Welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Sunday, June 10th, when we arrived in San Antonio, Texas. We are actually staying in Elmendorf, a suburb of San Antonio, about 15 miles to the southeast. We got into the park about 12:30 on a very hot and humid day. The temperature was about 98 degrees and the humidity was in the 80 percent range. By the time I got the coach hooked up and leveled, the sun screens up on the windows and the BBQ and chairs put out, I was soaked with sweat and very tired. I am a desert rat, used to the heat, but I don’t like the humidity.
About 2:30 our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock pulled into the spot next to us. We knew that they were coming, they had left Southern California five days ago and had told us they were going to try to catch up with us in San Antonio. We are going to the same rallies in Indiana in August and they plan to travel with us for most of the next couple months.
We did happy hour about 5:00 and then later we BBQed some steaks and had dinner together in their coach. It was nice seeing the Babcocks, whom we last were with in El Mirage, Arizona after the Good Sam Rally in March. They headed back to their home, they have a real stick-built house, in Menifee, California, about 80 miles north of San Diego. They left there on Tuesday and made one night stops in Yuma, Casa Grande, Los Cruces, Fort Stockton and then into San Antonio. Way too many 300 plus mile days without a break for me, but Ray didn’t seem to mind too much. After dinner we chatted until about 9:00 when we headed back to our coach for the rest of the night.
Monday, June 11th, the weather weenies said that today was going to be the hottest day of the year, so we decided we would stick fairly close to home. Ray had mentioned that he was having trouble with his chassis batteries, the batteries that are used to start the coach’s engine and run the vehicle part of the coach. He didn’t think they were holding a charge. They were the original batteries so they were close to six years old. Between the two of us we figured out what class of batteries they were and he made some calls locally to find replacements. He found a local NAPA store that had two batteries of the kind he needed. When I replaced my chassis batteries a few years ago I used NAPA batteries and have been very happy.
He pulled out the old batteries and I went with him to the NAPA store to pick up the new ones. They tested his old batteries and they were indeed shot. One was 10 volts and one was 7. And this was after he had driven over 350 miles the day before. They should have been fully charged. We took the new batteries back to the park and he installed them. He should be in good shape now. A little later in the afternoon the four of us made a quick Walmart run for supplies. We got together for cocktails about 5:00 and talked for an hour or so before we went to our own coaches for dinner and TV the rest of the night.
Tuesday, June 12th, we decided to do a day in downtown San Antonio on the Riverwalk. Jackie and I have been to San Antonio a couple of times, but Ray and Suzie have never been here. We left the coach early, about 10:00, drove to downtown and parked near the Alamo, which is right in the center of town for those who have never been here. Ray was amazed at the cost of parking here. There is no free parking on the street and it is $10 for eight hours in the lots. Parking in the downtown shopping mall is even more.
After we got parked we first walked over to the Alamo and spent about ninety minutes looking at the displays and museums,
The story of the Alamo is closely linked to the story of Texas. From 1690 to 1821 the area that would be Texas was part of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In 1821 the Mexicans won their independence from Spain and Texas became a northern province of Mexico. Initially the Mexican government encouraged immigration of Anglos from the United States and it’s territories, looking to create large settlements in the area. However, in 1830 the policies changed and immigration from the United States was outlawed and the central Mexican government started instituting taxes and other harsh policies on the people living in Mexican Texas, or Tejas.
After several years of unrest Texans declared their independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, creating the Republic of Texas. Mexican President Santa Anna already had 6,000 Mexican troops marching into Texas to quell the rebellion as early as October of 1835. Although there were many other battles, some of which resulted in greater loss of life, the Battle of the Alamo is most remembered as the turning point in the revolution. On March 6, 1836 some 1,500 Mexican troops attacked a 200 man strong garrison of Texans holed up in the old Alamo Mission. Although they fought gallantly and repulsed the invading army twice, they were finally overrun and all but two defenders were killed.
The Texans were outraged at the slaughter and the cry “Remember the Alamo” became the battle cry for the Texas Revolutionaries. By the middle of the next month, April 1836, the Texans had decisively defeated the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto and drove them out of Texas. The Republic of Texas lasted until 1845 when the United States annexed the Republic and the State of Texas was admitted into the union. The annexation of Texas ignited the Mexican American War which ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago and the transfer of what is now California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of New Mexico from Mexico to the United States.
