Monday, December 18, 2017

Remember The Alamo!

  We've been looking forward to this day. This is the day Aaron arrives. His plane was due to arrive at 9:50 am. San Antonio International Airport is about 20 minutes from Traveler's World so we wanted to be in the car and on our way to the airport by 9:15. As usual, Suzanne was up before I was. I rolled out of bed at 8:30 and took a quick shower...


    Our motorhome has an Aqua-Hot hydronic heating system. There is no hot water tank. It's an on demand system that heats water as needed. It can be operated in either electric or diesel mode or a combination of both. If the ambient temperature is in the 50 degree range or lower however, the electric heating element isn't sufficient and the diesel burner needs to be turned on in order to get a good supply of acceptably hot H2O. Actually, regardless of the ambient temp, the electric only setting just doesn't deliver the same long lasting, reliably hot water as the diesel burner. If we're washing dishes the electric setting is good enough. When it's shower time we always flip the diesel switch. I wasn't sure what to think of this newfangled system when we first started using it but have since become accustomed to the idea of endlessly hot showers. There's a nice little corner seat in there and after a long run with Travis it's nice to sit and relax for a while... and pretend it's a sauna. If I could only smoke a cigar in there.

But I digress...

    This morning's shower was quick.
     I dressed, took Travis for a short walk and fed him and we were out the door and on our way to the airport by 9:20. As it turned out, Aaron's flight had been delayed and he didn't arrive until 10:15 so we parked in the cell phone lot and waited for him to call/text to let us know he was waiting at the curb.
    When I first checked flight status on my phone I hadn't noticed the colon between the words delayed and in flight and remarked to Suzanne, "Okay, how is it possible that his plane was delayed in flight?". When I re-read it I saw the colon... delayed : in flight. What a difference a colon makes. I've always said that.
    We picked Aaron up at pillar B15 and headed into San Antonio for what turned out to be a very enjoyable morning and early afternoon of huevos & history.
    Breakfast at Casa Rio and some of the biggest friggin' Bloody Marys I've ever seen!...


                           And isn't this just the cutest little light-up Boxing Santa pen ever?


      Upon finishing breakfast we strolled along the River Walk, making our way to the information desk outside the Alamo. We decided to plop down 45 dollars ($15 per ticket) and take the 1pm guided tour. It was only 12:15 so we busied ourselves for the next 35 minutes checking out some of the sites and exhibits outside the 'church'. One of the out buildings contains an exhibit titled, Jim Bowie: Man, Knife, Legend. It was an interesting retrospective of Mr. Bowie's life and the evolution of his namesake knife. I learned that he was the inspiration for David adopting the surname 'Bowie' (true story).
     We were at the tour rendezvous point at 12:50 and our guide arrived right on time. He was a very good tour guide and a jovial bloke. Having had the gig for 17 years he knew just about everything there is to know about The Alamo and all things Alamo.
    There's a back door with a big illuminated exit sign above it at the Alamo. I took a picture of it the last time we were here and posted it to Facebook. With six thousand of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's best about to come-a-knockin', why the inhabitants of the Alamo didn't make use of this convenient point of egress...I'll never know.



       I guess it was about 2:30 when we decided to head back to Traveler's World. Travis had been alone since we left for the airport and was due for a break.  We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the coach and watching a little football. At some point I made a run to the H.E.B. supermarket to stock up on a few food supplies (We do have three mouths to feed now, four if you count Travis).  I went for a run around 5:15, showered and then warmed up a bunch of leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow night I'll barbecue the three ribeyes I purchased at H.E.B..
    On my way to the grocery store I drove by Mission San Jose. It's apparently run by the National Park service and looks like an interesting place to visit. We'll check it out tomorrow.

Thanks for reading the blog!


   
   
 
 



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