Deep in the Heart of Texas!!!

This seems to be a fairly nice park. It is located on Canyon Lake outside of San Antonio. We arrived at the locked gate and were let in but they let us know we were supposed to arrive before 6 pm. I told them we had driven over from Carlsbad, NM and they said that that was a long distance. I also told them that we had planned our time carefully but had forgotten that we would cross into a new time zone and lost an hour. We were a half hour late which meant that we would have been here a half hour early. No mind, they said they wouldn’t turn us away. They registered us and turned us loose to find our own campsite. Most of the campsites here had water and electricity but no sewer. There were a few with sewer so we walked around checking them out. While we were looking at a site with sewer and 30 amp electricity, a woman came over and introduced herself as the manager. She suggested a site in an area we had been told we couldn’t go. She explained that this site was ok and was tucked in behind another fifth wheel trailer. It had sewer and 50 amp electricity so we grabbed it. The advantage of 50 amp electricity is that we can run both of the Air Conditioners at the same time. With 30 amps, we have to decide which one to run as running both would blow the whole circuit.

The man at the trailer next to us was feeding deer from his hand. There were 8 of them gathered around his site. A buck and several does and fawns (nice harem). They are small deer but seem to be completely tame. There is a lake here but we haven’t checked it out yet. It looks to be a fairly large lake but I don’t hear the sounds of a lot of boats. We passed several developments as we drove around the lake to get here so there is a lot of development. It seems to be a fairly large lake and is near the city so it is bound to be popular.

We fixed supper and watched TV for a little while before hitting the rack. We got up late this morning but had a nice breakfast, made some phone calls and are watching the Olympics. The US women’s water polo team just lost to the Dutch for the Gold. They could not get started and gave up 4 goals in the first 4 minutes to a team that was favored to be second. The US had to expend so much energy to catch up that they had nothing left at the end and gave up a goal in the last minute to lose.

Now they are showing rhythmic gymnastics (?). This goes into the same category as Synchronized swimming and now synchronized diving. If they want to add new sports, where is skateboarding? I noticed that they have added BMX bicycling this time around. That is the first step to upgrading to some more of the new sports. The winter Olympics have done a better job of incorporating the new sports (snowboarding, acrobatic jumping). The girl on now is dancing with a piece of rope! In the old west they used to do pretty much the same sort of thing only they danced at the end of the rope. I am glad they saved this for late in the Olympics when many of have gotten tired of the events. I think I will go take my shower.

Next! We took today off. We slept in and then watched the Olympics much of the morning. Then we wandered around the park and checked it out. There are 2 small pools that look pretty nice but in spite of being on a lake, there is no lake access. You can walk down to it but there is no beach and no place to tie up a boat and no docks. There are a couple of roads/paths that run down to the water but one is barricaded (that one looks like it goes to a small beach). There is another path that runs down the lake in the other direction. We walked along one of them and it stopped short of the lake where there was a half a canoe. We will have to check it out in more detail.

This is the first place I have (ever) been where they meter your electric usage and charge you by the kilowatt hour. I have seen places where there are meters but they are for long term residents (seasonal people) and not for those who are here for a few days or even a week. It will be interesting to see how much this turns out to be.

The deer continue to wander around the park. When we tried to find a beach, we ran into several groups of deer along the way. They all stopped what they were doing (eating mostly) and just stared at us. As we got closer, they turned and walked in the other direction. If we got close to them a second time, they ran away. That seemed funny because when they come to our campsite, they are not spooked by us at all. They stand there as we walk about 3 feet from them and the guy next door feeds them from his hand.

We had kind of a grazing supper. We ate a wedge of lettuce with lite ranch dressing then watched an Olympic event. Later, I cooked a package of Pepperidge Farm apple turnovers and we ate them with whipped cream while watching another event. There were some local peaches thrown in there somewhere too. We were waiting for the BMX and the beach volleyball men’s final (10 pm here). The BMX events were exciting with lots of crashes and the US taking silver and bronze in the men’s and bronze in the women’s. This is the first of the new events that appeal to the younger generation. We will see more of them as the years go on. This year Baseball and softball fade into the past as Olympic events. This will be balanced by the addition of other events (hopefully).

After the late news, we started to watch the men’s volleyball (indoor) but got too sleepy and went to bed. This morning is the semifinal basketball (men’s) so we just might stick around and watch it. Then we will head into San Antonio for some puffy tacos and the Alamo. Tomorrow I think we will go into town in the afternoon and check out River Walk before going to see Gallagher at 10:00 PM.