The Alamo itself was founded in 1718 by the Spanish as a Roman Catholic mission named San Antonio de Valero. It was one of a string of missions in the area. The mission was moved several times for various reasons and the building which we now recognize as “The Alamo” was built in 1758. By 1795 the mission had been abandoned by the church and was unused for many years. The compound, including the old church building, was used off and on in the early 1800's by both Spanish and Mexican military forces as a garrison, a prison and even a hospital. In December 1835 the Texas revolutionary forces took over the fort and posted 100 militiamen there as opposition to Mexican forces trying to quell the rebellion. Three months later was the Battle of the Alamo.
The name “Alamo” is Spanish for Cottonwood, and likely came about as a result of a nearby stand of Cottonwood trees, given to the compound after the church abandoned the mission. The buildings of the compound served the militaries of both the Republic of Texas and the United States off and on for the next 100 years, including being used as a warehouse and quartermaster’s headquarters. During the Civil War the Confederate Army had a garrison at the compound. Actual ownership of the compound had been given back to the Roman Catholic Church 1841, but they had never taken steps to reestablish a church on the site. In 1883 the Church sold the property to the State of Texas. In 1892 the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) was founded with a primary purpose of restoring and preserving the Alamo and it’s history. For much of the first half of the 20th Century various efforts were made to restore the compound to what we see today. The DRT still provides the leadership to support the Alamo.
The Alamo welcomes some five million visitors each year, making it one of the most popular historic sites in the United States. Visitors may tour the chapel, as well as the Long Barracks, which contains a small museum with paintings, weapons, and other artifacts from the era of the Texas Revolution. Additional artifacts are displayed in another complex building, alongside a large diorama that recreates the compound as it existed in 1836. A large mural, known as the Wall of History, portrays the history of the Alamo complex from its mission days to modern times. The original church structure is considered a Texas Shrine dedicated to the heros of the Alamo and employees and volunteers enforce a strict code of reverence, including quiet reflection and no photography.
After touring the Alamo we went next door to the historic Menger Hotel. I was playing tour guide for the group and back in the late 90's I had attended a week long conference which was held at the Menger. I remembered how beautiful the interior of the hotel was, as well as the rich history of the place, and I wanted to share that with Ray and Suzie.
The hotel was built beginning in 1858 by German immigrant William Menger, who built the first brewery in Texas. The hotel was so successful a 40-room extension was started before the initial building was completed in 1859. By the 1870s, the Menger was the best-known hotel in the southwest. The hotel is mentioned several times in the works of O Henry, who lived and worked in nearby Austin, Texas, for many years. The hotel was host to former President and General, Ulysses S. Grant in 1880, and was visited by Theodore Roosevelt at least 3 times, most notably in 1898 when he used the Menger’s bar to recruit Rough Riders, who fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War.
The Menger was San Antonio's most popular hotel throughout the 19th Century. Other notable guests have included Robert E. Lee, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mae West, Babe Ruth, Oscar Wilde, and others were known to frequent the bar and hotel, which was periodically enlarged and remodeled to accommodate more guests. The lobby and hallways of the hotel are covered with dozens of old photographs of the hotel and its many famous guests.
In 1885, Richard King, the south Texas entrepreneur and founder of the famous King Ranch, died at the Menger and is just one of the 32 reported ghosts who frequent the hotel. The hotel holds the unofficial title of "The Most Haunted Hotel in Texas." In addition to King, other spirits include Teddy Roosevelt, Texans who fought and died at the Alamo, and Sallie White, a maid at the Menger who was murdered by her husband in the hotel. We spent almost an hour walking around the hotel, looking in the shops and taking pictures. We didn’t see any ghosts, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.
After we got done with the hotel we walked over to a portion of the famous San Antonio Riverwalk, which is only a block from Alamo Square, and had lunch. We didn’t spend a lot of time on the Riverwalk because we planned to come back later in the day. We had lunch at a restaurant called Dick’s Last Resort. Dick’s is a chain and Jackie and I have eaten at a couple of their stores, including this one and the one in San Diego. The food is pretty good and the service is awful, and intended that way. It is one of those places where the staff goes out of their way to be insulting and rude, all in good fun. 
After lunch we left the Riverwalk and drove back to the RV park. Ray and Suzie have a dog and we had to be sure not to stay away the entire day. We rested in our coaches for a couple of hours and then about 5:30 we drove back down to the Riverwalk to spend the evening. The park is only about 12 miles from downtown San Antonio, so the travel back and forth was no big deal. We walked around the Riverwalk for a little while, trying to decide on a place to eat. There are so many choices on the Riverwalk that it made it difficult. We finally settled on Landry’s Seafood House. Although the place was crowded we were able to get seated right away. We had a really great meal, although, as expected, it was a little pricy. 
