San Antonio

Boerne (pronounced Burney) a little town about 25 miles outside San Antonio was our location for this stop as this was where we could store the RV while visiting California and Vancouver. Our first visit was, of course, to the Alamo which is in the center of San Antonio and reputed to be the biggest tourist attraction in Texas. Some of the main historical Mission San Antonio de Valero (now known as the Alamo) buildings remain standing with about half of the original defensive walls also evident. This is history! So much so that one can almost sense the presence of the heroes. We spent several hours browsing the various artifacts and information boards; we also listened to a guide relate the history of the battle of the Alamo; he was excellent, made it easy to picture where and why it happened and piqued our interest to learn more.

The short version: Mexico fought a war with Spain to gain its independence and become a democracy, when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was elected President of Mexico he declared himself a Dictator and ruled as such. At that time Texas (a province of Mexico known as Tejas) was populated by democracy loving Mexicans and numerous immigrants from Germany, France, Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland and American who had moved to Tejas to live their “dream” clearly, they did not want to live under a Dictator. To understand the battle at Alamo one must appreciate its strategic context in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835 a Federalist army of Texan (or Texian as they were called) immigrants, American volunteers and their Tejano allies had captured the town from the Mexican Centralist force during the siege of Bexar. In response Santa Anna raised an army of over 7,000 men with the objective of retaking Bexar and crushing the “rebels” in San Antonio. There were about 250 brave men in Mission San Antonio de Valero who were vastly outnumbered. After days of pounding the Mission with cannon fire, on Sunday March 6 at around 5:00 A.M. Santa Anna hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter. Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks; there some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. The chapel fell last. By dawn the Centralists had overcome the mission defenders. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes. As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna showing no mercy ordered their summary execution. The rest of the story is that a now emboldened Santa Anna decided to chase all rebels, led by Colonel Sam Huston, out of Tejas however at the battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was soundly defeated by Huston’s forces and Texas declared itself an independent country. Texas remained an independent country for 10 years and remains very proud of this time in its history.

After our visit to the Alamo we took a walk along The Riverwalk which lives up its reputation of a great tourist attraction, it is a lovely place to while away several hours along its picturesque banks. We think that Oklahoma City copied the idea for its redevelopment of their Bricktown district in their city center. Strolling along the walk we came across an Irish Pub and had lunch of smoked salmon and brown bread, then after lunch we took a boat tour and did some shopping. We interrupted our visit to San Antonio to head for California and Vancouver BC. 0n our return we spent another day in San Antonio and walked along the river to the historic King William Area and had lunch at Guenther House Museum the former home of the Guenther Family whose mill is still in operation next door. Afterwards we drove south to Mission San Jose which was a big surprise; the church remains in daily use, the surrounding village compound is intact and provides a view of just how large these missions were with large gates on two sides, almost like an ancient city with a few industries and farming outside the walls. Native Americans were housed along the inside wall in two roomed homes, with beehive ovens outside their doors. Dotted throughout the compound were wells for water, farrier and carpenter shops; we were enthralled by it all.

One night Adele decided to upgrade her iPad and it crashed; so we had to search for an Apple Store and found one in the fantastic La Cantera Shopping Center; we ended up spending a wonderful evening there - it is an outdoor shopping center with very elaborate, tall shelters providing daytime shade, there were fountains and water features all beautifully done. And, yes the iPad problem was resolved.

The town of Boerne was very busy at weekends, once again we saw antique cars, the shops sold antiques and there were many restaurants and a lovely old hotels which Adele managed to get a tour upstairs and downstairs.

Our visit to California and Vancouver, BC

Two weeks after we returned from England we were back in the air, this time flying to California principally to meet Sairsha Alice the latest addition to our family as well as to see as many of our Los Gatos and Saratoga friends as possible. In Los Gatos we stayed with Anjali and Amit who recently joined the club of empty nesters - one close by and one very far away. The tennis group had a party for Adele and it was nice for her to see all the familiar faces and catch up on news and events. That same afternoon Adele had a Doctor’s visit, of course her cholesterol was high and so was her blood pressure!

We spent a long weekend with Cearull, Leslie and Sairsha Alice. Sairsha was born 10 weeks early in July her due date was September 30^th we were all worried when she was born so early weighing only two lbs but since then she has never looked back; from the minute she was born she was feeding and fighting (Fighting Irish!) she is a lovely little girl who cries little and feeds well. We baby sat while Leslie and Cearull had a meal out; Tom who is very good with babies held Sairsha every opportunity he got and loved it. It was lovely to stay and dote on Sairsha day after day.

From there we returned to Los Gatos for a few more days and once again it was a whirlwind of activities with friends. Adele managed to fit in a bridge day and see all her bridge friends. We took a stroll down Santa Cruz Avenue to where the Butter Paddle Shop had moved from Saratoga and while passing by Adele met one of her former co-volunteers – in she went - it was party day so quite a few volunteers were there so Adele saw many of her friends. We had dinner engagements most nights in friend’s homes – the Romans, Variots and Johnsons - where we were wined and dined in style. On our last night Anjali made a delicious authentic Indian meal for us.

