March 11 through March 17, 2005

Friday March 11:

It was warm all night.  At 4:30 AM it is 61 degrees under the RV.  Today we plan to resupply at HEB across the highway here in New Braunfels, then proceed to San Antonio for fuel and more supplies at Sam's before going to the riverwalk for the Irish festivities around noon.  The Sam's had gas as low as we'd seen it recently, $1.809/g, so we filled, taking on 71 gallons.  Texans take their barbecue seriously, and this rig is evidence of just HOW seriously...  :-)

The trailer is all ready to fire up, with a supply of mesquite wood in the box on the far side to keep it going!  I imagine it's owner is in Sam's buying a big bunch of ribs, brisket or turkey legs to use in it too.  Our parking place number 161 at N29.42495d, W98.50198d, elev 653' in the city parking lot is open, and we overhang our whole back end over the grass between the trees and fit in one car slot quite nicely.  The event rate of $5 a day applies, but it is worth it.  We are across the street from the Tejano music festival in the Mexican Marketplace, and an easy walk to the riverwalk for the Irish Festival.   We decide to walk through the Tejano Festival first, then on to the riverwalk later, as the Irish festivities were concentrating tomorrow and Sunday .  There were bands playing as we entered, and they were lively, most featuring a guitar, drums and accordion, many a vocalist, and ALL were L O U D!!

This is a busy street festival, with stands selling food, drinks, trinkets and almost anything you'd want. You can see on the right in this picture that the sound equipment is professional grade, with professional sound people running it.  Each band took time to set up and get the instruments balanced in the sound systems, and there was some obvious annoyance between the sound crew and the performers at times getting the sound set up to a band's satisfaction, but with 5 stages set up along the street there was always music ACTION somewhere.  The big speakers set up within feet of the only walking path (see them in the front corners of the stage in the picture above), visibly moving inches on the low bass notes, gave LOUD a new meaning....  :-)  It did not matter that the words were in Spanish....the IDEA came through in the music's exciting danceable beat and resounding body vibrating PRESENCE!    I am amazed at the schedule; 60 bands a day will perform free here from noon until 11:00 PM for three days!   This is music I have never really heard before, it is a recognizably different sound, yet it is big enough to attract 180 bands to San Antonio for this Tejano Music Awards Festival weekend.  This young lady vocalist was passing out promotional photos of herself to the crowd.

I decided my own photo's were easier to store....  :-)  The music encouraged some dancers to participate.

I received an approving nod from the "middle aged" guy with a Spanish accent standing next to me when I took this picture. :-)  He did not look it, not a strand of grey hair, but was wearing a Vietnam Vet hat and had served with the 101st Airborne Division there. There were few men dancing too...this one was doing more like a "solo performance" strut to the music than a partnered dance....

I'm sure he was enjoying himself, and amusing bystanders too, but I did not see him on the following days...maybe his head hurt too much?  :-)  We decided to have early dinner in the RV then head down to the riverwalk.  It was HOT, and we needed the fan to keep us cool while Claire cooked.  It was early evening when we headed down toward the Alamo.  By the time we reached the riverwalk it was nearly dark.  We walked past a group of police making arrests, apparently for drugs, but continued on our way unhindered after some sharp looks from the officers.  This building was lit attractively, and drew our attention as it poked up over the walls and contributed to the decor of the riverwalk, and the rest of the downtown as well.

We found the theater, and sat to watch the last of a junior jump rope team's performance, then an Irish dance performance.  They were amazing in the things they could do with the ropes, and the dancers were fun too, but the photo's I tried to take blurred badly due to fast action in insufficient light; I was across the river and beyond flash range.  This l'il lady got the message from the foot tapping hand clapping music, though, and was close enough to us for a photo...

I'm happy to report she did not dance too close to the edge of the theater's grassy bench , but there were a few anxious moments...  :-)  The free performance schedule had a cancellation, and the jump rope team volunteered to come back later.  I was able to get enough flash across the river to stop the action, and with image brightening afterwards, here they are....

