Yea! A Longer Stay in San Antonio

   We left the Whitney CG at 9:00.  It was sunny, but a bit chilly.  We stopped at a fairly new truck stop at 10:00 called Road Ranger.  It was so spacious and beautiful!!

Gas was $1.99!!

  By the time we got thru Austin at noon it was 80 degrees!

Traffic got a little heavy here, but not bad.

 

This RV dealer's roof-top decoration certainly
catches your eye!

  We drove into Ft Sam Houston, an Army base in San Antonio at 1:00.  We had trouble finding the CG because the online address did not match the actual physical address.  We finally found it and pulled into our site at 1:45.  It is a beautiful CG with full hook ups and cement pads for the RV and the patio area.  And ALL 74 sites are pull throughs! 

This set up was super easy.  Doesn't Harvey look happy?!?

We were set up by 2:30 and then headed out to the commissary for groceries.  Shortly after we left the CG we heard a jingly, metallic sound in the back of the Jeep and then we heard it a second time.  We didn't hear it after that, so we just chalked it up to something inside the back hatch.  Well...when we got back John couldn't find the keys to Harvey.  We couldn't find them anywhere in Harvey, so we thought he might have left them on top of the spare tire when he took the bike rack off and maybe we heard the sound of them falling down inside the tire and then off during the trip to the commissary.  John drove out to retrace our route and look for them, but no luck.  There is an elementary school on the way very near to where we heard the sound, so we are going to check there tomorrow to see of anyone found them and turned them in.  We did check the CG office.  John grilled some kielbasa for supper and then we did laundry.  We tried to sit outside and read, but as soon as the sun started to go down the mosquitos started biting.  We went in and played a game of 5 Crowns and John won AGAIN.  I watched "This Is Us" and worked on the blog.  John watched TV in the bedroom and then fell asleep.  I turned in about 11:30.
   Wednesday, John got up very early...about 5:30.  He couldn't sleep thinking about the lost keys.  He decided to walk all the way out to the small exchange store where we had stopped to help a fellow camper find the CG.  It was still dark and he thought if he took a flashlight the keys would shine and he might find them easier.  He also stopped at the elementary school on the way back to check if someone might have turned them in.  There is also a golf course along the way so we called there and the base police department.  But no luck :(  Fortunately the only key we seem to be missing is the one that opens the outside TV compartment.  When he got back he cooked a delicious breakfast.  We hadn't checked out the PX yet so we headed over there.  From there we went to Costco in Selma about 9 miles from here.  We were hungry, so we stopped at a Chinese buffet.  Unfortunately, it wasn't very good, but that DID keep us from eating too much!!  Then on to Costco.  We bought mostly meat.  Their seasoned pork tenderloin medallions are de---licious!!  Back to Harvey and I packed up the meat for the freezer and John took a walk.  When he got back he opened the door and told me to come outside.  I glanced outside and he was opening up the TV compartment.  I yelled, "oh my gosh...you found the keys!  He said, "No, I found another 35K Bounder in the CG and asked if I could try his key".  And it worked!!  He also told us to call Fleetwood and they could just send us a new key.  So that's what we did.  Whew!!!  Another lesson learned!  Alexandra called and we chatted for a while.  Todd's job is going well, but she is having some trouble with hers.  And her car is also acting up.  Looks like she will be looking for a new job and a new used car.  John and I played 2 games of 5 Crowns (I won both) and then we talked for the rest of the evening...no TV.  We talked mostly about Christian beliefs vs. scientific studies (viewing the 65,000 yr old mammoth skeletons spurred that discussion).  We came to our own conclusions and then, of course, solved most of the world's other problems, too :))  Then we went to bed...our brains were tired.  Well, at least mine was!!
   Thursday we decided to go do some sight seeing in San Antonio.  I made pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast figuring, that way, we wouldn't have to worry about lunch.  We got showers and got ready to go, but it was still pretty chilly and the gusty winds made it feel even colder.  So we waited another hour to let it warm up.  I did pack a lunch for us in case we were out longer than we expected.  We took off about 12:30.  John dropped me off at a local Goodwill store while he washed the filthy Jeep.  I sure had fun and found some shorts, capris and slacks that was looking for since my weight loss.  I'd like to lose more, so I thought buying new ones at Goodwill just makes sense.  Of course, if we keep eating the way we have been that probably won't happen.  Actually, we have been doing much better than other years, especially with portion size!  Ok, enough about that!  We arrived at the Witte Museum at about 2:00 and decided to eat our lunches right there in the parking lot before we went in.  Then I talked to Mom.  Dad is about the same.  The doctor who saw him on Tuesday agrees that she thinks another fistula is brewing and ordered compresses just as Dr Rommel had done.  Mom said Dad actually went outside on his scooter yesterday.  That's a good sign!  The first building we went into was the Body Adventure.  It was full of interactive activities you could do which basically dealt with health.  It was fun! 