After dinner we decided to take one of the barge tours that go around the Riverwalk. We didn’t know that the tours closed at 9:00 and were lucky enough to get tickets on the last boat of the evening. The tour takes about forty minutes and goes all the way around the Riverwalk, including the spurs that go off to the shopping mall and the convention center. The tour guide explained how the Riverwalk came to be, primarily as a flood control project at first, but then later as a tourist attraction. After the boat tour we went back to the car, drove back to the RV park and went to bed.Wednesday, June 13th, the four of us left the coach after lunch for a day of sight-seeing and geocaching. When we were last with Ray and Suzie in Arizona we had got them interested in caching. Our first stop, so to speak, was the King William historical area, which is just south of downtown San Antonio, along the San Antonio River. The area is about 25 square blocks and encompasses land that was once irrigated farm land belonging to the Mission San Antonio de Valero, commonly known as the Alamo. When the mission was secularized in 1793, the lands were divided among the resident Indian families from the mission or sold at public auction. In the 1860s the area was subdivided into lots and laid out with the present streets.
It was about this time in the mid-nineteenth century that a great many Germans, who had immigrated to Texas in the 1840s, began to settle in this area, and it became known as "Sauerkraut Bend" to the rest of San Antonio. The area developed into an idyllic neighborhood of large, impressive houses designed in a variety of styles, including Greek Revival, Victorian, and Italianate. The main street into the neighborhood was given the name King Wilhelm in honor of King Wilhelm I, King of Prussia in the 1870s. During World War I, when America was at war with Germany, the name was changed to Pershing Avenue. A few years after the war ended the original name was restored, but this time it was given the English version of the name, King William, and it has remained so since.
In the early 1900s the King William area began to wane as a fashionable neighborhood, and by 1920 many of the original homebuilders had died and their children moved to other parts of San Antonio. During the 1930s and 1940s the neighborhood declined and many of the fine old homes were converted into apartments. Around 1950, however, the area began to attract a group of people who found its proximity to the downtown business district attractive and who, moreover, recognized the potential of restoration of the fine old houses and smaller cottages. An interest in preservation of the area was initiated, and it slowly became a "fashionable" and desirable place to live once again. In 1968 the King William neighborhood became San Antonio's first designated historic district.
There are now dozens of these old mansions which have been carefully restored and made elegant again. The District provides pamphlets that provide the history of many of the homes, so you can read about them as you walk, or drive, around the neighborhood. Since it was very hot and humid we did the driving tour rather than walk. One can also tour several of the larger mansions, however, we didn’t do any of the tours. Jackie and I had gone through one of these homes back in 2005 when we were here. We also found a couple of geocaches that were hidden in the neighborhood.
After the King William District I drove down to the headquarters for the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. The Park preserves four of the five Spanish frontier missions located along the San Antonio River, near what is the current city. These outposts were established by Catholic religious orders to spread Christianity among the local natives and were part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
The headquarters and visitor’s center for the park are located adjacent to one of the missions, Mission San Jose. The missions in the park, in order from north to south are Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada. The Espada Aqueduct, also part of the Park, is due east of Mission San Juan, across the river. The fifth (and best known) mission in San Antonio, the Alamo, is not part of the park, but is owned by the State of Texas, and operated by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. It is upstream from Mission Concepcion. The Alamo was originally part of the chain of missions created by the Spanish.
The park was originally established in 1975 as the Mission Parkway on the National Register of Historic Places encompassing 84 separate historical sites along the San Antonio River on the southern side of the city of San Antonio. The National Historical Park was established in 1983. Portions of the four missions in the Park are still owned by the Archdiocese of San Antonio and are still run as active Roman Catholic parishes.
We walked around the visitor’s center for a while, but no one wanted to walk over to the actual Mission San Jose building which was about a quarter mile away. Too hot and humid. We got in the car and drove north to one of the other missions, Mission Concepcion, and again no one was interested in going into the mission to look around.
Since no one wanted to do more with the mission trail, we decided to go do a couple more geocaches. We did three more caches, bringing our total finds for the day to five. The last cache of the day was in VFW Post 76, just on the outskirts of the downtown area, only about five or six blocks from the Alamo. The cache was an ammo box that was actually inside of the Post. Although I belong to the American Legion, I can’t belong to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) because I was never in a war zone during my service with the Marine Corps. However, Ray is a member of the VFW, so we weren’t worried about not being able to get in. As it turns out, the Post is what they call an “Open Post” meaning that the bar is open to the public.
