04-11MAR11 - San Antonio, TX (via various la & tx)

Friday, 04MAR, we departed Houma to begin the long drive back to the Pacific NW, but we only drove two hours to Port Allen just outside of Baton Rouge (aka Red Stick). Why? Because our son, Joe, had recently signed on with a new oil field service company & his first job was near a town called Plaquemine, LA, & we decided to have one more dinner together before departing LA. Turns out the closest RV park was in Port Allen; so after setting up camp, we met Joe at the hotel he had been in for over a week & tried to decide on a place for dinner. Whereas Dan can be in a town for less than a day & find many interesting or unique places to dine; Joe’s recommendations were mostly fast food. Turns out right next to his hotel was a good local restaurant that had an all you can eat fried seafood buffet w/boiled crawfish; good Cajun food for a reasonable price.

The next morning we headed to our favorite casino (Coushatta) in Kinder, LA. The fastest way to go was down Interstate 10, but the scenic route was down old US 190. Dan decided to take US 190 rather than I-10. We immediately hit heavy rain & when we got to the town of Opelouses almost all the streets were flooded (in fact in some sections the manholes were lifting off the ground from the back pressure of the draining water!). Thanks to the high clearance of the RV, we safely navigated the flooded streets – slowly! When we got to the RV park we learned that tornadoes had touched down right next to Interstate 10, the very route we would have driven if we had not taken the scenic route!

Sunday we traveled on down the road to the Escapees RV Park in Livingston, TX. We have discussed the Escapees RV Club many times in our BLOG & the many great services they provide to full time RV’ers. We went a little out of our way to be in Livingston on Monday AM to get our vehicles inspected for brake tags, since we now have TX license plates.

http://www.escapees.com/

Monday, 07MAR, after getting our brake tag inspection it was a long drive to Lackland AFB, southwest San Antonio, TX. The reason we came to San Antonio is because our daughter, Rebecca, & husband, Raymond, wanted to bring the two foster kids under their care somewhere away from Louisiana on a vacation while Louisiana celebrates Mardi Gras. After discussing the options with us, we all decided on San Antonio because March should be reasonable weather in Texas, it has amusement parks like 6 Flags & SeaWorld, has a pretty big zoo, has the River walk, etc, etc. We immediately planned on staying at the FamCamp RV park on Lackland Air Force Base. Turns out that since Raymond is in the National Guard he could get a “room” for three nights of the week on base, & they ended up being less than three blocks from our RV! Lackland AFB is the primary training site for AF recruits, & some sort of training for C-5 pilots. So we were treated to the very unique (& loud) sound of C-5s flying low & slow right over the RV park. Once the kids arrived on base, we all got together for dinner & started making plans for the rest of the week.

http://www.lackland.af.mil/

Tuesday morning Dan took off by himself on his bike to check out two museums on base, while Corrie checked out the Commissary & Exchange. Meanwhile the kids drove to San Marcos, TX, to check out some Caverns & other sights. The first thing Dan discovered on his bike ride was an “air park”. If you have followed our BLOG you may have noticed that many of the military bases we camp at have static displays of aircraft (aka air parks) on their installations. Sometimes they have direct relations to the base, but usually they are just the latest (& supposedly greatest) jet aircraft they could get donated to their display. This one was different in that the aircraft surrounded the parade field used for major ceremonies involving the Air Force recruits, & it was all propeller aircraft from just before WWII to the last one “bought” by the USA Air Force before the Korean War. Another thing that was different was that there were bronze markers giving the enlisted “side” of the air crews’ story that flew these aircraft (very fitting since this is the primary Air Force boot camp). Including the story of Private Chuck Yeager who joined the Army Air Corp in 1941, transitioned to the Sergeant-Pilot Program, became a 3rd LT (that’s right a 3rd LT), had 11.5 victories against Luftwaffe opponents, won his commissioned officer wings, & ended his career as a legendary test pilot!