The Olympics have been good and certainly have been full of surprises and disappointments. My biggest disappointment has been not being able to see as many events as I would like to see. Having only over the air broadcast channels leaves out much of the coverage that is spread over the cable channels. This is the first basketball game I have been able to see and we have seen no boxing whatsoever. We did get one bicycle race, the women’s time trial and hardly a mention of anything else. The women’s marathon was on but I guess the men’s hasn’t been run yet. This has been several Olympics that have happened while I was on the road.

We hit the road in the early afternoon. We planned to stop at the Hacienda los Barrios for Puffy Tacos. We watched Bobby Flay challenge Diana Barrios Trevino to a Puffy Taco Throwdown. We were quite taken with the whole idea of the puffy tacos so when we decided to come to San Antonio, we just had to go to her restaurant and give the puffy tacos a go. After a small faux pas, we found the road to the restaurant and drove into the parking lot. The place looked just like it did on TV and we were given a table and a menu. It took a while to find the puffy ones on the menu but we did. When our waiter came to take our order, we told him that we had come all the way from Maine just to eat there. “Puffy Tacos” he said which we immediately agreed to. “Beef or Chicken?” he asked. We replied an order of each and we were on our way.

Like most any Mexican Restaurant, a pair of puffy tacos arrived with sides of refried beans and Spanish rice. We also got a side of tortillas which seemed a little redundant but who are we to argue. We swapped tacos so we ended up with a beef and a chicken each. There was a container of something on the table that we were not familiar with. Our waiter explained that it was Argentinian chimi chura sauce. It consisted of oil with garlic, parsley and pepper. It was delicious. We put it on our tacos and ended up dipping the tortillas in it also. As much as we were looking forward to the puffy tacos, the (just plain) tortillas were the best part of the meal. They were made fresh and were just phenomenal compared to the store bought ones we buy at home.

We ducked a couple of quick showers and a bunch of acorns dropping into the fans and shooting across the deck (we opted for the outside tables). At one point, we thought we saw Diana go into the restaurant. After we finished and paid the bill, Cheryl asked our waiter if that was Diana we had seen. He said it was and that she was in the back of the restaurant if we wanted to say hi which we did. She took about 20 minutes to talk to us. It was like we had known her all of our lives. It was a time to cherish. She was just like she was on TV; warm, friendly and funny. We compared birthdays, we are both August babies she on the 16th and me on the 30th. She said we should go to the other restaurant; it is her first and has a lot of old tradition built into it where this one is new. She gave us her working schedule and suggested that we go on my birthday as she will be working there that night.

We talked about the Throwdown. The Food Channel people had set her up by telling her she would be hosting a special show (a ruse they have used too many times). Bobby Flay had become a very good friend of hers over the years as they had done several shows together. When he didn’t call her to see how the show was going, she figured out that she would see him at the finale for a Throwdown and she was ready for him.

After we left Diana, we headed for the Alamo. The Alamo is a park maintained and run by an independent organization. They get no outside money and run the park on what they make from donations and the gift shop. The park was really nice and you could tell the people there really grooved on what they do. The people who tell the history of the Alamo really love what they do and enjoy telling the stories. There are a lot of exhibits. They have several items that belonged to Davy Crockett including 2 of his rifles, some books and some handwritten documents. They had some Bowie Knives and many other original items.

You would be surprised how big the Alamo compound was. As large as the area in the park was, it was only a small part of the original mission. The wall on the outside of the mission is actually located across the square underneath the buildings over there.

We managed to find our way out of San Antonio and headed back to camp. We stopped at “HEB” a grocery chain out here. It was a fairly nice store and we got the few things that we needed and a lot of others. There was a Starbucks near there but they didn’t have any decaf brewed so we passed.

Well, that’s today. We got back to camp and have the Olympics on and are filling in the commercials with the Dallas/Houston pre-season football game. Tomorrow is a busy day. I think we will take off in the afternoon and visit River Walk before heading to the Comedy Club to see Gallagher. Good night!

Well, that was exciting. I woke up this morning not feeling too well. I do not know what caused it. When I have a problem based on food, it usually hits me within an hour of eating but this was the next day. I felt really lousy so we just kind of crashed and burned during the day. Instead of leaving around lunch time, we left in the late afternoon. It gave us a chance to watch more Olympics (as much as I like them, I will be glad to see them end.) The day was cloudy and showery but not too bad. At one point, with no warning at all, there was a tremendous clap of thunder that brought us up out of our chairs. It seemed to be isolated. There were no others and no rain and the sky was not particularly dark.

