Road Trip Report #21

Road Trip Report #21
San Antonio Texas, August 26, 27 (trying to catch up)

San Antonio was very nice. We had good weather. We took a walk along the Riverwalk after we checked in. Out west, they have a different idea of what a river is. What would be a creek in Pennsylvania is a river in Texas. Kind of like the Jordan River in Israel. Jordan River sounds a lot more dramatic than Jordan Creek but that's another story. The Creekwalk Riverwalk is very well done and much nicer than much of the rest of the city and is a draw for tourists. It is what drew us. Laurie had been in San Antonio for a tennis tournament years ago and vowed to return with me so here we are.

Remember, we had been to the Dr. Pepper Museum and the LBJ Library on our way to San Antonio so we'd had a full day and arrived late. This was the first hotel which couldn't park us with bikes on the roof so I pulled them down and "checked" them in anticipation of riding the next day. Unfortunately, the next day's ride was about 6 miles of city traffic away so I re-mounted the bikes and off we went. The Missions Trail along the river (really a small brook) sounds very nice and was recommended by the Concierge who does not ride a bike. I've seen bigger rivers when someone is cleaning their pool filter. As for bike trails, San Antonio is competing with St. Louis, not Aspen. It may be nice one day when they finish whatever they are constructing but the ride along the trailer parks on the way to the trail was nicer.

There were maintenance issues and I'll spare you further images. That's the "river" on the right. (The tall grass) This was the good part.

Not today.

We did find a nice path by the Mission which ran about a quarter mile.

Missions were set up by the Spaniards to civilize the natives who were doing quite well before the Spaniards brought their diseases to the new world. Only 70% of the natives succumbed to disease. Since there was no quality riding, we visited the Mission Visitor Center and watched a movie (without popcorn) then joined a Ranger for a quick long lecture. There is a lot of history but it's tough to comprehend when your eyes are glazed over. This mission was rebuilt by the WPA during the depression but it gives us an insight into life at the Mission. Only 6 Spaniards (3 Priests/missionaries and 3 soldiers) ran the mission, the Indians did all the work building the mission. Very impressive.

My pictures inside the walls really don't depict the scale of the Mission.

This was our view during the first half of the lecture. On the other side of the wall are dwellings for the indians. The Apaches were causing havoc to the local indians who were stuck between the Apaches and the Spaniard borne diseases. It really is an interesting story.

Fortunately, the Indians did not have to suffer the heat without refreshment. San Antonio is outside the 44 mile delivery radius of Dublin or they would have been drinking Dr. Pepper.

When it rains it pours and driving through flooded roads is probably not a good idea.

How much water are you willing to drive through? When we returned to the hotel, I parked in a surface lot so I could keep the bikes on the roof since we were departing the next morning.

We took a riverboat tour which passed by some unusual sights. There is also some unique architecture on the tour. The most interesting thing I learned was that there was a place to pick up the tours right next to our hotel and we walked the other way half way through the city to catch our tour.

This gives you a little view of the Riverwalk area behind the tourists. As I said, it really is nice. As we were having breakfast by the river, a boat with skimmers passed by cleaning up debris on the surface, and another boat came by with a landscaper hand watering all the lush vegetation along the way.

Next stop, Lafayette, La. for a quick overnight on our way to New Orleans.

We forgot to visit The Alamo which was near our hotel. We drove past it on our way out of town but could not park so we'll have to see it on our next visit.

Regards,

Steve & Laurie