The Post is in an old, turn of the century home that is just gorgeous. The original 19th-century residence belonged to lumber dealer Van A. Petty, who hired San Antonio architect Atlee B. Ayres in 1904 to remodel the structure into the striking Classical Revival style building of today. Mr. Petty’s son donated the house to the members of the VFW Post in 1946. Originally chartered in 1917, the Post was composed of veterans of the Spanish American War. The imposing building with its two-story, wrap-around verandas, Corinthian columns, stained glass windows, and river views is a San Antonio landmark. We had a cocktail at the bar after claiming the geocache and chatted with some of the members.
After the VFW we drove to the northwest side of San Antonio to the San Antonio Elks Lodge. We had tried to visit this lodge when we were here in 2005, but the building was closed for remodeling. This time we found the Lodge open so we went in for a cocktail. The Exalted Ruler, Bob Parker was there and welcomed us to the lodge with a free drink. As the four of us sat there a few other members trickled in and all of them greeted us and welcomed us to their lodge. This was a one of the more friendly lodges we have been to. One of the guys cooking hamburgers in the back came out and his name was Coy D. Christmas. His wife was Emma and she came out and gave all of us a kiss on the cheek. Not only were these folks named Christmas, but the bartender, a young gal who was also very nice, was named Noel. We all had a good time joking about that.
Then another couple came in and in the conversation we learned that they had just moved here about four years ago from Massachusetts. Jackie started asking questions and lo and behold it turns out that they are from Pittsfield in Western Massachusetts, the same town where one of Jackie’s best friends, Helen Reilly, lives. We happened to be back there visiting in 2006 when Joe, Helen’s husband, died of a heart attack. They own a bar just outside of town called Reilly’s Pub. It turns out that these people, Ed and Marilyn Scolforo, not only knew of Reilly’s and went there often, Marilyn said that she had been best friends with Joe Reilly’s ex wife, Pat. Although she knew who Helen was, she wasn’t sure she had actually met her, although if they go to Reilly’s much they had to as she is there a lot. Turns out it really is a small world.
We had our free drink and then another and chatted with the folks there at the bar for a good hour. We finally decided we needed to head for home, but decided to stop at Applebee’s for dinner since it was late. The food was good, but we started to get really tired so we finished dinner and drove back to the RV park, finally getting home about 9:30 in the evening. It’s been a while since we were out so late, but we had a really fun day.
Thursday, June 14th, Flag Day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my flagpole up because it was just too hot to go through all the efforts to put it up. Jackie and I left the coach about noon and drove into San Antonio to meet Maribel, a friend of Jackie’s brother, Dennis. Maribel used to work for Dennis back in Oceanside, California twenty-two years ago and they have remained friends over the years. Jackie know of her, and thinks she may have met her once before, but she does not know her well. Maribel moved to San Antonio about 17 years ago and Jackie wanted to meet her for lunch. We called her when we got into town and set up lunch for today. We met Maribel at Market Square, a big shopping area just outside of the downtown San Antonio area. The actual location of Market Square has been the public market area of San Antonio since the late 1800's. Up until the 40's it was an open air market, but now it is all inside a large building and called the Mercado. The building is divided up into individual booths, kind of like a permanent swap meet, and the vast majority of the merchandise appears to be what you would find in Mexico. We had been to the market back in 2005 when we visited here.
We got to the Market about 12:30 and met Maribel, who recommended a restaurant adjacent to the Market, called Mi Tierra Café y Panaderia. It is a large restaurant and bakery that has been in business at this location since 1941 and is kind of a San Antonio landmark. Although the place was big, we still had to wait about 20 minutes to get a table. They have an extensive menu and the food was quite good. It is a little on the pricy side, but not too bad, and the food is worth the money. The inside of the restaurant is wildly decorated with Mexican knick knacks, and lights and colorful murals. It is quite the sight to see. We had a long lunch and chatted with Maribel, telling her about our travels and lifestyle, and learning about her life here in San Antonio. She is the Human Resources Manager for one of the local Costco stores.
After lunch the three of us walked over to the Mercado and shopped for a couple hours, continuing our conversation and looking at all the stuff. I bought a hat and Jackie bought a new purse. It was kind of funny because a couple nights ago when we were on the boat ride on the Riverwalk she had seen a lady with a purse she really liked. The lady said she bought it in Dallas, so Jackie didn’t think any more of it. Turns out they sold them there at the Mercado, so she bought one.