This was outside the entrance to the museum.

 

This was the digestion exhibit.  I'm not going to say anymore!!

 

Then we went to the South Texas Heritage Center on the grounds.  It was full of historical accounts and artifacts.  That was neat, too. 

A sculpture outside the center.  I especially
enjoyed the cactus.

A Texas longhorn.

An Eagle feather war bonnet from the 1870's

These hair combs were huge...about 6-8 inches high!

Notice these cards have no numbers or letters.

A stuffed pack mule.  He looked very real!

A portable cell.  It's missing the fold-down iron cot.

Notice that the dog in the foreground was used as a pack animal.

Another Texas longhorn.  I wonder if his
neck ever got sore from holding up those big horns?!?

While we were there Melissa called.  Chuck and Melissa are full time RVer friends from Tennessee we met thru Bonnie and Ken.  They are in San Antonio for a while, so we made plans to get together this weekend.  It will be fun to see them again!  Then we went over to the Research and Collections center where they have over 300,000 artifacts on display.  But it had just closed...shucks!!  We were able to go inside the lobby area and peek into one of the display rooms. 

This is a bench that had been along the river walk
where in 1951 Johnny Cash carved "Johnny loves Vivian".
They married in 1954 after he came back from a 3yr
assignment in Germany with the Air Force.  He wrote,
and dedicated the song, "I Walk the Line" to his new wife.
They were married for 13 yrs and had 4 daughters.

  Well, just after we got back on base, there were 2 cars stopped in the middle of the road...one was a taxi.  We thought it was a fender bender until we got closer.  The taxi driver and the woman driving the car were practically laying on the road looking under the car.  I looked under the car and saw an animal.  We stopped to see if we could help.  A small dog had run out onto the road and the car ran over it.  The dog didn't appear to be hurt, but he wouldn't budge from under the dead center of the car.  And, of course, he/she was scared.  Another young girl stopped and she crawled right under the car.  But the doggie kept trying to bite her.  I blocked the front of the car with a windshield cover so the dog couldn't sneak out and John got his jacket and laid down on the road to keep it from sneaking out the side.  (we didn't want it to get hit again)  It was 5:00 now and Revelry started, so everyone stops there car and gets out to salute the flag and pay respect.  When that was over the young man in the car right by us came over to help.  The doggie was now right by the inside of the left front tire.  John was able to grab the dog with his jacket even though the doggie was biting.  The young man grabbed the doggie, while getting bit, by the scruff of his neck and pulled him out.  Then we all looked at each other and said, "Now what?"  We didn't know if the doggie was hurt or not, so we offered to take it to the vet on base, but the young man holding it said he would do it.  Wow...now that was an adventure.  We are going to check on the doggie tomorrow.  We had leftovers for supper and played a game of 5 Crowns.  I won again.  John decided he wanted to play Black Jack instead.  He creamed me!  We watched some TV and then went to bed.  It was a good day!!

   John got up at 5:30 on Friday to go to the graduation at Lackland AF Base about 30 minutes from here.  The graduation was at 9:00, but guests were to be there by 7:15!!  He wanted to check out the BX and CG, too.  I did laundry and worked on the blog while he was gone.  He got back about 12:00 noon.  He kept mentioning how cold it was at the ceremony with 50 degrees and wind gusts, but he really enjoyed it.  I'm glad I decided not to go!! 

 

 

There's that provocative "nose art" again.

 

A monument to the Military Working Dog Teams

 

Some of the planes on display.

 

 

Uuh-0h...more "nose art".

 

The Air Force Core Values

 

That's the band in front and all the groups of
graduates following behind.

 

There's one of those military working dogs
keeping the crowd protected and under control.

