Around Medina Lake and moving to Kerrville

Some last pictures from around our campground at Thousand Trails Medina Lake:

Miss Kitty thought that our site was pretty good because the side with the couch was facing south so she could get sun a lot of the day! (Neighboring campsite's truck outside the window)

Around our campsite, there were some massive thistle plants -- this one was across from us, and probably about 4' tall. The ones *at* our site had been cut down by a lawn mower, but I guess this one was too close to the picnic table, or maybe someone was parked in the site when they mowed. The plants are going to seed, so there will be sure to be more next year! Carl broke this one off at the ground after we took the picture.

I remember how my Dad used to fight the thistles on our farm. If I remember the story correctly, there was a point when 3 or so our neighbor's cows got out and a helpful person put them into my Dad's field. Dad and the neighbor knew that 3 cows needed to be returned to the neighbor's field, but they were all the same color/breed so there was no way to tell which were the neighbor's. They had about decided to just take any 3, when Dad noticed that 3 of the cows had thistle tied up in their tales -- good as a brand in identifying that those 3 were *not* from my Dad's pasture and should be returned to the neighbor's field.

On Thursday, we moved a few miles away to Kerrville, Texas, where we're joining with Blue Bird Wanderlodge owners for the eclipse rally. (We're still hoping for clear enough skies to see the eclipse!)

Old River Road RV Resort

Gracie in her spot at Old River Road RV Resort

Schedule of events

We signed up for this rally about 4 years ago! It was announced on 2/21/2020 and we could make reservations at the campground in June of 2020. We've never before had campground reservations that far in advance!

This is a really beautiful RV campground -- they have obviously put some big money into developing it and they take very good care of it!

One of our neighbors is a Blue Bird owner from Virginia that Dwayne and I had first met in the summer of 2021 when he purchased the jackknife couch that we removed from Miss Doozie. We later met up with both Randy and his wife, Linda, at a Vintage Birds Rally in Williamsburg in the fall of 2018.

When Randy came to get the couch at the farm in Virginia, he brought his pickup truck with its very interesting truck bed...

Randy had designed what he wanted the truck bed to do -- to raise up and come off the back of the truck and end up flat on the ground. They use this to carry their "toys" -- primarily two Harleys, but on this particular trip, a Razor.

Randy and Linda told us that he got it made by a company that makes the city trash trucks!

Here it is returning to stowed position.

I took a video of it stowing -- but it was after the sun set, so a bit dark. https://youtu.be/tUfsWtm44gs

We are enjoying meeting up with Blue Bird folks!

Cruising on our 50th (part 3)

On our 50th month-versary, after visiting The Alamo, we walked down to the River Walk with the plan to take a river boat cruise.

Walking along the River Walk.

I had done some research beforehand and determined that Rio Cruises had good reviews -- we saw a sign outside Rainforest Cafe that they sold tickets for Rio inside, so we purchased two tickets, and then needed to walk about a block to get to the on/off spot.

On the way to the docking point, we crossed a bridge over the River Walk and saw one of the Rio boats on the river below us.

We had a little bit of a wait in line before a boat got there, but soon we were on the river with our cruise director, Bob. He gave us some safety directions -- don't hang anything outside the sides of the boat, there are safety flotation devices beneath the deck of the boat -- but if you fall over, just put your feet down and stand up and walk to the side, because the water is only 2-5' deep in most of the River Walk!

La Villita - this is an amphitheater with the stage on the other side of the river. A historic district of homes and shops is behind the amphitheater.

Bob, our driver, cruise director, tour guide, entertainment!

It is so pretty cruising on the river right in downtown San Antonio.

Tower Life Building - 8-sided 31-story built in 1929 (just before the stock market crash).

The building is "protected" by gargoyles -- these are near the bottom, but there are also gargoyles at the top which also serve as rain gutters!

Close-up of some of the gargoyles.

The Esquire Tavern - opened in 1933, the oldest bar on the River Walk - opened the day that Prohibition was struck down.

Another view along the River Walk

La Mansion (now Omni La Mansion del Rio) started its life as a boys school (https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/omni-la-mansion-del-rio-san-antonio/history.php).

I also found information about the River Walk on that "historic hotels" site:

Omni La Mansion del Rio is located just moments from the renowned San Antonio River Walk. Also known as the “Paseo del Río,” this spectacular cultural destination is a network of pedestrian streets that wind along the center of the San Antonio River. Given its shallow banks, that section of the river had flooded frequently throughout its history, with the worse occurring in 1921. In response, several civic planners debated the ways in which the river could be properly dammed. To that end, architect Robert H.H. Hugman proposed routing a portion of the troubled stretch of water around a beautiful manmade city park. The park itself would feature several walkways lined with old-fashioned streetlamps and would provide additional retail space for various boutique businesses. Debuting later that decade, it quickly became one of the most visited attractions in San Antonio, next to The Alamo and Military Plaza. Efforts to further expand the River Walk occurred during the 1930s, with the Works Progress Administration providing the main source of labor. Various organizations also donated their time toward preserving the River Walk’s beauty, too, such as the San Antonio Advertising Club, the San Antonio Real Estate Board, and the Daughters of the American Revolution’s San Antonio Chapter. Today, the San Antonio River Walk is one of the most vibrant cultural attractions in the entire city.