After saying goodbye to Maribel we went back to the RV park and had happy hour with the Babcocks. They had gone out exploring the area on their own while we were gone. They went to Fort Sam Houston to check out the campground there. He is a military retiree, so they get to use campground facilities on military bases. They had heard that the one here was nice and wanted to see it. We also learned that the crew that was mowing the grass at the campground this morning had apparently run into their coach with one of their big riding mowers and put a big dent in one of the slideouts. Yikes! It’s a pretty big ding and it’s going to cost the company’s insurance a few grand to get it fixed. The gardeners are contractors, not employees of the park, and Ray said that it seems like they are a pretty big outfit, so they should have good insurance.
After cocktails we had dinner. I fixed some lasagna, along with garlic bread and salad and the four of us had a very nice dinner. About 8:30 the Babcocks went home and we watched TV the rest of the evening.
Friday, June 15th, Jackie and I had a stay-by-the-coach day. We had an appointment to have the coach washed at noon and we were also going to see if they could shampoo the carpet in the front of the rig. We have had the coach for seven years and, although we have spot cleaned the carpet, it has never been fully shampooed with a machine. The wash crew came a little late, about 12:30, and started washing the coach and the car. They looked at the carpet and told us they could do it for about $35, so we said to go ahead with that too. They did a great job on the outside of the coach and car, so good that Ray had them do his car too. The guy came into the coach with the rug shampoo machine and did all of the carpet in the front and it looks great. There is only one spot where we had a stain that didn’t quite come out completely, and it’s in an area that is covered by a throw rug when we are parked. The total for the motor home, car and carpet was $130, which is a bit of a bargain. Most washes for just the coach are that much or more.
They finally got done with everything about 4:30, so shortly after we had cocktail hour with the Babcocks and then they fixed us taco salad for dinner. The food was great, we ate, sat and talked until about 8:30 or so and then went back to our coach for the rest of the night.
Saturday, June 16th, my oldest daughter Tye’s birthday. Happy Birthday Tye!! This was our last full day in San Antonio. Suzie wanted to go shopping at the Mercado at Market Square where we were on Wednesday and Jackie needed to take a purse she had bought there back because the zipper wasn’t working right. So, we packed up after lunch and drove to the Mercado. We spent most of the afternoon walking around and shopping. Jackie got her purse thing straightened out after some harsh words with the shop owner who was being obstinate about making her happy with her purchase. They finally worked it out where they would mail her a new purse.
After shopping we drove back to the area of the RV park, but drove a little past it to the town of Elmendorf, which is the town that the RV park is actually in, address-wise. Turns out there really isn’t a town per se, just a few houses and a gas station. We then tried to find Braunig Lake, which on the map appears to be a big lake with a State park, but we had some trouble. The terrain is flat and there are trees and shrubs that make it hard to see. We finally found the State park, and the lake, just off the freeway about five miles south of the RV park. The State park is small and is mostly for picnics and fishing. They do have three RV sites, but the cost is about $25 a day, which is more than we are paying for the RV park.
Later in the evening the four of us drove to a Bill Miller BBQ restaurant that we had seen down by the State park. We have seen these places all over San Antonio, so we thought they would probably have good BBQ. Turns out that they are really a BBQ fast food restaurant. The stuff is all pre-made and pretty pedestrian. I would give it a fair at best. They only had one type of BBQ sauce and they didn’t have pulled pork. They had pork ribs, which were OK, and beef brisket, which was a little dry and mushy, sausage and fried chicken. Suzie thought the chicken was very good. The sausage was OK, nothing special. I don’t know how you can call yourself a BBQ restaurant when you have no pork and only one type of sauce. I don’t think we would ever go back to a Bill Williams BBQ place. After dinner we went back to the coach for the rest of the night.
Sunday, June 17th, another travel day. The Babcocks are traveling with us for a while so about 10:00 we had both coaches packed up and we pulled out of the RV park, heading south on I-37 to the Corpus Christi area. We had about 150 miles to drive today. The RV park we are staying in is actually about 20 miles northeast of the main part of town. We got into the park about 1:00 and the office was closed. They did leave information for both of us on where to park, so we got ourselves settled in. The park appears to be fairly new and the sites are all nice and big with flat, concrete slabs. There is a lot of grass, but there are also a lot of stickers in the grass, which is not good. It is still hot and humid, but about five degrees cooler than it was in San Antonio. Although we can’t see the water, we are only about five miles from the Gulf of Mexico and are getting a bit of an ocean breeze.
After we got set up we didn’t do anything else for the day. Jackie fixed her chili rellano casserole for dinner for the four of us and we had cocktails and dinner in our coach. About 8:30 the Babcocks went back to their place and we watched TV the rest of the night.