 

It was a large crowd!

 

 

The Airman's Creed.

I kept working on the blog and he took a nap. We both had a snack and then decided to go visit the Ft Sam Houston and Army Medical museum, both on base.  But, FIRST, we wanted to find the vet's office and check on the doggie from yesterday.  We asked the gal at the desk about the dog and she told us that they don't see emergencies and they weren't even open yesterday.  But when we described the dog she told us that she had gotten a call from the owner who was trying to locate the dog.  She gave us her name and phone number...and the dog's name...Riley.  We called her and relayed the whole story.  She said the military police had the name and ph# of the young man who brought the dog in to them, but he was not available for a phone call until 5:00 today.  So she was anxiously awaiting a call from him to find out where the dog was.  He wouldn't have been able to keep the dog at his barracks.  We asked her to give us a call when she got any news.  We didn't get to the museum until 3:30 and it closed at 4:00, so we didn't see much.  BUT in the courtyard of the "Quadrangle," a huge square working military complex that dates back to 1876 , were several dozen peacocks, ducks, chickens and deer roaming freely.  The brochure says the peacocks have been there since 1897 and the deer since 1886!  We could walk right up to the peacocks.
Some of them were pure white.  We could get pretty close to the deer, too although they were a bit more skiddish.  I was almost freezing by the time we got to the car.  We'll go back tomorrow to finish going thru the museum and dress a little warmer so we can spend more time outside with the animals and birds.

They were all over the place!  Some were pure white.
According to a website, they aren't necessarily albino, but
it's caused by selective breeding.  It's common for captive peacocks
to buck the iridescent trend for all white feathers.  Who knew???

They are so pretty.  Well, the male is!  The females
are in the background.

See the birds up in the tree?

See how cold it was outside.  this duck
is wearing a hat!!

This deer was only about 6 feet away from me!

  We stopped at the commissary again for a few things and then went back to Harvey, the RV.  We played Racko...I won.  We had flat bread pizzas for supper and then we played 5 Crowns.  John won that one.  We hadn't heard from Riley's owner, so we texted her.  She got right back to us to let us know she had just located Riley at a local shelter.  But he was quarantined for 10 days because of having bit the young guy.  Luckily, Riley wasn't hurt at all!!

Here's Riley.  I think they should change his
name to Lucky!!

  John thinks we should change our blog name to "the dog rescuers" :))  John went to bed and I stayed up to upload pictures and finish today's blog post.  I finally finished at 12:46.  I thought doing the blog only every 4 or 5 days would be easier.  Not sure about that.  Me thinks I might just include too many details.  What do you think??

Spending Some Time in Whitney, Texas near Waco

   When we got up this morning we realized that it had been exactly 2 weeks since we left PA.  With all the stops we have made it seemed like we had already been away for a month!  But it is all good!  We pulled out of the CG in Louisiana at 8:58.  It was partly sunny and warm.  We hopped on I-20 West and pulled into a rest stop/info center just over the Texas border at 9:30.  We picked up a bunch of brochures for Waco, San Antonio and Harlingen.  Then off we went. 

Yea!!  We finally made it to Texas!

We stopped again about 40 minutes later to get gas.  By that time it got cloudier, darker and foggy.  But there wasn't much traffic, so we didn't have any trouble.  We got off I-20 toward Waco at 12:45.

It was surprising how long we drove thru this
without any rain!

Look out Waco...here we come.  I'm sure
Chip and Joanna Gaines from the TV show,
Fixer Upper can hardly wait till we get there :)

I called Dad to see how he was doing.  He really did sound good although he said he was still having those occasional very sharp pains in his lower right abdomen. And, bless his heart, he told us not to worry about him and to enjoy our time traveling...he would be fine.  WOW!!  Then I called Heather to see how moving into the new house was going.  Unfortunately, she, Jack and Cooper have all been sick, so she hasn't made much progress.

Now wait a minute...I didn't know
you could get THERE from here :)

 By 1:40 we were driving through Hillsboro and we arrived at the Thousand Trails CG in Whitney at 2:00.

Don't know what this building was in Hillsboro.  Just
thought it was neat.

Because it is the off season here we were able to drive through the CG and pick our spot.  The CG is very far off the road and very spread out in 3 separate loops.  There are 103 sites.