While on our boat cruise, we passed by Hugman's office (information from: https://www.hugmantour.com/Hugman-Sites-Tour/Detail-Page/ArtMID/19809/ArticleID/8365/6-Hugman-Office?ID=):

In the early 1940s architect Robert Hugman pioneered the River Walk’s commercial use by opening his office in basement of the tower of this 1891 landmark designed by James Riely Gordon. Hugman’s lettered sign on the rim of the street level balcony was later replicated in his memory. Once flood protection was assured and the River Walk became commercially viable, owners of such vintage riverside buildings had only to punch doorways in their antique basement walls to make good use of their property, lending a varied sense of antiquity to the River Walk.

Our tour guide, Bob, indicated that Hugman's confidence to place his office at the river level gave other businesses confidence that they could also operate at the river level, safe from flooding. 

Recently (2022) created statue "Stargazer" along the River Walk. (https://events.getcreativesanantonio.com/public-art/stargazer-citlali/)

We ended our visit to San Antonio with a stop at the grocery store and Sam's Club, and then headed back to our campsite at Medina Lake. We enjoyed our 50th month-versary!

Continuing our 50th celebration (part 2)

We continued the celebration of our 50th month-versary on Tuesday, celebrating our "golden" month-versary, with lunch, where else but....

Golden Corral!!! (You should know by now that Carl loves buffets, and particularly Golden Corrals!)

This was one of the nicest Golden Corrals we have visited -- very open, bright, clean...

... and we got there early enough to be able to get both breakfast and lunch options!

After filling up at Golden Corral, we drove into downtown San Antonio...

... to visit The Alamo. There was a lot of construction going on in the area, with closed streets causing some difficulty getting around, but we found the area, found parking (a couple of blocks away at less than 50% of the cost of the closer parking!), and walked to The Alamo. I had booked free tickets a few weeks ago that would let us enter the church anytime on Tuesday.

Outside The Alamo, there was a lady taking pictures that we could claim later in the gift shop. We decided to purchase them as our "month-versary" remembrance picture! When they showed them to us, I recognized that they put in different backgrounds, but since they took the picture in front of The Alamo, near the doors, I thought this one might be an actual picture -- but there were so many people around, after examining it here at home,I'm certain that this is "created" like the others in front of a green screen! I'll post the other pictures at the bottom of this blog entry.

The building across the street had a screen up as they are doing construction. Some type of visitor center for The Alamo is going into that space, I think.

Inside The Alamo church.

At the front of the church - the 6 flags representing the 6 nations which have ruled over Texas - the following is quoted from a source on reddit: "Spain(Represented by the Royal Banner of Castile-Leon)-France(Represented by the Bourbon Flag)-US-Republic (and later State) of Texas-Mexico-CSA (nice that they went with one of the actual CSA flags and not the modern "Confederate flag")"

At the front also is a listing of all of the individuals fighting with the Texas Rebels who died at The Alamo.

View toward the entrance of the church. There were a LOT of people in there - so it was rather loud and there was a line to get into the sacristy - which we decided to skip.

We went instead to the Long Barracks, where there was a documentary film showing.

A view of The Alamo from the front...

... another tourist offered to take our picture there, so we got a "real" picture in front of The Alamo too!

One of the interesting buildings nearby - this is now The Emily Morgan Hotel.

It was a bit disconcerting to me that the narrative that I read and heard at The Alamo this visit was quite different from what I had seen and heard in the past. The first time I visited The Alamo was back in the mid '80s and it happened that we visited *on* March 6 (anniversary date of the fateful battle). I remember being so moved by the story and what I learned there. We visited again in 1992 on our "Epic Journey Around Texas" with both Dwayne's and my Dads and Peggy too. Again, it was very moving. For some reason, this time, it was not; I don't know whether it was due to the crowds, or the changes in the narrative (the current narrative seems to be more "balanced" in its viewpoint and not so "rah-rah" for Texas), or just that I was *expecting* to be moved -- at any rate, it was a little disappointing! We still enjoyed visiting, just not quite the experience that I was anticipating.

Finally -- the other pictures (green-screen-like with different backgrounds) that the photography service at The Alamo provided us:

As if we were right in front (and very close to the camera?)

Next to a fountain (we didn't see a fountain there at all, but we didn't walk over all of the grounds)

Under the live oak tree in the garden - the live oaks are gorgeous in this area!

