Morning has Broken - Sat., July 13

I was out of the 5er before the sun came up to do a Volksmarch in Universal City, Texas. Taco Cabana was the start point for this Randolph Roadrunner Club's sponsored event in the U.S. Volkssport headquarters town.

Another gentleman and I started out walking together at 6:45 a.m. and followed the start directions. We were half-way down the road when a red pickup truck pulled up directly in front of us. A man jumped out and said we were going the wrong way and he would give us a ride back to the corner where we were "supposed" to have turned. This completely bamboozled us because the directions were quite clear where we they wanted us to go. When he told us to go the way HE said, we skipped instructions 2-7 and were now at #8. Nonetheless, we went the direction he told us to go, only to see the road where we SHOULD have been connecting up in instruction #7 to the road we were on. I still can't figure out why he did that. He had about ten people very confused during the first light of day. (You're probably scratching your heads by now too!)

The rest of the walk went smoothly. I walked very fast and passed a number of people who had started before me. It was a pleasant walk, although quite warm and humid. We meandered back and forth through the neighborhoods.

Here are photos from the walk.

Purple martin houses.

Mural on an elementary school.

Another mural on the same school.

In the San Antonio area there are many run-off areas for heavy rainfall.

Universal City neighborhood.

Another neighborhood we walked in.

It's fitting that the AVA club we're walking with today is Randolph Roadrunners. I had to triple check that the bird on someone's roof truly was a roadrunner. First, roadrunners are usually on the ground and, second, I didn't expect to see one in the heart of a neighborhood, falsely assuming they liked being out in the desert or scrub. The roadrunner looked like it was just waking up. Kind of like I felt. (The wires in the background look pretty cool, like a musical staff.)

Rumpled feathers upon waking up.

Eyes not quite open yet.

Big ballet stretch.

The 10K (6.2 miles) walk took one hour and 35 minutes today. My best guess for the temperature at 8:20 a.m. was 88 degrees.

A couple of days ago, I watched another bird take a bath in the water puddle on our neighbor's slide out. Can anyone help me identify this bird? I looked in my Audubon Society Field Guide but didn't find it. Thank you, Betty, this is a Texas Blue jay.

Texas Blue jay

Texas Blue jay

Texas Blue jay.

When I got home, the cats wanted to play so I turned on the new SmartKitty HotPursuit toy. Bowie had a blast with it. He had already dragged the toy from the living room to the kitchen and rumpled the kitchen rugs with his skittering across the floor. Very exhuberant cat.

Then he collapsed into a deep sleep.

That's what I'm going to do now. I need a nap.

Travel Bug out.

Universal City, Texas -- Thurs., Mar. 21

Here's a quick catch up on our last few days:

Monday: Bob ran after work with his Monday running group. I did laundry, cleaned the 5er.

Tuesday: I got my hair cut and colored. Bob was off work. He did errands and outside chores.

Wednesday: Bob and I had a lunch date at Pappacito's Cantina, then I had my teeth X-rayed and cleaned. No cavities, and the crowns are doing well. In the early evening we watched our Netflix selection, Anna Karenina. After we watched the movie, Bob went to the Spurs game with a co-worker.

Anna Karenina movie review: Starring Kiera Knightly and Jude Law. One star out of five. We expected Anna Karenina to be a historical film about Russia. Instead, this was a stylized fantasy world. We were unclear at any given point who the characters were and what the story was about. Very strange movie. They kept cutting to a stage where the action would take place. When the movie went to the stage all I could think about was Shakespeare's quote; "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances..." At one point while watching the movie, I remarked to Bob that it felt like the Baz Luhrmann/Moulin Rouge type of directing. All in all, the directing and production detracted from the story. Save your money and see something else, like Argo.

That brings us to today.

Bob had an executive meeting this morning at work. This evening, he watched half of the Oregon Ducks basketball game at Buffalo Wild Wings, shopped at Costco, came home watched more of the Ducks game, then went running with his Thursday night running group.

Peri and I met at 9:30 a.m. in Universal City, Texas, to do an 11K (6.8 mi.) Volksmarch.

The weather forecast last night had predicted an 81 degree high today. This morning I put on shorts and a T-shirt. When I looked outside at 8:00 a.m. the temperature was 50 degrees and the wind was blowing. I changed into jeans and brought along a sweater. (I was still cold at the beginning of our walk because there was a cold breeze blowing.)

The Volksmarch went along busy streets with no sidewalks, into an industrial area with an alleged "panoramic view" of Randolph Air Force Base. (All we could see of the Air Force Base was the control tower in the distance.)

"Panoramic view" of Randolph Air Force Base.

Interesting tidbits of history came via Peri who told me that the control tower was used in the 1927 movie "Wings" [with Clara Bow and Gary Cooper]. The movie was filmed in and around San Antonio and a sneak preview of "Wings" was held in San Antonio months before the premiere in New York City.

Northlake Industrial Park

Scenery in Northlake Industrial Park, Universal City, Texas

When we arrived in a residential neighborhood, it was trash collection day and we followed the trash collectors for two or three blocks. Whee, that didn't smell very good.

The highlight of our walk was visiting the American Volkssporting Association (AVA) National Headquarters. We talked to some of the office staff, I bought a bumper sticker that says, "Live to Walk, Walk to Live," and has the website address on it. There's a one-room museum which has wall hangings of the badges, pins and special awards you can earn by Volksmarching. I took a few photos.

AVA National HQ in this building.

Here's a look at all the pins and
badges you can earn when you Volksmarch.

State and national parks pins and badges.

While we were at the office Peri turned in her paperwork to become a member of AVA. Go Peri!

Next we took off through neighborhoods, went past a park and eventually wound our way back to the starting point.

Iris in full bloom.

Crossvine, Trumpet Flower
Bignonia capreolata

White-tailed deer

The Universal City Dog Park (adjacent to the animal shelter).

That's it, we did it...6.8 miles! Time to eat!

We planned ahead and finished the walk 15 minutes before the RV ladies luncheon at Cheddar's Casual Cafe. I followed Peri on back roads to the restaurant. Ten ladies showed up today, most of them are members of an RV women's forum online. They camp together and only see each other occasionally. Lots of hugs were to be had at the beginning of this lunch. Four ladies were new to the lunch group: Sharon, Rae from Canada, Nettie from the San Antonio area, and Diana who splits her time between Austin, Texas and Sonora, California.

Sharon and Margareta

Vickie, Nettie, Susan, Diana

Colleen, Rae, Peri

Welcome to new follower Sharon Himsl of Shells, Tales and Sails. Sharon is an author who will be hitting the open road with her husband this summer in their camper for Idaho and Utah. We will both be participating in the A-Z Challenge in April; she found my blog through the Challenge website. Sharon is an author, book reviewer and family historian. Shells of Mersing is the book she's writing now. You can read an interview with her about the book here. Sounds interesting. Welcome Sharon!

I have two cat photos today, both of Bowie.

I hereby claim this warm, freshly folded laundry as mine.

"Where do I go from here?"

Tomorrow night my mom and sister arrive in San Antonio. We have a chock-full schedule. I'll blog as I have time.

Travel Bug out.