San Antonio's Alamo and Riverwalk

Before Bonnie and I left Tavares, FL we spent a whole day giving both the BAM and the Subaru long overdue wash jobs. After months of sitting under live oak trees both vehicles needed a good scrubbing.  Little did we know we were jinxing our trip!

Just a half day down the interstate, the alternator light flickered on.  When I stopped to check it out, I discovered a fine oil mist all over what had been the spotless Subaru and a clean BAM butt.  Not only did the alternator fail, but BAM developed an engine oil leak.  Neither was serious enough to strand us so we decided to proceed down the road until we reached a capable repair center.  I ran the generator occasionally to charge the batteries and monitored the oil level.

We limped into “Freightliner”, a large truck repair center, in San Antonio last Tuesday morning, expecting to hit the road after what we thought should be a quick fix, again in a couple days. Yeah, right!  We're now calling it "Camp Freightliner".  It's really not bad...we have full hookups!!

We forgot, this is Texas....operating  on Texas time!  First the mechanics assessed repairs, handed the paperwork to the estimator who then calls our extended service contract company so they could approve repairs.  Of course, by then it's late Friday afternoon.  Nothing happens after 5pm Friday until Monday morning!  It seems the whole repair industry shuts down for the weekends, even though people break down on weekends, too.

Well, finally this morning, everything was approved - $500 in parts, but $3000 labor!  Thank God for our extended service coverage.  Of course parts still need to be ordered - and should be here tomorrow morning. So after a week of assessing, estimating, approving, ordering and shipping, mechanics should be able to actually repair BAM and get us on the road by Thursday.  One week and two days long.  Are we having fun yet?

The silver lining to our extended San Antonio stay was an opportunity to visit Bonnie’s brother Tommy and his quit southern, beautiful wife Kathy.

Remember the Alamo?”  San Antonio is best known for two features, the Alamo and the city's Riverwalk.

The Mexicans fought hard to protect and maintain Texas as part of Mexico.  The Alamo, or course, is the site where a couple hundred Texans (including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie) attempted to hold off 2400 Mexicans for almost two weeks way back in 1836.  All but two of the Texans died or were executed.  Today it is considered a Texas shrine in honor to those who died there.  Evidence of the siege is still apparent today.  The adobe and rock walls are textured by hundreds of bullet pock marks.   In 1845, Texas became the 28th state. 

Interestingly, the Alamo and its compound sit in mid-town San Antonio, dwarfed by sky scrapers and traffic.

San Antonio’s Riverwalk must be the city’s best calling card. Envisioned and built 80 years ago as a flood-control project, the Riverwalk is a Venice-style diversion of the San Antonio River through downtown.  The several-mile long project is lined with hundreds of stately oaks and palms, crossed by numerous pedestrian and car bridges.  Many shops and restaurants provide places to pause a while.....and spend a little cash.   And it’s all 20 feet below the street level.

We strolled along the river's edge all day enjoying people watching and the ducks.