We passed this sign on the way to our site, but
we never saw any.  What a tease!!

  None have cement pads, but ours is very level.  There are only 24 sites that have 50 amp service along with water and sewer.  Most are full hook ups with 30 amp service.  There are about 60 sites with just water and 30 amp service.  Sorry, that just might have been too much useless information.  The CG is pretty "rustic", but we will be watching football games on Sunday and be out and about most of the time in the Waco area on Monday anyway, so it really doesn't matter.  We pulled into our site at about 2:30 and were all set up by 3:15.  At 4:45 we headed to the Texas Great Country Café and Pie Pantry. (there was a 10% off coupon in the Thousand Trails brochure)Their slogan is "We fix It and You Fetch It".  Sounds like a buffet, but it's not.  On the way a very dark cloud appeared in the sky along with some lightning.

Ominous looking, isn't it?!?

It poured for a few minutes, and then it was over, but the temperature must have dropped 15 degrees.  It was a cute little restaurant and the staff was so friendly and helpful.  The food was above average and you got quite a bit.  We were able to bring half of it home.  But it was the pie that stole the show...they were absolutely delicious!!  

These are words of wisdom in the menu.  Please
enlarge it so you can read them.  They are good!!

Michele called as we were leaving the restaurant.  She has recently Wowed the Keratin Complex company she teaches for with a new color line they have developed.  They asked her to put together the promotion for it and to teach it in NYC.  It will be a lot of work, but she is very excited!!  I am very proud of her...she is so good at what she does!!  When we got back I worked on the blog while John did some reading.  All of a sudden I heard the awning flapping and a huge gust of wind and Harvey started swaying.  We watched the weather and they are just calling for windy, gusty conditions, but no tornadoes.  It rained off and on, too.  The wind is to continue tomorrow, but no rain.  Then we played a game of 5 Crowns.  John won again, so now we are 4-4.  He went to bed around 10:00 and I finished today's blog while watching Hell's Kitchen.   On Sunday John made some egg sandwiches for breakfast and then we decided to give Harvey a good cleaning.  John even wiped down all the cabinets with Orange Glow.  What a guy!!  Then it was time to put Texas on our map! 

Texas is big...makes the map look so much fuller!

 

We're making progress!!

We drove out the CG lane to look at the lake.  But we couldn't find it.  We didn't look that hard, though, because the wind was still gusting at 40mph.  We didn't even get out of the car.  It was chilly enough for us to put long pants back on.  DRAT!!  We went out to a nearby grocery store called Brookshire's to get a few things and then we were bad. 

Had to take a picture of the grocery store because
one of my best girlfriends lives in a
development in Manheim called Brookshire.

We went back to the restaurant we had visited last night and got 2 more pieces of pie.  Well...it's their specialty and we wanted to contribute to the success of their restaurant.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Heavenly Hash and Lemon Meringue...YUM!!

I called Katie and Mike, friends from Chattanooga, TN we met one year in Florida.  She had a gastric bypass 6 wks ago and I wanted to check on her.  She's doing great...already lost 50 lbs!  We wanted to stop to see them on our way home, but they will be in AZ until April 13, so we will most likely miss them.  They will be in Mexico when we are in southern Texas, so maybe we can hook-up then. We had time for a game of 5 Crowns before the start of the football game.  John beat me again.  Now it's 5-4.   We had our leftovers from last night and settled in for the first football game.  We were rooting for Green Bay, so it certainly was disappointing!  John grilled filets for supper and forgetting about the hour difference here we missed a good bit of the first quarter of the Pittsburgh game.  Another disappointing game!  We watched a little more TV and then were in bed by 10:00.  Tomorrow we are spending the day in Waco.
   We had a long, but great day of sightseeing today, leaving at 9:45 and getting back at 6:30.  We tried to leave the CG at 9:30, but a persistent cardinal kept pecking the windows in the Jeep and then the windows on Harvey.  So we decided we ought to put plastic bags over the mirrors on Harvey (that's where the darn bird sat to peck) so we don't come back to pooped covered mirrors. 

There's that pretty little pesky bird.

Off we went and made our first stop West, Texas, or should I say West (comma) Texas.  That's what the residents say so people realize that they live in the actual town of West not just in the western side of Texas.

