DAY 120 : November 4/22 Friday. San Antonio, TX (The ALAMO) to Seminole Canyon State Park, TX

This morning consisted of some more MineCraft time for Oliver and more art time for Amelia. Then Meems and Jonathan and I had a swim. Poor Oliver couldn't go in the pool with his sore eye. It would be awhile before he'd be able to have his snorkel mask back on too. 

Got the rig packed up, kids put the slide in (they are pro's now) and I was co-pilot while Oliver drove us off the leveling blocks for the first time. Jonathan was out and didn't believe me when we told him that Ollie took us off the blocks. O did a fantastic job. 

By 12noon we were on the road for a quick 10min drive to downtown San Antonio to The Alamo. Found great parking nearby, and wandered around the outside (it was a bit of a surprise to me that The Alamo was right in the city! - I pictured it being off on its own somewhere). Jonathan and I paid for audio tours which were well worth it. We gave the kids a walkie-talkie and let them have their own wander around inside the small grounds with some rules regarding behaviour in a special historical space since they were not super interested in the historical side of things. The preferred looking in the gift shop, and also the lego display of the Alamo setup they had. 

Around 2pm, I think, they had a musket firing demonstration in a cordoned off area of the street out front of the Alamo. The kids had been chatting with one of the musket-men earlier when we first arrived, so it was super neat to see the muskets being fired. Boy was it loud! The men and women fired the muskets of various sorts quite a few times. 

We had read about the River Walk as something to do in San Antonio and turns out it was just a couple of blocks away. We walked over and decided to have an early dinner at the Casa Rio restaurant along the river front. It was a little off putting at first glance because of the incredible number of pesky pigeons flapping around. They were very pushy and were on the tables and even trying to get onto people's tables while they were still eating!!!! Ick. We put our name down anyhow, and soon got a table (we made sure we didn't get the table that we had just seen a whole flock of pigeons attacking the leftover plates). The staff did seem to be washing the tables with soapy water after they were cleared. They just didn't seem to have the staff to clear plates as soon as people left. 

The server was lovely and the food was great. We made sure that the odd pigeon that tried to approach our table was told in no uncertain terms that it was NOT welcome near our space, haha. The margaritas were delicious and the tex-mex food was yummy. After, we walked down the river walk and watched the tourist boats go by in the canal systems. 

On the walk back to the parking lot, we came across the most beautiful POST OFFICE we've seen yet. I had postcards to mail and lots of stamps to purchase. It was in a federal building and so when we entered, it was VERY fancy and we had to go through a security check to get through the main lobby. The post office was on the main floor... gorgeous old building, with original brass post boxes in the wall and beautiful wood paneling and furniture. Pretty cool. Got my stamps and mailed my postcards successfully!

By 4pm we were on the road headed towards Seminole Canyon State Park, TX that was 3.5 hours drive away. Our rig thermometer told us it was 34C outside. Yikes.  We took the I-90 West to Del Rio. At 5:30pm we put a movie on for the kiddos (Pinocchio) to take some of the sting out of the longer drive this evening. Mini Cornettos were also on the docket!

By 5:45pm we were driving through Uvalde, TX. My heart sank when I saw it coming up on the map. You could feel the heartache as we drove into town. It had a very depressed feel. We stopped here for diesel and it had a very rough feeling to the town and we felt very out of place. Lots of republican campaign posters and people with loud speakers promoting their campaign support. Lots of #UvaldeStrong signs and tags around the town, too. It was quite emotional to drive through here knowing the heartache this town has suffered in the recent past. Seeing the police stations and sheriff vehicles gave a weird feeling. 

Around 6:15pm just outside Uvalde, we drove past a farm with 100's of goats on it! Beginning to see lots of texas sage and prickly pear cactus. Lots of ranchlands... passed such signs as Gunhill Ranch, Machete Ranch. The sun was setting and since we are driving west, it's always in our eyes in the evenings!

By 7pm or so we got to the town of Bracketville and drove by a BEVERAGE BARN! we had to turn around to check out what it was all about. It was a barn you could drive through and get beer/wine/ciders etc (no hard alcohol, bummer... we needed gin). Super sweet girls working in there as we drove it and selected a 6pk of Dos Equis and two GIANT pickles! The pickles were SOOOOO pickly! hard to eat, but fun. 