Monday, June 18th, the four of us left the coach about 10:00 to do some caching and exploration around Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi was founded in 1839 by Henry Kinney as Kinney's Ranch, a small trading post to sell supplies to a Mexican revolutionary army camped about 25 miles west. In July 1845, U.S. troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor set up camp there in preparation for the war with Mexico. About a year later, the city was named Corpus Christi and was incorporated in September 1852. The Port of Corpus Christi was opened in 1926. The port is the fifth largest U.S. port and primarily supports the import and export of oil and agricultural products. The population of Corpus Christi was just over 300,000 in 2010.
Our RV park is about 20 miles north of downtown Corpus Christi, which was where we went first to do a few geocaches before it got too hot. We actually did quite well, finding nine geocaches in and around the downtown area within about 90 minutes. We then decided that it was time for lunch, so we queried the GPS and found a Chinese restaurant that was not too far away from our location. We drove there and it was closed. We tried a second restaurant, Hesters Café, that Jackie remembered seeing listed on the Internet as being a good place. We went there, it was closed. We tried a third place and when we got there, it seemed to be open, but was not especially inviting. We then stumbled across a place called U & I Restaurant which had a whole bunch of cars in the parking lot. We figured it must be popular, so we went in for lunch.
This place was fabulous. They have an extensive menu for both lunch and dinner, but it was the daily lunch specials that caught our eye. They have a dozen different lunch meals, ranging from a small, 10 oz sirloin, to chicken fried steak, liver and onions, Salisbury steak, fried shrimp, fried scallops and more. With the lunch you get both soup and salad, rolls, potato and a vegetable. I had the liver and onions, Jackie had the Salisbury steak, and Ray and Suzie both had the fried shrimp. The salad was ordinary, but he soup of the day was a chicken Florentine that was wonderful and clearly scratch made. My dinner had at least a three quarters of a pound of liver that was cooked to perfection. Jackie had a half pound hamburger steak that was seasoned to where it almost tasted like a firm meatloaf. The Babcocks each had six very large, lightly breaded prawns that they said were excellent. My entire meal was $8.95, Jackie’s was $9.95. I cannot express how satisfied we were with our accidental discovery.
After lunch we drove back to the RV park for a brief break so the Babcocks could take their dog out for a walk. Casey is a neat dog, be we are really glad we have Smokey who never has to be walked. About 2:30 we were back out on the road exploring some more. First we drove through the town closest to where we are parked, Aransas Pass. Aransas Pass has a population of just over 8,100 and is primarily a resort city, well known among bird watchers as a prime habitat for water fowl. Aransas Pass is on the mainland of Texas, but if you drive southeast out of the city you cross a series of bridges and causeways, and a ferry, and end up in Port Aransas, located on Mustang Island, one of the area’s barrier islands, between the Gulf of Mexico and the mainland.
Tuesday, June 19th, we again left the coach about 10:00 for some more sightseeing. This trip we let Ray drive since our first stop for the day was to be the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, which is at the south end of the bay, about ten miles south of downtown. Since Ray has military related disabilities he has a military ID and car sticker the same as if he had retired from the Air Force. We figured it would be a lot easier for him to get his car on the base than it would be for me. On the way to the base we stopped and picked up one geocache because today was one of the dates on which we needed to find a cache in order to meet our days of the year challenge. We only needed one cache and that’s all we got.
We made a stop at the Navy Exchange, the military department store. As a general rule most things are only slightly less expensive at the Exchange than they are off base, but there is no sales tax so you get that savings. We shopped for a half hour and got a couple of little things. I got a tee shirt with the NAS logo on it and a paperback book. Ray got some vodka and Suzie got a shirt. After our shopping spree we drove around the base some more, mostly around the flight line area so I could see what kind of planes there are on the base now.
The base also hosts a large operation by the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection. Corpus Christi is the headquarters for the Customs air wing. They fly a half dozen large P-3 Orion long range patrol planes out of the air station. Back in the mid-90's when I worked for the State of Arizona in drug enforcement I came to Corpus Christi for a conference and they gave us a tour of this facility and one of the Orions. They are old Navy patrol planes that have been turned over to Customs for use in border enforcement. They fly all over the Gulf of Mexico looking for smugglers.
