Life in the Slow Lane - Wednesday, September 30, to Saturday, October 17, 2020

After all of our go, go, go, it has been nice to stay put in San Antonio for the past 2-1/2 weeks. After spending a day unpacking the 5th wheel on September 30, we have both enjoyed being home. 

Bob is working with his clients in the area, helping them with their quarterly statements, and other accounting work they need to have done. I have been my best-retired self and have taken care of grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, getting my car washed, and renewing the registration on my Escape. 

When we came home, the squirrels had completely destroyed my car cover. It was hanging in tatters from my Escape. Did I ever mention we have a squirrel infestation here in the park? They are a major nuisance! It doesn't help that we live under a huge, old oak tree and that acorns are plentiful in our yard. Did I ever mention that they ate every single peach off our new peach tree? We had nine peaches and they ate them before they were even ripe! Does anyone know how to keep squirrels out of fruit trees and keep them from digging in potted plants to bury their acorns? If so, I would love to know how you do it!

As I mentioned at the end of my last blog, it was great to be reunited with my BFF Susan Medlin. It was short-lived, however. We did one walk together and then SHE was off on a road trip to North Carolina to visit their son, Travis, and then to Jacksonville, Florida to visit their other son, Kyle. She is doing lots of Volkswalks on her trip. After she returns home next week, we have one week together to walk, and then Bob and I are off to Florida on October 28! Susan Medlin and I are like ships passing in the night.

The walk Susan and I did on Saturday, October 3, was in Bandera, "Cowboy Capital of the World." We started early while it was cool and had a great walk. The walking club had changed the route a little since the last time we did it, so we saw a few new things. 

Boy, you would never know there's a pandemic in the town of Bandera. They had all kinds of activities going on and very few people were wearing face masks. Our walking group wore face masks whenever we were around other people, and we social distanced on the walk.

Here's a sample of some of the events going on in Bandera today:

• Farmer's Market
• Bandera Cattle Company Gunfighters
• Motorcycle rally
• Rock 'n' roll concert at an outdoor venue 

After we signed in, we drove to a small park with restrooms to start our walk. This wasn't the official walk start but it was on our route, so we just picked up the walk where it passed by on Main Street. The Farmer's Market people were setting up when we arrived. 

A guy with a cattle trailer pulled in behind me at the curb where we had parked. It looked like he wanted me to move, so I went back and asked him. He said he needed to get his steer out and walk it to their spot at Farmer's Market. I moved my car to the lot behind the park. 

Susan Medlin took a photo of the cowboy
and his longhorn after he got set up.

Across the street from us was the Bandera County Courthouse with its clock tower. We passed by the Bandera Library which was hosting a book sale. It's a good thing we went by it at the beginning of the walk and not the end. We did not want to carry books with us for six miles. And both of us already have plenty of books to read before buying more!

Bandera County Courthouse (1890).

From Main Street, we immediately headed into one of Bandera's older neighborhoods. The Frontier Times Museum was on our route, although we didn't check to see if it was open.

Unique mailbox decor. 

We walked a couple of miles around Bandera's east-side neighborhoods. On the way back to Hwy. 16, we passed the Bandera Natural History Museum. Neither of us had known about this museum. I'd like to go back and visit it when I have a chance. 

Bandera Natural History Museum entrance.

Our REAL start for the walk was coming up on our left, the Bandera County and Convention Visitors Bureau. We stopped to talk to the members of the Hill Country Volkssportsverein who were staffing the start table. We also looked around inside the Visitors Bureau. 

Mural on Hwy. 16 as you enter
 Bandera heading west.

The walk continued past a shop with colorful yard decorations. Iron "claim-to-fame" decorations lined the streets instead of the banners some cities use. We were on a busy street for a block and then we turned off to walk past (we chose to go through) Bandera Park. It is so pretty and we wanted to walk along the river.

Bandera has a "SculptureWalk," but we did not do that today. That's just another reason to come back.

"Big Boots to Fill,"
by Esther Benedict of Texas.

Yard decor, or as we call it, "More stuff."

Medina River in the lovely Bandera Park.

Bandera Park.

The all-important rope swing.

Beautiful carving on
a big tree trunk.

We saw quite a few rope swings.

The walk meandered off to a historic cemetery and then came back to the Horseshoe Bend Disc Golf Course. We hiked on a trail through the disc golf course and were surrounded by snout butterflies. They migrate back and forth locally, unlike the Monarchs that migrate to Mexico. The snout butterflies really like the hackberry trees in this part of Texas.

After leaving Bandera Park, we spent a long time walking through a west-side neighborhood. We then returned to the downtown area. At this point, we were almost finished with our walk.

Saint Stanislaus Catholic
Church (1876)

Many of the buildings in the old center of Bandera date to the 1850s. Today, one of the streets our walk followed was closed to traffic because of a motorcycle rally. We walked through LOTS of parked motorcycles. There were a couple of open bars that were getting a lot of business. There was a line to get in one of them. We didn't see anyone wearing a mask at all outside. I can't speak to whether they were wearing them inside or not. 

Motorcycle rally in Bandera.

One of the open bars. 

Historic town center.

Line 'em up!

After a few more blocks, we were back at my car. Oh my goodness, the town was completely crowded. The Farmer's Market was in full swing and there was a traffic jam on Main Street. It took us a long time to drive through town to head back to Susan's house. 

