Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024
Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Monday, July 23, 2012

Gimme Shelter! - Sun., July 22

San Antonio, Texas:

Fallback to Plan B for our Volkswalk today. Our original intent was to do the 13K (7.8 mi.) Volkswalk that traversed the Riverwalk from Mission San Jose to Mission Concepcion. 
Ready to start the Mission San Jose Volkswalk--perky!
 


When we arrived at Mission San Jose, I asked the park ranger for the walk box. He told me the lady who keeps it up had just been in the other day but had not updated the box.

What that meant to us was, she didn't put the new directions for the walk in the box. The walk we wanted to go on had been closed due to construction on the bike path. However, the bike path opened up three weeks ago between the two missions. She did not put new directions the start box, in fact there were no directions for this walk at all.

Disappointed but still determined to do a Volkswalk today, we went on the only walk in the box--10K (6.2 mi.) Mission Reach walk. By the time we were ready to start the walk it was 11:20 a.m. and 90 degrees!

This walk started at Mission Concepcion so we drove 3.5 miles and parked there to start our walk. Most of the walk was on the Riverwalk where we ride our bikes, so the scenery wasn't new to us. We did go through Concepcion Park which we hadn't yet seen (except the outskirts from the bike path). It was just plain HOT.

Here are photos from the walk.

Our start point, Mission Concepcion:


Metal diorama, about 7" tall at the top of the towers.

Photo at Mission Concepcion...still somewhat perky.
Mission Concepcion
We enjoyed this sign.
Couldn't go in the mission as church was in session.
We walked around the mission thinking we'd see inside when we finished the walk.

From the Mission Concepcion, we walked to and through Concepcion Park.


Workout equipment at park.
Impressions along the Riverwalk.
 

Bob having fun.

Art inscribed in the bridges.
Love the bike path bridges.
Snowy egret and anhinga.

Hot, hot, hot; coming up on 95 degrees. Gimme shelter! The only shade on the trail was under bridges. 

We had the option of making this a 6K (3.6 mi) walk. I was so hot I really wanted to go back to the Mission, hop in the car, put on the air conditioning, grab a Dr. Pepper and have lunch. Yes, folks, I was whiny. 

Bob encouraged me to go on. I made a deal with him. I would continue if we stopped in the shade at every bridge along the way to cool off for a few minutes. "OK," he said. We continued on. Here's one of the bridges. There was a cool-ish breeze under this one!
Not so perky anymore...now full-blown whiny mode.
Great egret.
Bridge with art of a different kind.

Our walk took us to the Yturri-Edmonds House & Mill.

Mill.

Yturri-Edmonds House
 
 
From this point, we headed back to Concepcion Park and Mission Concepcion. And we walked the whole 10K! I am so happy we did not do the 7.8 mi Volkswalk today. We'll save that for when we return to San Antonio in September! Maybe it will be cooler then.

A train went right over us.
Bob is fascinated by trains. He didn't have trains in Hawaii where he grew up.

Mexican ducks?
 

Viewpoint in Concepcion Park
I couldn't wait for this walk to end. When we returned to Mission Concepcion we were going to tour the church as it had been refurbished recently. Also Bob wanted to buy "Texas" by James Michener from the Park Service AIR CONDITIONED office. However, when we returned from our walk, the office was closed with a sign saying they would return at 2:30 p.m. The church was closed as well. We think they were having lunch/siesta.

The rest of the day hadn't gone as planned, why should that change now. We did, however, stop at a convenience store and buy COLD soft drinks to recharge our by-now depleted reserves, drove back to the 5er for lunch, and rested in our nicely air-conditioned living room. 

Oh, except I vacuumed and did laundry in the RV park laundry room. Bob emptied the black water tank and put the bikes up on the ladder to start the departure process. One more day here, then we're off on our trip, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Tomorrow, my Escape pod gets its much needed detailing. I will be here in the 5er waiting for the RV repair guys to show up and finish repairs.

Everyone take care. Stay cool and stay safe.

Travel Bug out.

8 comments:

  1. San Antonio is nice. 95 isn't as bad as it can be, but it's still hot with the added humidity and especially with walking.

    The missions are really cool things.

    Have you seen the missions on the El Camino Real in San Diego? Cool stuff.

    Also, where are you guys headed next?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We saw lots of missions in southern California when I was a child. I remember Mission San Juan Capistrano because we fed the birds. I may have seen El Camino Real, but I can't remember it.

      We are headed out to Roswell, NM, Bandelier National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Grand Tetons N.P., Yellowstone N.P., Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, Devil's Tower National Monument, Black Hills and then back to San Antonio.

      Susan

      Delete
    2. Cool. Hope to see some more great pics from Roswell and the national parks.

      Have you considered trying your collective hands at panning for gold up in "dem thar Black Hills?" That sounds fun to me anyway.

      I read an article a while back about Yellowstone. It was something about watching out for the scorching water and bears. So have a blast and be careful. Lucky guys!


      By the way, if you're not doing anything, I am hosting a "Dog Days of Summer" 3-day blog fest if you're interested. It runs from Aug 10-12.

      Cheers!

      Delete
  2. One more spot of me to check out in November/December while we are in San Antonio. I noticed you do not wear a hat. I can assure you that a wide brim hat will make for a much more comfortable walk in the sun. Just be sure it is a light and airy. Walmart variety will do.
    Enjoy your trip up north.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jerry/Carol,
      Funny you should mention that...I actually put on my floppy brimmed, Walmart, cheapo hat before we left the 5er. Then I told Bob, "I don't think I'm going to wear this. When we're in the museums, the hat will get in the way of reading the displays."

      Boy was I ever sorry I didn't wear it. From now on, the hat goes on and stays on. It would have helped. And really, I didn't read any museum displays.

      We plan to do the more in-depth Missions Walk when we return in September. That's when we'll have more time for reading all the history.

      Susan

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  3. We visited my of the Missions in SA. We didn't know anything about the walk. We will do that the next time we are in SA. Looks like a ton of history along the trail. Love that.
    Glad you two got to finish the trail...hot or not.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't do well in the heat either. We lived outside Dallas for four years and I rarely went outside after 10:00 am in the summer. We had a pool, but the water got over 90* in late summer!

    ReplyDelete

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