September 1 Wednesday
September! Wow!
Big Bend National Park is near here! We could add park number 12! Hmmmm.
We have time to drive to the park but not really time to explore the
park. The drive just to and from would be about 3 hours We decide
that one is for another trip.
We hear that there is a really good doughnut shop in Alpine,
which is about ½ hour down the road.
Sounds like breakfast! When we
get to the bakery, the shelves seem a little empty. But, more will be coming out of the oven in
about 15 minutes. Sounds like it is
worth the wait. Get gas, locate the town
park. There is a pickup truck outside
with Iowa, Polk county license plates.
While we’re waiting in line, I ask the people ahead of us if it is their
truck. Yes it is! Oh, I grew up in Pella! Well actually, he’s never been to Iowa, The
truck has changed hands several times and the plates have never been
changed. HA!
We get the donuts plus some pigs in a blanket and take them
to the local park to eat. Yes, they are
good and we have enough for a snack and breakfast tomorrow morning.
Texas is a big state!We need a midpoint stop to get to San
Antonio which is our next real destination.
We had planned to camp but the temperatures are in the high 90’s and low
100’s. That just doesn’t sound
appealing. We wind a reasonable hotel in
Del Rio. A quiet afternoon in an air
conditioned room to catch up on journaling, pictures, emails, sounds good.
We take Hwy 90 which could probably also be called the loneliest highway in America. At points, it goes quite close to the Mexico border. We see border patrol vans occasionally. The landscape is really uninviting. Crossing here would be extremely difficult. We stop at the Seminole Canyon State Park. When we get out of the car the 100+ heat really smacks us. They have a nice display of the ranching that went on in the area.
Del Rio is near Laughlin Air Force Base so is quite
large. Sticking with our “No Chain
Restaurant” policy, we eat at a little neighborhood place. We were the only ones there but they did seem
to be doing a good takeout business and it was a bit early for dinner. The food was Americanish. Along with my chicken nuggets, I had an ear
of Mexican style street corn with lime, coita cheese, cilantro and crema.
Back at the hotel, the internet was a bit slow but I still
got quite a bit done on the blog. Only
about a week behind now.
September 2: Thursday
To San Antonio
More flat land and big sky but it’s a bit greener now.
It’s still REALLY HOT! Temperatures in the high 90’s with the heat
index up around 112. We certainly aren’t
going to do any outside anything!
Museum! That’s the ticket. After reading various reviews of museums we
decide on the McNay Art Museum which specializes in modern and women’s
art. Good choice! The special exhibit is called “Limitless”
featuring installations by Martine Gutierrez, Lettitia Huckaby, Yayoi Kusama,
Sandy Skoglund and Jennifer Steinkamp.
The rest of the museum was curated by topic rather than
period. I really liked it. Some of the topics were “Sense of Place”,
“Sacred Conversations”, “Powerful Women”.
Our hotel is downtown near the River Walk. There is road construction in the area and we
have a hard time getting to the hotel as the street it is on is closed. A phone call to the hotel got us there.
Nick made plans with a person he has done on-line gaming
with for several years. We met Phillip
at a local Bar BQ place. Very good food
and it was interesting to meet one of Nick’s gaming friends. They were very good about keeping the
conversation away from gaming.
After dinner, Nick and I walked to the River Walk. We got the last boat ride of the day which
was relaxing and interesting. After the
boat ride, we went back to a little place that had a 3 piece jazz group
playing. Sax, bass and guitar. All really good musicians. We really enjoyed it!
September 3 Friday
We have 9:30 tickets to enter the Alamo. Definitely wanted to go early in the day when
the heat wasn’t as bad and there were a bit fewer people. Well, I think the Alamo is a result of really
good marketing through the years. Of all
the things we did during the last 5 weeks, this was the bottom of my list. We had the self-guided audio tour which did
give some good commentary. I didn’t
quite realize that the main issue wasn’t really about if Texas wanted to be
part of Mexico or the US but that Mexico had changed to a more centralized
government and the Texans didn’t like that.
Another war about state rights. I
think that the people fighting have been made into heroes and some of the
current extremists are patterning themselves after that model. Anyway, I guess maybe I was hot and cranky……
Time to move on. We
made hotel reservations at College Station which is really a pretty short
driving day. We want to get COVID tested
in case we picked something up and are asymptomatic before we get back home and
see little David. We had planned to stay
overnight with Kristina Haas in Shreveport.
But, they are being exposed daily while teaching. Hmmmm. Rethinking our plans.
We aren't able to make an appointment for a COVID test in College Station but make an appointment for Shreveport. We consider just having lunch with Kristina and Eliot and then driving on home to Atlanta the same day. Or getting a hotel somewhere between Shreveport and Atlanta. Because of Hurricane Ida, there are not hotel rooms available along our route. After talking with Kristina and the precautions that they are taking, we decide that staying over night with them really is the best solution.
The George W Bush presidential library is in College Station. Hmmmm. We could go. I guess we're really in the mindset of getting home rather than sight seeing. We pass on the library.
We have a late lunch/early supper at a really nice
restaurant called “Salt”. Since this is
our one meal for the day, we have soup, main dish and dessert. Just had popcorn in our hotel room and it’s
time for a shower and bed.
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