We had a really good tour of the base before leaving and finding a nice Chinese buffet not too far from the base. We all pigged out, as we are prone to do at buffets, and then drove back to the RV park to let the Babcock’s dog out. Jackie and I stayed in for the rest of the day and relaxed while Ray and Suzie went out and did some more local sightseeing. Since we had eaten a really big lunch we didn’t even do dinner. Just watched TV for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday, June 20th, Happy First Day of Summer/Longest Day of the Year! We woke up to morning thunderstorms in our little corner of the world. Our original plan for today was for the four of us to drive to the town of Beeville, Texas, about 40 miles north of Corpus Christi, to visit with Jack and Sally Friedlander, some friends of ours from the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA. They own a home there and Jack, being a Texan, is always bragging about the place. Unfortunately, we talked to Jack yesterday and he is stuck in Atlanta and was not able to get out because of bad weather. Oh well, we will see them in Indiana, and will visit their place on another trip.
We also had on our list of things to do in Corpus a visit to the Texas State Aquarium, which is right on the bay and only about 12 miles from the RV park. Since we weren’t going to Beeville we decided to go to the aquarium. We left the coach about 12:30 and headed to the aquarium in cloudy, buy no longer threatening, weather. We thought there was a chance we might get more rain, but a good part of the aquarium is indoors, so it was no big deal. I had been to this aquarium sometime back in the late 80's when I worked for the Sheriff’s Office and came to a conference here. The conference had a tour and dinner set up at the place. It is not a huge aquarium, much smaller than the one in Monterey, California, but it was a lot of fun. We went to a couple of the shows they put on with the animals probably spent three or four hours walking around enjoying the place. We never did get anymore rain, although it was very humid.
After our visit to the aquarium we went back to the RV park for a brief rest and to walk the dog. We then drove to nearby Rockport to a restaurant called The Big Fisherman. Ray had heard about this place from talking to one of the other people at the campground. It was a very large place with decor that was vaguely Hawaiian in character, which seemed a little odd. It was, as the name might imply, primarily a seafood place, although the menu was eclectic. Three of us ordered what they called The Landmark which was a fisherman’s fried platter. The waiter called it their “big kahuna,” another Hawaii reference. We were amazed when he brought these huge plates piled high with seafood. There was a half pound of fish, six shrimp, six scallops, six oysters, a stuffed crab and french fries. Yikes! The four of us had already finished a calamari appetizer and we knew there was no way we were going to eat all this food.I ended up taking most of the fish and the fries home in a box for a later fish and chips meal. Jackie, Ray and Suzie did the same. We essentially got two meals for our $15.95. Even the drinks were reasonably priced. Jackie had ordered a baked potato with her dinner, but when she saw the pile of food she decided she didn’t even want to start on it. She didn’t want to take it home, and the waiter wouldn’t take it back, so we got silly and turned it into a sort of Mr. Potato Head. Jackie made a mouth and a couple of eyes, we stuck a shrimp tail in for a nose, and put an empty crab shell on it’s head for a hat. The waiter, who was a 17 year old kid who had just started at the place, thought it was hysterical. He ended up taking it back into the kitchen to show it around when we left. Guess you just can’t take us to nice places. After dinner we went back to the RV park, waddled into our coaches and vegged out the rest of the evening.
Thursday, June 21st, another travel day. I woke up a couple minutes after 7:00 to flashes of lightning and distant thunder, more morning thundershowers. Since it was a travel day I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and went outside and started taking down the shade screens from the windows. They are kind of messy to handle when they are wet and I thought I could get them down before the rain actually got to the park. I actually got the screens down and packed in the car, as well as the BBQ and our chairs put back into the storage bay, just as the rain started. I then went back inside for my morning coffee, feeling pretty good that I had most of the outside stuff done early and when it was dry.
We finally got everything else done and packed up ready for travel about 10:00 or so. The Babcocks are still following us so the two of us pulled out and started northeast towards Columbus, Texas, about 160 miles away. As soon as we left the park we ran into another brief, but heavy, rainstorm and we had rain off and on for the first 45 miles of the trip. However, once we started driving more inland away from the coast the skies started to clear and the roads were dry. Although Columbus is right on I-10, about 75 miles west of Houston, most of our trip from Corpus Christi was on connector highways rather than the Interstate. We finally hit I-10 only about 15 miles from Columbus.
Unfortunately, somewhere just north of Victoria, Texas, on the way to Columbus, we were passed by a pickup truck which must have flipped up a rock. It the windshield of the coach, just at the bottom edge on the drivers side, and cracked the heck out of the windshield. We now have three cracks running from the bottom of the windshield upwards. They were only a couple inches Initially, but by the time we got to the campground they were halfway up. I would anticipate they will end up going all the way to the top. Oh well, seven years and 62,000 miles without a glass claim is pretty good I guess. I know some folks who are on their fourth or fifth windshield on their coaches.