  There is a Czech bakery there called The Village Bakery and they are supposed to have the best kolaches in Texas...whatever they are.  Turns out they are basically a fruit or cheese filled Danish as we would call them.  So we got one of those and a cinnamon stick.  Both were delicious!!

What a cute little shop!!

The kolache

The cinnamon roll slice

  Then on to Waco.

  First stop...Magnolia Farms Market and Silos, an old grain business site redeveloped by Chip and Joanna Gaines from the TV show, Fixer Upper.  It was really neat.

A billboard of Chip and Joanna Gaines we saw on the way to Waco.

  The market was pretty much all the staging decorations Joanna uses on the show along with souvenirs like coffee cups and t-shirts.  It was fun to recognize many of the things she uses.

Yep...this is the infamous "shiplap" Joanna
loves to use.

Inside the shop

  On the outside of the complex there is a large grassy area complete with a cornhole game where you can just relax in the sun on big, comfy cushions or eat at picnic tables.   And there are about 10 food trucks along the back.

Now that's the way to spend your lunch hour!!

There is also a greenhouse and a bake shop on the premises. 

They grow mostly herbs in this area.  The cone shaped
shrubs in the background are rosemary.

The terrariums are adorable...complete with
mailboxes and swing sets!
 

    Of course we HAD to share a lemon/lavender cupcake!

oh...yum!!!

 

  I took my book along hoping to get an autograph, but, shucks, Joanna was there this past Saturday!  From there we went to the Dr. Pepper museum.  That was fun, too.  

John was hamming it up with a silly pose!

What's up with that stuff?!?

This was the guy who invented Dr. Pepper.  As a teenager
he worked at a local pharmacy at the soda fountain.  (Remember
when they had those?)  He would mix the flavors in the sodas
to create something unique.  And, presto, Dr. Pepper was born.
He is a very life-like rubber figure that narrated his story.

Then we went to the Mammoth National Monument.  It's an actual housed dig site where they have found the fossilized remains of Colombian mammoths.  It was AMAZING!!  They were found in different levels of the soil.  The deepest ones were 65,000 yrs old and the shallower ones were 51,000 yrs old!!  There was a male, a female, a baby, a camel, and a tooth from a saber toothed tiger.  They died during the ice age, but they are still trying to figure out what caused the deaths.  They are pretty sure that a flood is what caused all the carcasses to be preserved in the mud.  There was a whole nursery herd of about 2 dozen calves and moms uncovered first who appeared to be drowned together in a single event between 65 and 72,000 yrs ago.  That was before the climate controlled dig shelter was built, so those bones are housed at Baylor University.  Enjoy some of the pix we took!

This is a Colombian Mammoth...14 ft tall
 at the shoulder and 20,000 lbs!!!

This is the skeleton of a male about 51,000 yrs old!
Notice the long tusks.

This is the 51,000 yr old remains of a 40 yr old female.

These pictures are a close up of her teeth.  They only have 4 teeth...
2 upper molars and 2 lower ones.  They get a new set
every 20 yrs but usually stop at age 80.

This is the remains of a camel.

This is the 65,000 yr old remains of a calf.  You can see
how it is on a different level from the remains to the left of it.
So it was covered over about 14,000 yrs before the other one.

The dark lines in the soil indicate the years
between the "flooding over" of the region which
helps to indicate the age of fossils.

This is a real piece of mammoth dung that is
about 15,000 yrs old.  A full grown mammoth
produced 500-700 lbs of it a day!!  No %#$@!!

We had supper out on the deck at Buzzard Billy's as recommended by our guide at the momument.  It was fabulous!  We started with mozzarella sticks that were hand cut and breaded.  Each one was about the size of a corndog.  They were so good.  John had Jambalya and I had Cresent City Chicken.  They were both delicious! 

The restaurant was right by the Brazo River.

 

There's the buzzard.

 

My chicken with shrimp and crabmeat...

 

...and John's jambalya.  Hmmm, a lot of our
adventures have to do with food, don't they?!?

When we got back we went to the Adult Clubhouse to do laundry, but it was "out of order".  They were brand new washers and dryers, so we don't know why they weren't working.  So we went back to Harvey and watched TV and I worked on the blog.  We'll get a few things ready for our departure tomorrow morning and then "hit the tick".  We'll be in San Antonia tomorrow afternoon.