After the air park Dan went to the Air Force Museum of the Airman dedicated to the history of Air Force recruit training since the Air Force separated from the USA Army. After that it was off to the Air Forces Security Museum. This museum is dedicated to AF security forces that started life as the AF Police (aka APs), then were called the AF Security Police, & now are known as the AF Security Force. Being an ex-AF brat, Dan remembers them fondly as the APs, & calling them the “apes” with respect (NOT). Probably why they changed their names? That afternoon we all met back up & headed to the on base indoor pool.

http://www.myairmanmuseum.org/

http://www.securityforcesmuseum.org/

That evening we had dinner with a Coast Guard District Eight shipmate & friend of Dan’s at Mi Terra. William Brown was the Coast Guard Chaplain for the Eighth District when Dan was assigned there right before the terrorist attacks on 11SEP. Although it was a stressful time for all after the event, William definitely always lessened the “stress level”. Dan & William have kept in contact via e-mail (& we know he reads our BLOG everyday); so we gave him a heads-up that we would be in San Antonio. It was an excellent evening & we ended up talking for hours after the meal was done. Mi Terra started 70 years ago w/three tables & now seats over 500 & is open 24hrs.

http://www.mitierracafe.com/

Wednesday was a full day with the family together on the Riverwalk. At one point Raymond, Rebecca, & the kids headed to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, while Dan explored the Alamo, & Corrie went window shopping. The Riverwalk is one of Dan’s least favorite places when it is crowded; but we appeared to have beaten the tourist season & didn’t have to fight the crowds & even enjoyed an al fresco lunch without having our chairs elbow-to-elbow with everyone else. We even took one of the touristy boat rides around the entire Riverwalk, because there were no lines & the boats were half empty.



After returning to Lackland AFB, we then headed to Bandera, TX, to meet Dan’s sister, Sharon, & husband, Tim, for “steak night”. If you have followed our BLOG, you know steak night is a TX “thing” that usually happens on Wednesday nights at an out of the way restaurants/bars that is usually followed by live music. This one was at the “11th Street Cowboy Bar” in Bandera. It costs five bucks for all the side dishes & you bring your own meat of choice to BBQ on their extremely large wood fired BBQs. A great evening, with the foster kids learning how to “boot scoot” to live country & western music!

http://www.11thstreetcowboybar.com/

Thursday was all day at SeaWorld San Antonio. Turns out that it was the first day the park was open since closing for the fall season. As a result there were no crowds; but it also meant the staff was still learning the ropes & on occasion some of the rides didn’t open on time and/or broke down because the staff didn’t know their job. The high-lites were the Shamu killer whale show & feeding the dolphins. You could tell the park was associated with (or owned by) Anhauser-Busch, because the park maps clearly showed the location of the numerous beer stands in the park; something we hadn’t seen before at 6 Flags, Disney, or anywhere else.

Friday, 11MAR, Dan rejoined the kids for a trip to the San Antonio Zoo. Corrie was still recovering from being on her feet all day at SeaWorld & decided to take a break. Since Dan arrived early by himself at the Zoo, he checked out the San Antonio Japanese Garden right next door. This is beautiful site that was developed on the site of an abandoned quarry. One sad thing about the site, is that the Japanese couple who developed it, were enticed from Seattle by San Antonio to live on site & develop it; with the start of WWII the Japanese couple were interred & never returned to the house & gardens they had built at the request of San Antonio.

Eventually Dan joined up with Rebecca, Raymond & the foster kids to tour the zoo. Dan was not impressed with the San Antonio Zoo. To him it appears to be “old style” exhibits from the 70s that do not display the animals in anything close to their natural habitats. He has seen many other zoos when our kids were small that are more “natural” & not so jail like. The two high lites were - The butterfly exhibit, where hundreds of butterflies are free flying & will land on you if you if you stand still. And the lorikeet exhibit where you get honey mixed with water to feed to the birds. Again if you stand still the birds will land on you & eat out of your hand. For some reason the lorikeets loved Rebecca & would land on her even without food. For some reason Rebecca was not enthused about all the attention, especially when the birds tried pulling her hair out for nest building.

That evening all of us got together at Olive Garden for one more dinner before separating for many months as we head to the Pacific NW. You could tell that all the adults were extremely tired from the last four days constant activity, but the foster kids were ready for the next day! We are not sure how long Rebecca & Raymond will be foster parents but we will definitely miss the kids if they are not in Houma upon our return!