I looked over the maps and we hit the road. I wasn’t sure where the comedy club was but I hoped it was close enough to Riverwalk so that we only had to park the car once. The ride into San Antonio was nice. No traffic but a little rain. That just washed the road dirt off the windshield. We found our street in San Antonio very easily and immediately turned the wrong way (so I thought). As I was moaning, I noticed that we were driving right by the mall that we were heading to. It had a pay parking garage (it cost me $18 to park there for the late afternoon and evening (it reached the max ($18) at the 6 hour mark). Kind of reminds you of Boston doesn’t it? Whatever happened to the parking Las Vegas Style?

As we were turning into the parking garage, we noticed that River Walk was right underneath us. We might have to pay for parking but everything we were looking for was right where we could get at it. We parked the car and found that the comedy club was in the mall so we decided to try to pick up our tickets. That was probably a mistake as we spent the better part of the next hour trying to get them. The box office clerk finally went and got the manager as she couldn’t find us on the Ticketmaster list. As it turned out, she was looking at the 7:00 pm show list (listed as hammer up). The manager said they don’t pull the Ticketmaster 10:00pm list until about 9 so he told her to give us tickets anyway since I had a confirmation number and we weren’t from here (obviously).

Armed with tickets we headed down into the mall (the street was level B, we were parked on level C and the comedy club was on level D). There was a movie theater complex on the same floor. We considered taking in a movie as the weather was iffy but we are in San Antonio so we headed down to Riverwalk. Now, Riverwalk consists of the San Antonio River. They have taken the river and made a rectangular canal system out of it. They have boats that give tours and a water taxi system. The part of the river making up Riverwalk is a little over a mile around. In parts there are shops, restaurants and hotels along both the inside and outside banks of the river. There are walks along both shores and crossover bridges periodically. Some of the shops are at the street level and the rest at the river level.

In the late afternoon, there were not many people along the river but as darkness came and the dinner hour and clubbing hour approached, the walks got more and more crowded. We walked the complete distance on only one shore but that varied as we crossed the river several times. We read a lot of the menus posted outside the establishments finding that many of them consisted of meals that started at $20+. While we like nice restaurants, we will have to buy food and drink at the show so we wanted a little something not a big meal.

We stopped at a Starbucks and sat by the river with our coffee watching the world go by and watching the sidewalks fill up with families and couples. Across from our vantage point was a restaurant/bar that was quite busy and boisterous. People waiting to get in were waiting on the walkways and the noise was quite entertaining. One gentleman (and I use the word loosely) in a plain white t-shirt and a straw cowboy hat ripped off the t-shirt to the loud approval of the crowd. We couldn’t hear what he said but soon he put the shirt back on and was absorbed back into the crowd.

We finished our coffee and continued our journey. We ended up behind a couple of (shhh – larger women) who were gathering quite a following as they blocked the entire walkway and wouldn’t let anyone by. The tail approached 50 people and we took the next bridge to the other side. That worked out well as we came across “Joe’s Crab Shack”. This is a chain we have seen in several places but not eaten at (we are on a budget and the biggest part of that budget is gasoline). We decided to have a couple of appetizers and some of that famous southern unsweetened ice tea. They were having a special on the appetizers so we picked a couple and ordered. We had something called “Double Dip” which consisted of multicolored corn chips (the big kind) and 2 dips (a standard crab dip and a spinach dip (I think it had some crab in it too) and “Mussels Marinara”. It was a great combination although I think our waiter was disappointed we didn’t get a meal.

We continued our walk along the river. It was much harder going than it had been but soon we were back at the mall. We passed by a couple of restaurants in the mall looking for a clock. We did find a TV in the outer walkway through Hooters that was showing the Olympic Men’s Marathon so we stopped and watched it. A Kenyan won it (there’s a big surprise). Eventually we found a clock in one food court booth. We had about an hour before our show so we headed up the mall to find the theater again.

We got onto one escalator and I found by foot caught in the stairtreads. Before we got to the top, I managed to get my foot free but the sole of my shoe in the toe area was gone. It looked like someone had taken a bite out of it. The shoe was not ruined but it does look funny. It would be humorous if the shoes weren’t so expensive.

We got into line and awaited the opening of the doors. The people around us were all young and partying. Beers and shots seemed to be the weapon of choice. Soon we were let in and placed in our seats. They told us the tickets were general admission but they put us in a specific seat.

One group with reserved seats found themselves placed right down front (we weren’t far from down front. All of the seats in our area were covered with plastic). They didn’t want to be there and asked to be moved. The manager then went around to find people who wanted to move up to the reserved seats so there wouldn’t be any empty seats near the stage. He told everyone that the people with the seats didn’t know what a Gallagher show was like. Do you? He also admitted that when he booked Gallagher, he didn’t know what he was getting into. After the first show, there was such a mess that it took them all day to clean up. That was when he put plastic down on the floor and all of the chairs. He told us that the bags on the chairs were not for us, they were to protect the chairs. He would be back out with plastic for us, his dear audience. He brought out these white plastic bags that were hardly big enough to get over your head.