We arrived at the Colorado River RV Resort in Columbus, Texas, about 1:00 and got checked in and set up. This is a Thousand Trails resort and we have never been here before. It seems like a nice big park with lots of open space. We managed to get a full hookup 50 amp site and got settled in. We are a ways from the Babcocks, but we are only here for three nights. After we got set up I spent some time on the phone making the insurance claim for the windshield and trying to get something scheduled in the next few weeks to get the window replaced. Our glass coverage is all but a $100 deductible, so other than the inconvenience, it’s no big deal really.
Friday, June 22nd, we left the park after lunch and drove into town to do laundry. The Babcocks also drove into town, just before us, to do the same. The RV park had a laundry facility, but they only had four machines and between we and the Babcocks there was a lot more than four loads. There was only one laundry in town and it was kind of a dump, but it had big washers. It took us about two hours to get everything washed, dried and folded, but now we are good for another couple weeks. After laundry we did a little exploring by driving around Columbus. Not much to see and it didn’t take long.
Columbus has a population of about 3,600 and was established in 1821 by American settlers in Mexican Texas. It was primarily established because the site was at an easy crossing of the Colorado River. The Colorado River which runs through Columbus is not the Colorado River most people are familiar with. The much larger Colorado is on the west side of the continental divide, this Colorado River begins and ends within the State of Texas. Of course, since Texas is so big it is still the 18th longest river in the country at 862 miles.
After our drive around town we went to the local grocery store for a couple of things and then drove back to the RV park. Around 5:00 Ray and Suzie came over for cocktails and dinner. We had drinks and then made a batch of spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Around 8:30 the Babcocks left and we just relaxed the rest of the evening.
Saturday, June 23rd, the four of us left the RV park about 10:00 to go out and do some local geocaching. We wanted to get an early start so as to beat the expected heat in the afternoon. When we had stopped to pick up the Babcocks at their coach we learned that he had been talking to his neighbor in the spot next door and learned that the neighbor’s wife was a geocacher and had hidden a number of caches in the immediate area. We cached in and around Columbus for about three hours or so and managed to get a dozen new finds, along with one DNF. We wanted to get twelve finds because number twelve, the last of the day, was our 4,000th find! A major milestone for us! Yea!After caching we went back into Columbus for lunch. We stopped at a local place called Schobels Restaurant, which had been recommended by some folks at the RV park. It was a pretty big place and seemed to be very busy, even for a late lunch, we didn’t get in there until after 1:00. They had a very extensive menu of fairly typical comfort food as well as a buffet line. Since the buffet was only $10.95 three of us decided to go with it. Suzie got the chicken fried steak dinner. The buffet was good, not outstanding, but OK. The salad bar was very nice and they had a good selection of vegetables, corn, broccoli, and carrots, along with a squash casserole. They had boiled red potatoes, but oddly no mashed potatoes. The entrees were sausage, fried chicken, and beef tips. The beef tips were good, the chicken a little greasy and the sausage kind of tasteless. We had a filling meal, but it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. I would not give it a strong recommendation.
Sunday, June 24th, was supposed to be another travel day. The original plan was to move about 150 miles east on I-10 to Beaumont, Texas, about 75 miles east of Houston. However, Mother Nature, as she is apt to do, altered the situation. For the last few days we have been watching tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico, just west of the Florida coast, churning around. It seems that all of a sudden it has started to develop into a real storm and as of this morning it was Tropical Storm Debby, with the possibility of becoming Hurricane Debby sometime in the next four or five days. The storm is very slow moving and the weather folks are very uncertain at the moment as to which direction the storm is going to ultimately go. The most likely scenario has it moving westward through the center of the Gulf, kind of towards the south Texas coast, however, it could go northeast through western Florida or even northwest up into Louisiana and eastern Texas. Because of the uncertainty we decided that we were going to delay our plans to go any further east for the time being and we cancelled our reservation in Beaumont. We extended our stay here one day with an option for another day or two if necessary. The manager here gave us the extension at the same discount rates we are currently here on, which was nice. We are due to arrive in New Orleans on Thursday, four days from now and it would seem that under most of the storm track possibilities we should still be able to get there on Thursday or Friday at the latest. We will just be playing the next few days by ear and watching the storm.
It has been two weeks since we published our blog, so this is a good spot to close out this episode. Think of it as the “Cliffhanger” episode like they have on television series’. “What will happen to the Holts? Will Debby blow them back to California? Will they end up floating to Cuba? Tune in next time to find out.” Until then, be happy and look at the bright side of life as much as possible. Bye.
