When that Bell Starts to Peal -- Tues., June 12

Cotulla and San Antonio, Texas:

We're free. We escaped the gate bell for 8 hours and 20 minutes today for a real, honest-to-goodness date in San Antonio! Thank you so much to Bruce, another LOMA gate guard who "babysat" our gate (& Kathy, his wife, for keeping up with their gate today).

San Antonio is 1-1/2 hours from our gate. When we arrived it was lunch time and we opted for healthy lunch at Souper Salad. 

Across the parking lot from Souper Salad was a Petco where we purchased a couple of small cans of wet cat food for our kitties to try out. Sunnie doesn't like the current wet food we're feeding him.

Our next stop was the movie theater where we watched "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" starring Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, and Dev Patel. The characters were fun, the dialogue witty and thoughtful, and the actors were given a chance to use their acting skills. Both of us enjoyed the movie and it sparked conversation on the way home about growing old. (We are all at some stage of growing older, aren't we.) Bob mentioned he does not feel his age. Neither do I. We are enjoying life while we're young enough and healthy enough to hike, travel, sightsee and, yes, even workamp along the way. (More info on workamping.)

Movie done. Check. 

Time to go shopping. First on the list: Costco to stock up on supplies. Our pantry was looking pretty bare. We love Costco. 

Then it was off to Walmart to stock up on things Costco doesn't stock or groceries we didn't need huge quantities of. 

Our last stop on the way back to the 5er was Nine Lives Books. It's a used book store and you shouldn't let us loose in a used book store. Bob wanted to buy "Texas" by James Michener. He had checked online a day or two ago to make sure they had it. They did. We zipped in intending to buy "Texas." However, the clerk told us yesterday a man was in who only wanted to buy "Texas." He got their one copy. Bob was disappointed. I asked if they had any Lee Child. Yep, they did. We zipped back out with SIX Jack Reacher books by Lee Child.

Our day in San Antonio came to a close and we made it back to the 5er by 7:20 p.m. I have to tell you it was wonderful to go out together. Normally one or the other of us heads out to do chores while one stays back to watch the gate. Since we started gate guarding six weeks ago, Bob has been to San Antonio twice and to Cotulla a number of times to shop. I have been to Carrizo Springs once, Cotulla about four times and that's it. 

The next time we go out together, we want to check out Laredo, Texas. It's closer and we've never been there.

When I started writing my blog tonight, these lyrics popped into my head:

Almost Like Being In Love lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Comments mine.

What a day this has been

What a rare mood I'm in

Why, it's almost like being in love [definitely in love]

There's a smile on my face 

For the whole human race. 

Why, it's almost like being in love [definitely in love]

All the music of life seems to be

Like a bell that is ringing for me [a gate guard bell, hah!]

And from the way that I feel 

When that bell starts to peal [I want to escape sometimes]

I would swear I was falling

I could swear I was falling

It's almost like being in love. [except we're definitely in love!]

After 29 years together, we enjoy each other's company more than we did when we first met. The honeymoon period isn't over. What a treat to have a whole day when we're not listening for the gate bell to peal. We could talk, eat and watch a movie together without being interrupted. The other lyrics that came to mind were, "I'm free, I'm free, and freedom tastes of reality" by The Who.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Travel Bug out.