned. Mainly we will park the RV in a State Park close to Beaumont, TX near the coast and day trip it from there. The main idea however, is a good visit. Then we are taking a quick trip to Mexico to visit a friend and her husband who are about to open a boutique hotel in San Cristóbal, Chiapas. We leave Feb 8th and return the 18th, giving us enough time to get ourselves packed up and to Pennsylvania before the 1st of March. I will give a report, no doubt glowing, after our experiencing their hospitality and the area. As we will arrive hopefully in time for a few Carnaval celebrations, we plan on visiting surrounding Mayan villages as well.
To 2013 [clinking of glasses], may the memories unfold and the times become immortal ...

continuing saga of Texas State Parks ...

Aaaah, finally, hopefully a break in the weather. It has rained off and on with burst of radiant sunshine and increasing temperatures for the last three days. Tonight the temperature was 71 deg F with a humidity of 91%. The humidity more than makes up for the temperature with results that it is still unbearable when outside for long periods of time. Long range forecast? More of the same? We shall find out as the days progress.

We are still roaming around the Texas State Park system, experiencing and comparing them. Amongst other things, they all offer at least one geocache and more in surrounding areas. The lakes a beautiful, if a bit lower than normal. The water temperatures are a bit higher which results in what? More mosquitoes? hmmm not sure but there is a general regional warning out for West Nile Disease (mosquitoes that come out during the day). The areas have been exceedingly dry but hopefully this rain that we have had will allow for a good soaking and reduce the fire hazard. The park is full this weekend, but not many out and about, I guess because of the rain and thunderstorms.

If the temperatures and weather continue like today (and how likely is that? After all, this is Texas!) we will head north towards Sedalia, MS where we are scheduled to attend another RV rally. This time we are registered to gain some of our required classes for the Red Cross Disaster Volunteer certifying system as well as enjoying the fun associated with a rally. Hoping to meet up with some friends there as well. Anyone else going? If so, drop us a line ...

Reflections

As I re-read some of the travel posts, I am more and more aware that often the posts are more informational rather than travel oriented. This is not what I meant for this to be. The focus will be changing as I continue from here on in.

As we ramble around Texas bearing up but barely, under the heatwave here, people delight in informing me that this summer is not as hot as last summer. For me however, I wasn't here the whole summer and this is this summer and for me, it is HOT and humid. I am relegated to staying inside except for small bursts of activity. Driving in the car to see things is great as there is ac in the car, and more than not, at the places that we are going to visit. And hopefully, the end is in sight...

Even though we are now back in the USA and enjoying ourselves as we re-immerse into American culture and ways of life, we find ourselves continuing to look back on our time in Peace Corps. It was a time when we felt active, maybe too active at the specific time, a time that offered us self-satisfaction and fulfillment, and a time of interesting experiences. It is definitely hard to leave that behind and look for something new and exciting. This is our goal of the day, of the week: find something that offers the same and even more.

Texas State Parks/Geocaching/HEATwave ...

We finished up our whirlwind tour of Europe with Brooke with a further 2 weeks of exploring the South of France by ourselves. We, of course, traveled by train first to Albi, where we explored the first of many cathedrals, chateaux, fortified castles and restaurants. Then on to Arles, again by train, this time however we had a mix-up in our tickets. Here we also added bicycles as a form of transportation. From there to Avignon, and then back to the Loire Valley and cooler temps. We experienced heat waves without a cloud in the very blue skies, in the areas of Southern France but as soon as we headed north, rain and cool temperatures which continued until we left Paris for Dallas.

Arriving back in Dallas towards the end of June, we entered a sauna for sure - triple digits and high humidity. I felt like I was back in Panama &/or Colombia and experienced the accompanying leathery. This time, however, I don't have to go out in it if I don't want to. YEAH!!!!

So now we are back in the RV and visiting and experiencing Texas States Parks until after July 4th celebrations. Then we will head over to Arkansas where we have done very little exploration. If the heat continues as it is now, I won't be out doing any bicycle riding now long distance walking/hiking. Tried today with the walking/geocahing - out for 1 1/2 hours and took 5 hours to get my core temperature back to some semblance of normal. So there we have it, the summer, as long as the temps are like they are now now, will mean living inside for me. My sewing machine, Miss Betsy will see a lot of me, although it sure looks funny sitting in the RV. Also might get some needlework done. AND, Danny will be out enjoying the countryside by bicycle and walking/hiking.

We are exploring the possibility of taking a bicycle tour this fall or next late spring. Where is still up for discussion. As for travel, not much more unless it is to Mexico. Our friends in Paris gave us a good recommendation for a town to look at in Central MExico as a possible retirement place. We shall see.