More in the next post from San Antonio!

Happy 50th to us! (part 1)

Tuesday was our 50th month-versary, so we planned a day to celebrate.

We headed into San Antonio. We had booked a tour of the SAS Shoe Factory in the morning. I have been wearing SAS shoes for many, many years -- I have narrow feet and high arches, and it is refreshing to be able to get shoes that actually fit my foot! Soon after Carl and I got married, I took him into an SAS shoe store and he got his first pair of SAS shoes. They are about three times the cost of the Nike or Reebok or other type of athletic shoe that he had been purchasing -- but he had been having to replace the previous types of shoes about once a year (he is hard on shoes). He still has that first pair of SAS casual shoes, and he has a pair of dressier shoes too. I have sandals, flat slip-ons, and casual/athletic shoes from SAS. Miss Kitty is the only occupant of the rig who isn't outfitted in SAS shoes!

Founders of San Antonio Shoemakers (SAS)

In the '70s, two men had a dream of making the most comfortable shoes in the world.

Terry Armstrong and Lew Hayden had a vision of how soft and comfortable genuine leather shoes should be made.

They would use the finest leather and quality materials; each pair crafted by hand with close attention to detail.

With passion, determination and the support of their families, the two visionaries pooled their resources to start their first factory in a corner of an old, unused aircraft hangar on the South Side of San Antonio. In 1976, San Antonio Shoemakers was born. 

They were confident their shoes would sell themselves once tried on, and they were right. The SAS reputation grew by word of mouth and became a name people could trust for comfortable, quality footwear.

Our goal is to keep Terry and Lew's dream alive.

Today, San Antonio Shoemakers continues to be a family-owned business. WE take pride in the legacy handed down to us by Terry and Lew.

At San Antonio Shoemakers, we take extra steps, so you can too. Thank you!

 

This is one of the styles of SAS Shoes that I have multiple pairs of -- the Duo. It's 1,000,000th pair was produced in 1995. There was a wall with many bronzed styles recognized for having sold 1 million+ pairs of shoes!

We could not take pictures of the factory operations, but, when we first entered the first factory building...

... there was a display of these tiny cunning SAS baby shoes. Our tour guide, Claudia, told us that these are each hand made, many to special order, by a lady over in the General Store building.

Our sweet tour guide, Claudia, with us, at the end of the tour. She gave us such a great tour!

Things we learned on the tour (this are some of the things I remember, and the way that I remember them, but they may not be completely correct!):

• The shoes are hand made -- and go through 88 hands on their process of production! (A marketing video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLIb5jvmbDE)
• The leather comes into the factory already dyed and ready to cut. The first production line person we saw was using dies that she positioned on the leather - the die was sharp on both sides so she could position it to take advantage of getting the most out of the raw materials. The leather for 9 pairs of shoes will be cut from a single piece of leather. I think there are three pieces cut for many of the shoes -- the heel cap, the vamp (I think this is the largest part), and then maybe the tongue? They ensure that both shoes in a pair of shoes has leather from the same original piece of leather.
• There is a machine that makes the holes where stitching will be required.
• The shoes are hand-stitched.
• The leather wraps around the foot under the footbed of the shoe.
• There are two new shoe styles that have been contracted to be produced by SAS for the US military: the Mission and the Pursuit. 
• The finished products go through two different quality checks. If anything is found not to standard, they are marked with a yellow tag and sent to be sold as seconds in the General Store. Claudia picked one of the shoes off the rack that had a yellow tag on it -- a note on the tag indicated an imperfection on the upper part of the shoe -- there was a minuscule discoloration that I probably would not have even been able to see! 
  

When our tour ended (about 45 minutes), we went back into the General Store to look around.
 

Inside the General Store

Lasts -- one of SAS's unique qualities is that their lasts are made in the US to exacting standards. When you find the size of SAS shoe that fits you, the next pair in that size will also fit you, because it will be made on a last with the exact same characteristics.

In the seconds area -- if I only had room in my closet!

At all SAS shoe stores, they still measure the size of your foot -- even if you "know" your foot size, they will gladly measure it to ensure that your foot has not changed size since it was last checked (things change as we celebrate more birthdays, you know!).

This was a small shoe factory area where the lady who makes the baby shoes does her magic!

Someone got quite a primo parking spot!

Some of the new "Fiesta" style shoes!

Bulk candy in the General Store

Popcorn for sale for a nickel, and coca-cola for a dime!

Outside view of the General Store

Another view of the outside -- there were some classic looking cars parked under the shaded area.

There were signs along the roof above the cars:

"It Gave"....  "McDonald"... "That Needed Charm"... "Hello Hollywood"... "Goodbye Farm"... "Burma Shave"

We had a great first stop on our month-versary celebration day!