Vancouver, Canada was our next destination to visit Adele's three brothers. We have certainly experienced several different climates in the last few two months with Vancouver adding its rainy season. We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves, had one beautiful day when four of us, Adele, Tom, John and Tom took a walk along the estuary from Kitsilano to the Olympic Village via Granville Island and then returned on a little ferry boat. Most days we ignored the weather and exercised at the Arbutus Club where Adele’s brother Larry had signed us in as his guests. While there we celebrated the fact that all the Cheevers siblings are now in their 60s - the question is will they all make it into their 70s?

On November 1^st we flew back to Dallas, our flight arrived in the late evening and as our RV was in San Antonio we stayed the night in a hotel. The RV has been in Texas since August 30^th; this is a big state and we need to get moving.

Austin, Texas

Dome of State Capitol

State emblem depicting heritage of Texas

Painting in State Senate Chamber by Irishman Henry Arthur McArdle

Austin mansion

On a Duck Tour

Austin TX

When we arrived back in Dallas we both had a bad cough; Adele had it for most of the time we were away then coughed and spluttered all over Tom on the journey back…and Tom caught it. So, we decided to take life easy for a few days and recover. When we got back to the hotel where the car was parked we were faced with a soft rear tire, but lucky for us there was a Gas station across the road so we limped over there and got air. Today, we had to purchase two new tires for Bluebug.

Our RV Park in Austin was buzzing with when we arrived – University of Texas and West Virginia were playing and there were flags and banners fluttering for both teams. We watched the first quarter as we were in a sports bar having dinner, both teams looked good, West Virginia won.

We are now in what’s known as the hill country of Texas and yes there are a few hills but these people have never been to San Francisco where the hills are serious. Austin is the political Capitol of Texas and they boast that the Capitol building is the biggest Capitol building outside of Washington. They sure like to boast that everything is bigger in Texas but we haven't noticed, except for the men's hats. We took an official tour of the Capitol; the rotunda has a lone star on the floor mirrored by another lone star on the dome ceiling 683ft above. We were heartened to learn that Texans acknowledge that the Spanish and the French also have a history in Texas. In the Senate Chamber there are two very large paintings “the battle of San Jacinto” and “Santa Anna’s surrender to Houston” by an Irish immigrant Henry Arthur McArdle. McArdle made it his life’s work to research the history and work on the paintings which took him over 25 years to complete. Afterwards, we walked the park in a lovely setting at the top of Congress Road which surrounds the building; bronze statues tell the history of Texas and right in front of the building there are statues acknowledging the Confederate troops; Adele walked around it twice to make sure. Then we walked down 6th Street which is full of Bars; as this was in broad daylight somehow it did not make for a good pub atmosphere. We had a nice Mexican meal on 6^th in a restaurant which met our criteria - if it’s busy then the food must be good.

The next day we drove west through the Hill Country to Fredericksburg for lunch. Settled by German immigrants in 1846 it is a cute little town with, as expected, many German names on businesses; we had a delicious German lunch in Bierhaus on the main street. Fredericksburg’s most famous son is WW 11 hero Admiral Nimitz who is memorialized in a museum; the town also has a museum to the war in the Pacific. There are a number of wineries in the area yet it is celebrated as the biggest peach growing area in Texas. The original Germans, mostly professionals and city dwellers, sailed to the Gulf and then had to walk through swamp and forest to get to Fredericksburg as all transport was taken for the Mexican American war. Comanche Indians attacked the immigrants and stole their children. The immigrants persisted and ultimately agreed a peace treaty with the Indians which is confirmed in history as the only peace treaty (with the Indians) that has never broken. Other Texans invited all the Indian Chiefs to peace talks, not allowing them any weapons, then when they could not agree to the their terms the Texans pulled out their guns and shot every one of the Indians.

A Duck tour of Austin occupied our time the following day; a great idea! We had a wonderful guide who had a great sense of humor, starting off by giving each passenger a duck quacking beak, we had fun blowing at everyone and anything. We had the usual tour full of local history, color and information on celebrities. Particular mention was made of O Henry whom we had heard of but had never read any of his work, now we must. A local code is that no building may be taller than the top of the Capitol which is cleverly observed by developers of some very nice modern downtown skyscrapers – the building height is mere inches lower than the very top of the statue on the dome of the Capitol. Another nice feature are the old lighting towers that are in continuous use since the 19^th century. Afterwards we had our dinner in the beautiful Driskill Hotel built in 1886 by Colonel Jesse Driskill a cattle baron. The hotel has kept all its character including cut glass doors, stained glass domed ceilings, beaten tin ceiling tiles, and a spectacular staircase. The exterior is Romanesque with a bust of Colonel Driskill above the roof, the story is that he lost the hotel in a game of poker and now his ghost haunts the hotel looking for the fellow who won the hotel. Another ghost story is of a little girl who was bouncing a ball and fell down the stairs and died she now haunts the 2nd floor Ladies powder room and the stairs.