Stopped in Del Rio at the walmart for groceries even though we were tired. By 8:30pm we were back on the I-90 and within half an hour we saw a huge border patrol facility on the highway ahead. The guy asked us if we were American and we said, Canadian and had our passports out and ready. He said, "same idea" and smiled and waved us through. They have a lot of border patrol stations set up in this area because it's so close to the Mexican border. 

By 9:20pm we were at the Seminole Canyon State Park campground in the pitch black. Ollie and Jonathan had a short night walk while Meems and I got ready for bed. Will be neat to see what this place looks like in the daylight!

DAY 119 : November 3/22. Thursday. Corpus Christi, TX to San Antonio, TX

 Uncle Mikey left very early this morning (we said our goodbyes and thank you's last night). Jsy made pancakes and we packed up the rig. This included a thorough fridge clean in the RV before transferring all our stuff from the AirBnB fridge back into the little fridge. 

Meems was feeling a little sad about not having lit our halloween pumpkins, and now they were kind of soft and not in great shape. She came to terms with letting them go and Jonathan was able to put them in the garbage. No composting or recycling here. We had been saving our bottles and cans and recycling for ages and had a bin on the back of the rig FULL to the brim with recycling in hopes we'd find somewhere to dispose of it properly. It's so weird that everything goes in the trash. 

Checked out by 11am, went and got diesel, then went to the Recycling Centre in Corpus Christi that we looked up on Google Maps. It was only a few minutes off route and felt good to dispose of the bin load we had. It was a big operation like the transfer stations back home. When we pulled up to ask about what we had to recycle, the workers at the front gate were super friendly and chatty. They were VERY curious about our trip and about Vancouver and how "cold" it is up in Canada. 

After the recycling centre, we drove over to Cole Park Pier to let the kiddos have a play at the playground there. We had passed it on the way into town a few days ago and it looked cool. Spent from 12:30-1:30pm at the park. The park was pretty fun, but not dazzling for the kiddos. Jonathan had walked across the grass to the pier earlier and got absolutely hammered with mosquitoes!!! He ran back to the playground with about 20 on one leg, feasting away! yikes! We stayed on the path to walk over and check out the pier. Neat pier where we watched a guy fishing (and the seagulls stealing the bait off the side of the pier). Back at the rig, Meems made her specialty Mimi-nade (limeade) as a refreshment before we left. 

At 1:30pm we left the park for San Antonio! Took the I-37 North up to the I-10. Long drive to the KOA San Antonio/Alamo... Site I10. Super friendly staff and a nice pool!

Once parked and settled at the KOA, we got our swim suits on and jumped in the refreshing pool (cool, but not freezing cold). The warm humid weather made it easier to get out of the pool and not feel cold. We ordered a pizza for delivery "poolside" and ate at the table right on the deck. 

Jonathan went back to the rig before us to fix our small side mirror that had fallen off. Kids and I dried off and perused the little store at the office and bought some post cards. Kids had their eyes on some cute stuffies and in my weakness, I let them use their money to buy themselves a little furry friend. Oliver chose an adorable little sasquatch (Saskie) and Meems picked out a sweet little seal (Icy). 

On the way back to our site, we stopped at the playground for a bit. It was an old school playground with lots of metal play structures. Ollie was keen to stay and play, but Meems wanted to go back to the rig, so I left Ollie there to play and Amelia and I walked the short distance back to the RV to get changed. 

I was in the rig, and it was only minutes later that I heard Oliver outside the RV talking with Jonathan. Something had happened. I saw Jonathan walk Ollie around to the door of the rig and saw a very stunned little boy with a split over his left eye! poor kiddo! he'd been walking on the merry go round bars as it turned and he slipped and fell without time to get his hands up to protect his face. We got him cleaned up the best we could and decided that we could manage with steri-strips (butterfly closures) to close up the wound and avoid a hospital visit. 

After we got the little man sorted out, we set him up with a hotspot on the Macbook so he could try to do some minecraft online with his buddy back home. We managed to get him connected with Vincent. Amelia was happy doing art and shell painting outside. When it got dark, we moved over to the community lounge at the KOA and found a lovely space with tables and puzzles and wifi. Meems happily did art and puzzles, while Ollie did some facetime chatting with his friend Luca... showing off his newly acquired injury. 

After enjoying the lounge and its amenities, we headed back to our little home-on-wheels. We bandaged up Ollie's face so it wouldn't bleed as much on his pillow. Jonathan started the new bedtime reading choice, "Owls in the Family" by Farley Mowatt. I had picked it up at a thrift shop somewhere along the way. 

Tired little Tentas... off to bed to be ready for the Alamo tomorrow!