They do look like they've pretty much perfected their simultaneous levitation technique...  :-)  The team is scheduled to perform at half time for a local basketball team next weekend.  They are a high energy group fer sure, and do some things with a jump rope that do not seem possible.....  There is still more to follow at 9PM, but it is getting late enough that we walk back to the RV for the 5 mile drive to Walmart for the night.  It is an easy drive, we find the store easily, and there are many RV's sharing it with us.  We are in bed almost before the wheels stop....  :-)

Saturday March 12:

Today we spent the afternoon at the Tejano Festival and riverwalk,  Our way to the riverwalk always led through the Mexican Market, and we could partake of anything interesting there on our way.  Today there was a Mexican dance group performing on an indoor stage.

The costumes are the most remarkable thing about these performers, and we enjoy them thoroughly.  We arrived at the riverwalk open air theater, and grabbed a scarce place in the shade.  Various groups of Irish performers were doing their thing, and we  watched for a short while....

We were seated in front of a group of....fully adult couples, when the mini-marshmallows started to fly.  :-)))  Of course we had to look back, and somehow be invited to join in the merriment....but NOT hands on thank you!  I somehow felt that shooting marshmallows at passers by, passengers on riverboats, and performers on stage might be considered disorderly conduct, and did not want to spend the night in a San Antonio jail....    We did receive a demonstration of how the marshmallow shooter worked, (to satisfy our academic curiosity only), and even got an instructional picture....  :-)

The mini-marshmallow is placed in the mouthpiece, then it is aimed and a strong puff of air from the shooter's mouth propels the marshmallow a surprisingly long distance.  The material is 1/2 inch PVC pipe, and various fittings.  I was amazed to see a marshmallow being carefully danced around on the theater stage.....

Look in the white spot in the lower left of this picture...I doubt THAT fell out of a dancer's pocket...  :-)  Other performers avoided it too...

and when we left, it was still on stage....  Of course the riverboat operators could see where the white missiles were coming from...and seemed to be looking daggers at us...even though we had nothing to do with the shooting.  :-)  The shooters left (to our relief) before the constabulary were brought in....  :-)  Texas folks sure do have their fun!  :-)))   We planned to attend the International Folk Dancing Festival at San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Ave, N29.42751d W98.48486d in the evening.   We managed to find the place easily, but all the available parking spots seemed to be signed "permit parking only".  A nice police woman stopped when we were trying to get our bearings and led us to acceptable parking near the auditorium.  She placed us on nearly level ground in an empty lot close to the auditorium in front of a Jewish temple....but others soon parked there too.  This was a GREAT show, but no pictures were allowed.  I sneaked a few without flash near the end...when it did not matter much if we got ejected.  :-)

 This group of Serbian folk dancers from Toronto were the featured performers this year...and if their performances must be characterized in one word...ENERGETIC would be that word.  These performers were all young, and the dances they did would stress an aerobic exercise class in the extreme!  This was an EXCELLENT show, well worth the $8 each senior admission price. There was folk dancing in a gymnasium we could have joined....but it was nearing 10PM and we had a 7 mile drive to the Sam's we'd picked for the night...so we passed.   The drive up San Pedro to Sam's looked good on the map, but it was a rough city street turning into a superhighway at the end that forced us to pass Sam's visible on the service road, drive a couple miles out of our way to get back on the service road on the other side.  Sam's was closed, the lot was largely empty, and the night passed quietly (or at least not so un-quiet as to waken us).  :-)

Sunday March 13:

We chose to go early to the center city parking lot to be sure our favorite spot was open.  Claire found a MUCH better way to drive there via superhighways all the way, and it was easy.  Since the St Patrick's day activities did not start before noon, we took our time getting out, and I worked on line for a while.  Just for the record, this is the river BEFORE dying...

To my mind, it is already kinda green...  :-)   These young Irish dancers on stage at the river theater were fun to watch...

They had a way of getting off the ground dancing this jig that was...AMAZING!  I won't tell how many times I had to snap these folks to get this one, though.....   :-)  There was lots of hand clapping Irish music to enjoy too...

We clapped AFTER the ceremonial drop of Guinness, of cuss!    We wouldn't want to chance losing a drop by clapping holding the cup ye know!  :-)   When the dignitaries finally arrived, the river dying seemed largely ceremonial too, as very little color change was noticeable other than directly behind the boats towing the dye bottles...  :-)

 The boats towing the dye were late enough that they overlapped the Irish dancers performing on stage....but folks did refer to San Antonio as a laid back city.  :-))  Right behind the dignitaries came the guys with the flotsam and marshmallow nets...  :-)

 They got a good cheer from the crowd too!  After a break in the RV, we took in the Tejano festival in the evening.  This band was unusual in it's use of a sax and keyboard instead of an accordion.  