One more of Susan Medlin's photos of the Texas longhorn steer:

Isn't this a magnificent creature?

On our way back to Susan's house, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch. Susan had one of the burgers served on a pretzel bun and she loved it. I had a dry baked potato and a Taco Salad. The Taco salad is served with a small chili. I put half the chili on my baked potato and a half on my salad. It makes for an amazingly good lunch.

Bob worked on both Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4. He had a lot of work to catch up on with his local clients after being on his two-month assignment in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Monday, October 5, Bob took the 5th wheel out of storage. He took it to Billy Bob's RV Repair to have all of our leaf spring shackles, bolts, and equalizers replaced, and to make sure it is road-ready for our trip to Florida at the end of October. While they were working on it, they inspected our brakes and had to repair two of the brakes. 

On Tuesday, October 6, I took Sunnie to the vet for his monthly diabetes glucose reading. All is good. Sunnie is doing great. His legs don't wobble or give out when he walks anymore and he can jump up on the bed again. He is a wonderful cat. 

I have been doing a lot of online jigsaw puzzles (jigsawplanet.com) and reading a lot of C. J. Box's Joe Pickett novels. Bob and I are eating more consciously in an effort to drop some pounds.

On Saturday and Sunday, October 10-11, Bob went bike riding with Susan's husband, Darren. I slept in both days! On Saturday, I baked a Pumpkin Crunch Dump Cake to take to dinner at Jim and Peri's house that afternoon. 

We had a great time catching up with Jim and Peri. They have a large motorhome which they keep in storage. 

After Thanksgiving, we will camp with them for five nights at Galveston Island State Park. Today, we planned the dates and made our reservations for the campground. We hope The Strand is decorated for Christmas. Moody Gardens usually decorates for Christmas and we're hoping that is the case again this year. We'd all like to go see it.

Dinner was very good! Peri made chicken fajitas with Spanish rice and a salad. We were full after dinner, so we played Sequence for a while and then had dessert. Thank you so much for having us over.

Wednesday night, October 14, our favorite show, Amazing Race, returned to TV after being off for almost two years. Both of us are glued to the TV for every episode. 

On Thursday, I finally had a hair appointment after not going for eight weeks. My hair was curling into a ducktail on my neck and I had done some trimming on my own. My hair was past due for cut and color. 

Today, Saturday, October 17, Bob and I did the San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden Walk sponsored by the Texas Trail Roundup Club. Mike and Kathy Schwencke did a great job volunteering this morning to get everyone signed up and out on the trails. We had perfect weather for a walk in South Central Texas: cool with light rain. 

This is the two-story rock pavilion where
our walk started in the Japanese Tea Garden.

We came down the steps from the pavilion into what was once a rock quarry. Now, there are koi ponds and a waterfall, not to mention beautiful landscaping and rustic rock bridges.

Koi pond, complete with a turtle. 

Beautiful petite purple flowers that
look like orchids, and orange seed pods.

Big, friendly koi.

Bob on bridge by waterfall.

Me at the base of the falls.

Looking back down into the garden.

From the Japanese Tea Garden, we walked down a shaded tree tunnel toward the San Antonio Zoo. The walk crossed the narrow-gauge train tracks and two rock bridges on our way through Brackenridge Park. 

The tree tunnel.

Two bridges to cross the river.

We passed a team of ducks
(or raft, or paddling of ducks).

The main road through Brackenridge Park.

Water lilies are in bloom now!

Water lilies.

A committee of black vultures.

A committee meeting on the playground!

We walked around Brackenridge Park and along the San Antonio River. Birds included Egyptian geese, domestic geese, ducks, and even more black vultures.

We did the Joske Pavilion Trail
and the Wilderness Trail.

An assortment of ducks and geese.

Joske Pavilion Trail.

A faux bois (fake wood/cement) bridge.

The faux bois art is historic in San Antonio.

San Antonio River near the zoo.

The Berlin Iron Bridge (1890).

People used to be able to swim in the river here, but not in recent years.

Next, our feet followed the Wilderness Trail. 

Long strands of Spanish moss.

The Wilderness Trail.

Metal sculptures of logs. You can bang
on them and make noise.

The first 5k portion of our 10k walk was just about over. At the Bombay Bicycle Club Restaurant, we will start our second 5k to Trinity University and the Monte Vista Historic District neighborhood.

This is one of my favorite
restaurant signs ever.

We made our way under the highway and visited Trinity University (TU). Their sports team is the Trinity Tigers and their mascot is LeeRoy, a Bengal tiger. So I think their COVID-19 mask signs are pretty cute. "Cover your muzzle."

We made a short pass through TU and exited into a gorgeous neighborhood, Monte Vista Historic District. I got carried away with home photos and Halloween decorations. So here you go...

HOME PHOTOS:

HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS: People really get into the "spirit" around here. 

Skeleton and "ghost" cat.

Tooooo funny!

Kinda spooky!

I love the dragon.

Ha ha!

And there were a couple of very nice gates.

Funny political sign.

And then we headed back to the Japanese Tea Garden. It was a wonderful walk today. We chatted with Carol Obianwu from Austin's Colorado River Walkers and also caught up with Sherry Logan, Michael Marke, and Bob (from the Kerrville club). I'm not sure how many walkers showed up today, but it looked like a pretty big group, maybe 50?

The blog is now caught up with our most recent events. It is time to go back and write more blogs from this summer and our 2019 eight-month trip.

Enjoy your Sunday!