We were only about 6 seats from the stage which I figured was close enough. There was a column next to our table that had splatter marks all up and down them. If you looked up at the ventilation tubing along the ceiling, you saw a lot of splatter marks on it and the ceiling itself. There was plastic on the floor and a large sheet of industrial plastic along the back of the stage (it too was covered with “stuff”).

When we picked up our tickets, we asked about the posters that said the early shows were “hammer up” and the late shows were “hammer down”. It was explained that the early shows did not contain Gallagher’s traditional ending where he uses a very large oversized hammer to smash things, mostly food, but all messy. We gasped a sigh of relief that we chose the right show as this hammer up or down business was not listed in the Ticketmaster listing and you just haven’t seen Gallagher until you have seen him mashing things and ducking the debris.

We ordered a plate of nachos and a couple of beers and set about getting to know our tablemates. As in everything else, they were all younger than us by a substantial margin. The only person there that approached our age was Gallagher (62). He started out by telling us that he spent years working his way up the comedy ladder and now that he was older and had had a heart attack, he was avoiding stress and playing clubs again and working his way back to the bottom.

We had seen his taped shows several times on TV and of course; this show being the late night show was a little more risqué. He was funny and had the audience falling out of their chairs. He played to individuals in the audience more than he had done in the tapes. There was one gentleman of Spanish origin that went to the bathroom several times during the 90 minute show. He got special attention. At one point, Gallagher began to drag out some of his victims and mix various things together while he told us stories about the first time he smashed them. This drove many people in the audience to start putting on their plastic bags. He told them that wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t make a mess until the end.

Well, of course, he lied. In the middle of a story about a bear and a rabbit and a tree, he flung canned pumpkin into the audience hitting several unsuspecting people. That began the grand finale. When you reach the grand finale of a Gallagher show, stuff flies everywhere. He took off his shoes and his pants to reveal a Simpson’s Bathing Suit. The first thing he hit was an apple pie. My bag kept my shirt clean but my pants were a different story. The mess was everywhere. I picked pieces of apple off my pants. Cheryl was hiding behind me. During a breather when he was deciding what to demolish next, I turned my chair around to try to protect myself a little. That backfired when I ducked and fell off the chair. He put some red syrup onto an aluminum pie plate and slammed that one. This one backfired and covered him with red liquid. He looked like a refugee from a slasher movie with red spray across his shirt, face and bald head. He pulled out a birthday cake and invited people to come up and gather around the cake. They were pretty much covered with cake and frosting but each got a chance to wield the famous “Sledgamatic” against a formidable herd of watermelon quarters. Then the show was over, Gallagher grabbed the Sledgamatic and headed for the door. After all, when you have demolished a small buffet, what could you possibly do for an encore?

We headed for the door, found the car and headed out of the city. After one wrong turn, we corrected and found the interstate and headed north. We got back close to one and were soon rewarded with the Men’s Olympic Basketball final. That ended about 3:30. Cheryl headed to bed at the end of the first period buy I made it to the end. The ending looked pretty in doubt right to the last few minutes. Foul trouble and a Spanish team that was shooting incredibly well created a great game after their earlier meeting was a rout.

Needless to say, I slept in and didn’t get up until nearly noon. Watched some more Olympics but rhythmic gymnastics are not my bag so now I am watching golf. No racing today; the cup cars ran at Bristol last night (we saw a little of it at Joe’s Crab Shack) and the F-1 race form Valencia was on the Speed Channel (not part of our pathetic over the air offering).

Monday morning and once again we got up late. The Olympics are over. Now we can get back to our trip. Oops, another interruption. When Cheryl did the dishes this morning, she went to put a pan in the cabinet under the sink and found water running from the sink into the cabinet. We have had a bit of water there but it has been intermittent and we have never caught it happening. Well, this morning we caught it red handed so I gathered up my tools and took the whole thing apart. All of the piping is plastic, not the PVC kind of plastic but the “make toys out of” kind of plastic. There is nothing in the joints to create a good seal against leakage.

We figured that we would spend the day catching up on some undone things. We needed some Teflon tape to fix the plumbing. We had gone to the left every time we had gone out of the campground so we hung a big right and headed toward the town of Canyon Lake and eventually New Breunfield. It was a nice ride but we didn’t find a hardware store. We did find Mrs. Bush’s Pie Company but it wasn’t open (darn!). We hit a couple of small towns none of which had a hardware store or anything that would pass for a hardware store. Eventually we came to the end of the road and had to figure out which way to go but not before we passed a Coleman factory (the camping people) and a Simpson’s Race Products factory. It is really neat to trip across these kinds of places whose products we have used for years or in the case of Simpson’s a company that makes the products that all of our race teams use.