I enjoy the music very much, but NOT the threshold of pain loudness.  They seem to WANT to drive the audio into distortion...just not my thing.  I do like the SOUND of the accordion, drums and guitar though.  The music is exciting with a GREAT beat.  This little lady is right in style, belting into the microphone to achieve the BIG "Tejano sound"....

She sure did not sound like a child with all those watts of amplifier behind her!  :-)  Not many people are dancing, but the crowds really do not leave much room for that.  After succumbing to a plate of very good but overpriced  mini burritos, we returned to the RV exhausted, and decide to overnight again at Walmart on military drive...we know how to find it easily, and Flying J might be full, and is certainly noisier.  We can dump and fill water at Flying J in the morning on our way north.  There are still some things to do on line, so after I finish email, Claire is using the net as I drift off to sleep.

Monday March 14:

This morning started late for me…the sun is up brightly, and there is NO coffee.  I don't want to wake the world with my generator…so we tuff it out until Claire awakes.  There is a sink full of dishes I have left build all weekend to do, and plenty of log writing also.  We'll shower before leaving for Flying J...and be ready to dump and fill water when we arrive there.  The morning passed quickly, and Walmart gas was up to $1.939.  The Flying J with our discount was $1.879, so we filled there.  It took only 10 gallons, but in times of rising prices a full tank pays a better return than a good investment.  :-)  Dump and water fill went smoothly, and we were on our way.  We did stop at Sam's for some things, and noted their gas was $1.879 also.  We could have bought for $1.849 at the Exxon on the corner, but who could know that?  All prices being equal, we'd rather give the business to Flying J anyway; they provide (usually) reliable dump stations and propane for us.  We noticed what appeared to be a dump station at an I-35 rest stop between San Antonio and New Braunfels.  It is not on our dump station list.  I'll try to ask someone knowledgeable if it is operational.  We are stopped in New Braunfels by 4PM, and dinner is steak, rice & spicy Napa cabbage salad.  We need to find a post office for stamps.  The house painting contract gets mailed here, but other letters must wait.  I'm tired, and find my pillow early.  There is little TV, so Claire soon follows.

Tuesday March 15:

Today we visit Kathleen.  She has a park next door that will take our RV, and we'll meet her in person for the first time.  She runs a group on the net devoted to cheap camping and shares my interest in hot springs soaking too.  We depart New Braunfels early for us, and intend to stop at a post office on our way for stamps and mailing a letter.  I cannot find the paper with notes I took while getting directions on the phone from Kathleen, so we will get close, then rely on memory....  The drive is easy, until the post office does not appear where Street Atlas says it is.  We see this a LOT with post offices, so decide to write this one off and go to another one on another day.  We continued, and the directions I remembered worked ok...then a new post office building appeared.  We stopped and completed our business, then continued to Kathleen's, entering at the first road we found.  Now any directions I remembered did NOT work, so we drove around the area before finding her street and the public park she suggested we park in.  We were soon tucked in snug, and waited for Kathleen to return from a doctor appointment.

 Soon she was knocking on our door, and welcoming us.  She was babysitting her "little sister" Sherri's 2 year old, so could not stay inside the RV and chat.  We joined her at the park's play set, and swapped lots of life stories while the kids played.  Soon Jaydon was wandering toward the RV, and we suggested he might like to see inside.  The weather was cool and breezy, and the shelter of the RV felt good.  We chatted, Jaydon explored, and too soon it was time for Kathleen to take son Casey to his spring break music group practice in Austin.  We arranged to go to dinner at Casa de Luz on Toomey Road in Austin this evening, and Kathleen set me up to use her wireless connection while she was gone.  My wireless connection worked fine, but the networking setup refused to respond, and the internet would not connect.  I tried a direct 10bT connection with her router, similar results. I determined it would NOT be in my best interests to further mess with the fragile connectivity settings in my Windows 98 computer, and reluctantly passed on the net connection.  Nobody expects us to be on line mid week anyway.  :-)  Kathleen's family was joining us for dinner, and we met her son Jethro and his fiancee Amanda.  Kathleen graciously offered to drive us in her truck, so we could visit as we drove.  We were early for the restaurant, so walked a bit with Jaydon; he is such a cute and well behaved l'il guy!   It was cool, and soon we decided we could sit more comfortably inside the restaurant, even if we were early to eat.  The restaurant is inexpensive, specializes in macrobiotic meals, has a single menu for each day, and will refill your plate as often as you desire....this  is our sort of place!  The book store has a nice choice of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, some of which we have.  The soup of the day is soon ready, and we can start with our salad too.  The vegetable soup is DELICIOUS.  The main course today is beans, rice, carrots with burdock (which I misidentified as exotic mushrooms), and steamed collards with a special dressing.  I am filling up fast, when Sherri and her friend Sally join us.  Sherri has driven through rush hour, and it has delayed her, but we can now enjoy more time at the table while they finish their meal.  oink! :-)  Sherri is anticipating the birth of her daughter in the next week or so, but looks full of energy and ready for the effort.

