Texas Hill Country

Magnolia Beach, Texas to San Antonio, Texas

November 20, 2018

The sun is shining but with overcast skies and still windy as we leave Magnolia Beach.  There are a lot of campers that have also moved on, some to Mission, Texas, others well we just will have to wonder.

Penny the old doll is moving her vehichle, so I flag her down to snap a photo and say goodbye.  Now Magnolia Beach has it's pros and cons.  You can park right on the beach and it's free, people are friendly and respectful, there are bathrooms and hot shower although the hot showers were not open, the con's - no place to refill or dump your water, and travelling the 25 + miles round trip by bicycle does not allow you to grab lots of food for a few days.  They use to be able to dump and refill up at the volunteer fire department but a few ruined that for others by not paying or giving cheques that bounced.It was costing the little community more than it was taking in.

We stop at the Walmart in Victoria and I spy a Samsung Chrome notebook for Black Friday sale for $99,00.  Since Chris's laptop is experiencing fan issues we decide to stay in San Antonio a day extra to try a snag two of them.

We stop at the TA travel Center on the I10 for a hot shower, but it has no free internet, so we head over to the flying J.  We are able to upload our blogs, I"m still a little behind.  Tomorrow is site seeing day in San Antonio.

San Antonio, Texas

November 21, 2018

We rise to cloudy skies today, the rain is supposed to start around 2 PM, so we quickly have coffee and breakfast and make our way around the 410 loop to exit 44 the entrance to San Antonio Missions National Historic Parks with the first one being Espada Mission.  We park and have a walk around taking pictures, nothing is open yet as it's not 10 PM yet.

We unload the bikes, lock up the RV and make our way over to the river walk trail.  The trail is a 25 mile round trip of rolling concrete sidewalks that winds it's way along the San Antonio river.  The trail will take us to the Alamo, and will we be riding, but not in the style of the 1700's or 1800's with horses, but a ride all the same.

From Mission Espada we cycle to Mission San Juan where I notice all the Missions are showing their age, broken stone walls and buildings of what once was a fort that protected the people from the Apache or Comanche nations attacks.  Each mission had a small regiment of army personal to protect it, which in some cases, like the Alamo not so well with just a handful of men.

The next mission past the Spada Dam is Mission Jan Jose, the largest one with a visitor center and tour.  We decide we will see if we want to take the tour, but soon the mundane speech of the tour guide has us off on our own.  We take pictures as we explore the mission and the church inside.

Our next stop is Mission Concepcion a somewhat smaller mission with the same crumbling stone walls with more walking around and picture taking. Soon we are off for the last leg in our missions journey the Alamo in Downtown San Antonio.

Part of the ride takes us off the walkway since no bikes are allowed and we ride through the streets to the Alamo.  The Alamo is small, not the bigger than life, expected of a place in history, puffed up by the big screen versions. Inside was small the inside of a church with barracks that the likes of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Captain Travis lived and died in when Santa Anna's army in 1836 finally broke the 13 day seige and killed the men inside defending it.  We heading into the museum which was a gift shop, it also had plaques along the walls mentioning all those who died at the Alamo.

It's lightly raining as we make our way back down the river walk trail, the weather app stated it would start at 2 PM but it started at noon instead.  We make it back before it starts to rain more heavily, a 25.5 mile round trip on my bike speedometer.  After a quick burger for lunch in the RV we are off to a rest stop just before Kerrville, Texas, it has washrooms and a sanitation dump.  

I try to secure two Black Friday Samsung laptop on the internet, but before I can finalize the checkout, Walmart.com goes down.  A check in the middle of the night shows it's back up but now the item is sold out.  I'm still going to buy a Chromebook to record my blog more easily without fear that I will lose it all on Chris's fan issued laptop.

Kerrville, Texas to Lost Maples State Natural Area

November 22, 2018

Another cloudy day after dumping and refilling our water, we make our way through the Texas Hill country along highway 39.  Chris states I need to imprint the highway into memory as he thinks it is the one I will be cycle down as part of the Southern Tier Bicycle route.  It's very beautiful and very hilly, as I contemplate whether I'm strong enough to tackle the cycle through the rolling countryside.

Chris decides to take a detour to Lost Maples State Natural Area, a Texas state park where upon arriving we decide to spend the night.  The park attendant states there are no spots, as it's there busy time, it's Thanksgiving in the US and lots of families go to state parks to celebrate.  She phones one person who reserved and they state they will not be able to make it, so we have a spot for the night.  When staying in Texas state parks it's $6.00 per person plus the camping spot.  We decide to buy the annual pass for $70 dollars which waves the per person fee and gives us 4 coupons for 1/2 price second night.  The cost for electricity and water for a night in this park is $20.

Lost Maples is nestled among hills and has a well preserved Eco system.  There are a few hiking trails that you can only ride your bike a mile in.  The paths are rocky, rolling and crosses the Sabinal River many times.  Chris is making me work this trail with my bike, sometimes I get off because I would rather not break a leg.

Lisa the park manager stops by to take a look at the Mack.  She is amazed by these unique RV's, once a couple from the UK sent a fixed up Army unit over and visited her park as well as North America.  I give her the full tour including the inside. She states that usually you can see the trees a nice red colour but too much rain in the area has stopped that from happening.

Before dinner we try another short trail, these trails were very busy today with lots of families hiking them and only two crazies on their bikes.  Another early night with the window open in the silence of the darkness.

Lost Maple State Natural Area to Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

November 23, 2018

The skies are still cloudy this morning, after a hot shower and hearty breakfast we say goodbye to this beautiful park and make our way off to Del Rio and the next park.  The road runs along the Sabinal River winding it's way in and out.  Then it's up into the mountains, and me, who is afraid of heights has the drop off on my side of the road.  It seemed like 100 of miles of hair raising turns untile we finally make our way out of it.  Chris was enjoying the views, I was almost sitting in his lap and telling him the speed of each turn and every now and then to slow down being an annoying back or should I say front seat driver. To me it was a completely exhausting experience.  

We were supposed to take highway 334 to Del Rio but it was closed and we had to detour almost 40 more miles out of our way.  A visit to the Walmart and i buy myself a HP Chromebook, mouse and bag, a little more than I wanted to spend, but now I can do my blogging with ease.  We replenish our food supply and head off to Seminole Canyon State Park around 30 miles away, in 24C weather and did I say the sun is shining!

We arrive at the park and spend two nights in a close to water spot, no electricity which was all I could secure over the phone since most of the park was full.  We head up to our spot and out the back of the RV was a beautiful view of the dessert plains.  It brought to mind U2's song "where the streets have no name"  Some fellow campers came by to check out the rig, Chris's touring the men, me the women, all amazed at our little Mack truck.  Tonight was dinner on the BBQ and we uploaded our blogs piggy backing off my cell phone hot spot and then turned in for the evening.