LBJ kept a suite in the Driskill when he was in Congress. Texans are real proud of LBJ as he is the only home grown Texan President of the US; they consider the Bush family as “blow ins“ - we were quite tickled by that. We had hoped to tour the University of Texas but as parking was by permit only we had to settle for a car tour; what can we say is its big, vibrant with lots of students and is a very nice campus. One other thing we’ve noticed in this part of Texas is that almost all buildings are either built of or faced with a local stone, private houses included, the stone is a pink sandstone and makes for very pretty buildings.

Wedding in Ireland & Birthdays in England

Magnificent Seven...the Horgan siblings

Adding a splash of color

Fiona the newest Mrs Horgan and her flower girl

Hannah's birthday party

Hannah - hooray I'm a teenager!

With our great friends Muriel and Gerry

Molly's celebrating her birthday with her friends 

Back in the USA

As the song goes “we are back in the US of A”! And, as Churchill famously said “two great nations divided by a common language”. Having spent over a month away in Ireland and the UK after having turned on the TV and its advertising it’s interesting to notice some other significant (cultural?) differences: watch out guys…if you encounter Alice (Cialis) you could have a four hour problem; sign up for our meals… eat all you want and lose weight; strap on our nifty electronic device and exercise without moving a muscle; everyone will suffer from high blood pressure yet never get old and, if by chance we do, we will live in a place called Valhalla zoom around in golf carts and have lots of friends. We love it, nothing as good on the other side of the pond where the advertising of pharmaceutical drugs is illegal and most of the advertising is for sunny holidays (vacations). Gas here is Petrol there and Propane is called Gas. Mixed up yet? We do, and of course gas (petrol) in the US is half the price of the UK but you need to convert liters to gallons or you will not enjoy the discount. Here men on TV with facelifts and dyed hair sell real estate in Heaven…why so worried about appearances? The body is not going to Heaven, right? Having been away for a month makes the contradictions and contrast better.

Missed it all and, yes we’re glad to be back in the land of diversity ready to explore the 45th state on our two year Odyssey – the states we’ve missed are Montana, North Dakota and Delaware. We have learned so much on our travels; the history of this amazing country by researching places, visiting big and small towns, battle fields, Churches, Presidential Museums and National Parks and Monuments. Yet we have learned even more about this earth we live on; we have gone up mountains and down into caves, seen all five Great Lakes and thunderous rivers, walked the trails of fur trappers and explorers. We have been to towns where the Native Peoples still live after 2000 years; to the ruins of ancient Native People cities and to the skyscrapers of our modern cities.

This is not the end however and you will see further blogs in the coming weeks.

We intend to settle in a town house in Saint Augustine, FL for the winter and spring of 2013, then in the summer head north in RamblingRover to Delaware, the Cape, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Labrador; then enjoy the Fall Colors as we migrate south again.

West Texas, Odessa, Midland and Abilene

Travel interfered with our travels…and as promised, now that we’re back here’s our blog posting to bring you all up to date to September 3^rd.

On August 30^th in the continuing blistering heat of 100F (40C) we crossed into Texas looking very much forward to the cooler weather in Ireland and England; although Tom promised all and sundry over there that once we arrived the weather would improve. It did! For the months of July and August Ireland and England had record amounts of rain and cold while the USA had record heat and drought…we know - we endured it.

Immediately one crosses the Texas border there’s a feeling of prosperity. West Texas is booming thanks to the oil industry; there are derricks working all over pumping oil and trucks crisscrossing the roads transporting the oil. Our first stop was in a little town called Midessa, aptly named as it’s located halfway between the towns of Odessa and Midland. This part of Texas is called the Permian Basin and is where most of the oil is found. While there we visited the Permian Oil Museum in Midland, not exactly what one would call exciting but very interesting and educational. The exhibits included numerous photos of the early days of the oil industry, a reconstructed old oil town, an explanation of how oil rigs work, how blow outs happen and how fires are controlled. The museum also had an art gallery with paintings by Tom Lovell which had been commissioned by the museum founders; an interesting collection of formula one race cars showing the evolution of racing cars and how car shapes changed over the years. Outdoor exhibits included a large collection of defunct oil equipment which, as we would have needed an engineer interpreter to explain, we just drove around and had a quick look.

From there we drove to Abilene believe it or not Abilene, Kansas where Eisenhower was raised is called after this town in Texas…the connection being the cattle drive from Texas to Kansas. We just stopped for one night as there is nothing to see in this Abilene. The following day we drove to Dallas but, once again it was too hot to do anything outdoors so we took Adele’s friend Barbara's advice and headed to the Galleria Shopping Center where we parked our car under cover and entered the center on the third floor from where we looked over the balcony to discover an ice rink on the first floor (ground floor), what a surprise! It was over 100F outside and people are ice skating. We bought coffees then sat and watched the skaters including women in burkas skate round on the ice. We think we have seen everything now! The Zamboni cleaned the ice every hour, imagine that job description! We spent the day walking round the shops and checked the ice rink from every level.

Next day we packed for our month long trip which for Adele was not easy as, although she hoped for good weather, expected it not to be good. We moved the RV into storage at the RV Park and headed to an airport hotel for the night where we parked our car for the month…Park/Sleep/Fly is a great service!