 We all look suitably nourished.  Just notice WHO has licked their platters clean....more than once I might add...  :-)   We part company, with our best wishes to Sherri for an easy time for her and baby, and drive home with Kathleen.  The Casa de Luz is attractive by night as well as by day, with decorative lights adorning the arbors over the walkway.

Jaydon has a ball poking into all the shadows and dark spots....and it's cool enough no snakes should be lurking!  When we get back, I think I might succeed with connecting for my email through Kathleen's unlimited long distance dial up to my ISP back in MA, and we bring a bottle of wine from the RV to ease the pain of possible failure in this endeavor....  :-)  Fail it does, and I am not sure how to fix it quickly without risking the cell connection I use every weekend, so decide to stop and enjoy the wine and more visiting.  Kathleen is quite capable of finding good deals for stuff she needs, as well as cheap camping spots, and we discuss her strategies for wheeling and dealing for the things she wants.  Tomorrow we will go to the LBJ library, as the best activity for a forecast rainy day, then maybe to the state Capitol too if our energy holds, and put the wildflower center off until Thursday when the weather should be clear.  Kathleen gave us a massive list of free music in Austin, which seems quite interesting if we can figure out places to leave the RV.  We agree to say our final goodbyes to Kathleen in the morning, and are soon in bed.

Wednesday March 16:

It rained heavily in the night and morning…we awoke SLOW, with the battery low and it was kinda COOL inside.  I had turned the furnace off in middle of night to conserve power when I noticed the batteries taking a hit.  Kathleen assured us the folks here are exceptionally kind, but we could not run the generator this close to inhabited dwellings and remain in good standing with our neighbors for long.  :-).  We went to say goodbye to Kathleen, but found her out, so left a note and a no longer useful to us pet hair sponge, and departed. We stopped in a nearby empty school parking lot to run the generator AND the furnace.  With warmth and hot coffee, the world looked much brighter, even in the rain.  We drove directly to the LBJ Library at I-35 X 236A, passing near the Texas state capitol.  

We had seen this before, but I think the pink shows better on this cloudy day.  The signs to the LBJ Library were good, and parking there was good for the RV.  We spent over 3 hours inside, and received a $1 discount coupon to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center too.  Not bad for a visit to a free attraction!  :-)  This place is extremely interesting to both of us.  We lived our early adulthood  with the events of the Johnson administration....who living through that time does not recall where they were on the day LBJ became President with the assassination of John Kennedy?? (I was driving a tank in Army training, and heard the news when I finished my turn at the controls).  Similarly, I recall hearing LBJ's speech announcing he would not run again to be our president while Claire and I were living on our sailboat in Florida....  A LOT had happened to us during his five years in office!  I had met Claire, finished military service, taken a job, gotten married, been laid off in a declining economy, and we'd moved onto the boat. The Vietnam war was not going well, was becoming quite unpopular, and ultimately proved to be the defining element of Johnson's presidency. Still, there were many other things he did in the area of civil rights and environmental protection that still have impact today.  As he said in his final speech to congress before leaving office....  "We tried...." The library has huge files of notes and papers Johnson kept during his public life.....and to Johnson's credit, he insisted on and arranged for enough private funding so this could be the only presidential library that is free of admission fees, a source of much pride for the library staffers today....