We were looking for a Post Office as well as a hardware store and I have been looking for some time for a place to get the oil changed in the Camry. New Breunfield is quite a large town (or a small city) and after driving through the town several times we were about to give up and ask when “There it is!” Right where we have driven by 3 times. We mailed our stuff and continued to look for a hardware store or a Walmart. Soon we found a Jiffy Lube and got the oil changed. I think I have figured out why there are so many of these places. They charge a bundle. I have priced an oil change in several of them and decided it was too much. They all charge the same (about 50% more than we pay at home). I really needed it so we did it. As we turned in, we spied a Cicci’s Pizza right next door. Their pizza is no competition for La Festa but it is a buffet and you can get several types. After the oil, we had pizza and headed for Big Lots (next door) and hoped that we could find the Teflon tape. We didn’t so we headed out in search of.

We eventually found an Ace Hardware in the middle of a thunderstorm and found the tape and headed back home. The next morning, I got up and put the sink drains back together. We were slow getting started but eventually we headed out to drive up to Austin. As things usually go, we got into a conversation with our neighbors. He was originally from Boston but moved to Texas when he was fairly young. He was retired and they have been living in their motorhome for 9 years. They move around visiting their relatives but have membership campgrounds where they stay much of the time. This park is one of them. They explained that the campground had gone under many years ago and the campers came up with the money to buy it. They reorganized it and ran it themselves for a while and when they had earned their money back they turned it into a non-profit organization with a board of directors. It runs pretty well to this day. It was odd in a couple of ways. This is the only campground that we have ever been in that charged for the electricity. There are electric meters in each campsite. They read them when you arrive and again when you check out then charge you 10 cents a kilowatt. With the heat, we ran both of the air conditioners so our bill was 13 dollars for the week in the heat.

Eventually we headed for Austin. About half way there, we realized that we were not going to get there in time to do much. At about the same time, we saw a billboard for Cabela’s and a Starbucks off the same exit. We talked briefly and turned off the exit. We spent quite a bit of time at the fish tanks. They had 2 large tanks with a lot of fish and a couple of turtles. We watched the fish for quite a while then exited right into the fishing department. That is something like the amusement park rides that always exit you into the gift shop; here you exit the fish tanks into the fishing department. We played with the fishing rods and reels and then looked through the clothing.

Cheryl picked up a couple of t-shirts and we went upstairs to the camping department. They had a great selection of gear up there. They had some really nice stoves. They had large standing stoves with griddles and box ovens for the tops. A nice gentleman told us all about the stoves and the gear that went with them but we were curious and not in the market so we wandered off. They had some cots with tent coverings built right into them. It reminded me of my old Jungle Hammock that I had as a kid. We lived in one of the Miami Heights capes with the upstairs that were too hot to live in during the heat of the summer. We set our tent up in the back yard and slept out there all summer. Eventually, I got the jungle hammock and strung it up between trees in the back yard. It was a hammock with a roof and netting along both sides. I really enjoyed that hammock and this cot reminded me of it. This cot was also available in a double bed size although they didn’t have them in the store. Cool! Except that there is no where to put your stuff. A major failing.

We headed across the highway to the Starbucks and had a coffee. The staff was having a meeting while we were there so that was interesting to see how these places work. One drawback; they had a rack of cds on sale. We had gotten a little tired of the same 6 or 8 cds so we bought some cds (on sale of course). We picked up a Frank Sinatra, a Carley Simon and a 2 cd Grateful Dead. On the way home we ran into a huge T-storm. It rained so hard the traffic slowed to about 15 mph. Everyone had their flashers and headlights on. You could hardly see the car in front of you. It only lasted about 15 minutes and then the sun came out.

We watched Hillary that night. I thought her speech was excellent. She certainly learned a lot from Bill. She had the people wrapped around her little finger and she made the most of it. She has already started to run for the 2012 nomination.

Well, we move again tomorrow. It seems like we are always moving. One week is not enough time at one place. It seems like we are always moving. Fortunately we are not moving far. I wanted to spend my birthday in San Antonio so I made reservations at the campground we are at because that was the only time I could get in there and then I found another place in Bandera, about 70 miles away form here and the same distance from San Antonio. Bandera claims to be the cowboy capital of the world. It was the jumping off place for cattle drives headed for the Kansas railheads. Should be fun.