Documents are often accessible in a remarkably short time if dates can be determined.  A replica of Johnson's presidential oval office is on the eighth floor of the library.

Lady Bird's office as first lady is replicated here too.

Lady Bird still lives, at 93, and although mostly confined to a wheel chair she still makes public appearances in support of her favorite environmental projects.  The eighth floor also houses stunning pictures of the Johnson white house, back lit and LARGE.  Here, as a sample, is my photo of the east room picture, although it hardly does the original due justice...

The East Room was used for state entertaining....and is certainly impressive!   This robotic moving story telling LBJ creates quite an impression, telling a humorous story in LBJ's voice, as spoken in one of his speeches.

Perhaps the comfortable couch we were sitting on to listen added to the charm at the end of our day here, but I liked this exhibit!  It is VERY well done with good lip sync, head, arm, and eye movements!  There was a temporary exhibit on 60's era culture too....I smiled at this description of the hippies.

When we returned to the RV, the rain had stopped, but it was still quite cool and damp.  We decided we'd had enough fun for this day, and ran for the Sam's/Walmart we'd seen around I-35X129.  It was close to, and on the route to Lady Bird's Wildflower Center anyway, and since we'll do that in the better weather tomorrow it seems like the place to go for the night.  On the way we did notice the Austin traffic was heavy, and it did not look like downtown parking places would be easy to find to go looking for music. :-(   We found Sam's, parked, and Claire made spaghetti for dinner, and bought a nice piece of parmesan cheese at Sam's to grate over it too.  Tonight is expected to be COLD...30's perhaps.  We will be sure the battery is up before retiring, and run generator during the night too if needed. I work on the log, trying to catch up after all the fun we've been having....  :-)

Thursday March 17:

The heat ran periodically overnight. I heard it only in the morning, but could not understand why it did not feel cooler when I got up during the night, given the near 40 degree outside temperature shown under the RV.  I guess we had just credited the trucks on nearby I-35 for the noise made by the furnace coming on periodically all night long...  :-)  We drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at N30.18619d, W97.87082d, presented our $1 off coupon from the LBJ Library, and got $1 off each of our $5 senior admission fees.  The center was nice, and we managed to find a reference to our question on cactus culture in the bookstore. The book cautioned against over watering and disturbing roots.   I noticed that our new pet, "Spike" has more buds coming, so Claire did SOMETHING right when she re-potted him... :-)   One volunteer worker said she had below freezing temperatures in Austin overnight...so I guess our furnace had a right to run!  Even better, in the Center's gift shop I found a suitable soft, yet broad brimmed cloth hat that was certified washable up to 40 times without loss of characteristics.  With white top for coolness in the midday sun, yet dark underneath the brim to reflect minimum light, it seemed like a pretty good "bring my own shade" item for the desert and other hot sunny areas.

I felt OK about the $25 price tag too, since I had seen less ideal hats for much more money.  It may not do a lot for my cool appearance...but then I do not look at me much, and I'm happy in my shade!  The Texas mountain laurel smells DELIGHTFUL too..  :-)  We walked 1.5 miles at the wildflower center, then felt some coffee was in order.  I really did check to be sure the watering hole in the bottom of this cup was properly plugged before filling it....  :-)

On the way out, we passed this attractive lily pond...

The kids are having a great time watching the tiny fish,,,but Claire looks like she's been caught red handed with her booty from the gift shop...  :-)  We decided we had seen enough for one day by mid afternoon, and drove to Round Rock, and the Buffet Palace we remembered from last year.  This place has an oriental buffet for $10 that is about the best I have seen ANYWHERE!  They claim to use no MSG, and have Chinese, Japanese and Korean dishes with an unusual concentration on seafood and sushi.  The food is first rate, and there is much more here than we can even sample with small portions.  We return with overfull bellies and the necessary nap before bedtime.  :-))  There is plenty of power for the TV, computer, and furnace too, so we do what we want, then run the generator for coffee before bed.

PLANS:   We are heading northeast, as the weather allows.  We must be near Kansas City MO April 1, two weeks from today, for Claire's Taekwondo seminar.  We will stop in Marshall, TX so Claire can look over the garden pots there, and spend time in Hot Springs AR so I can soak and we can get to know that area better.  Otherwise, we will be pretty much on the move....and watching the weather closely!