We arrived in San Antonio on Monday evening, 4/5. The campground was very nice. Many of the residents were people who spend 6 months at a time there.  In particular, my next door neighbor Mike was very friendly and helpful.

Bad things happen when you have an RV, and this week saw highs in the 90’s in San Antonio and inside my RV because, you guessed it, the AC wasn’t working. This was due to a software and firmware update that broke the AC. Thankfully on Thursday afternoon it was fixed!  

Outside of our campground it was a very short walk to the San Antonio Riverwalk. This is a beautiful area with natural landscapes and well maintained paths. It also had some areas that were stepping stones down to the river and Fred tried out several of them. The water was clean and he had a great time. 

On Tuesday it was actually my birthday and my friend Gloria drove down from Austin to spend the day with us. We haven’t seen each other in maybe 10 years but we have tried to keep up. It was a lovely afternoon. We sat by the river for quite a while chatting and watching nature… cormorants, blue heron, egret, turtles, western rat snake… it was most amazing to watch this snake swim down river and then climb the weeping willow tree next to us. We did get confirmation on the snake type. 

On Wednesday, Fred and I walked to Mission San Jose. The visitor center is not yet re-opened post-COVID but we did get a few photos. 

Thursday afternoon the AC got fixed so I felt good about leaving Fred alone in the RV. This gave me a chance to ride my bike on the river walk.  A bit of a challenge if you haven’t been riding up and down hills lately!

On Friday morning, I made breakfast in the RV. This seems worthy of telling because many people say they don’t cook in their  RV’s and if I’m going to live in it, I want to cook in it at least a bit. We brought a taste of home with us from Christine and Connor, and we got to eat fresh eggs.

After breakfast, Fred and I went to another set of steps to the river.  Song sparrows are popular in this area and they were flying around like crazy that morning. There were LOTS of nests up in the columns under the overpass, and the birds were getting food and feeding their fledglings in the nest.

My sister-in-law’s brother Mike and his family live north east of San Antonio in Canyon Lake. Mike came down with his son and his friend AJ for a tour of the Alamo, the downtown river walk area and Mission Concepcion. It was pretty neat because this is an active church that AJ attended as a youngster. He was impressed with some recent renovations to the ceiling artwork. 

Mike and his wife had very graciously invited me to spend the week at their home in Canyon Lake. I declined (I shouldn’t have!) but I did spend Friday night with them. Their area is beautiful. Friday we walked the neighborhood – the deer didn’t move when we walked by – and Saturday we walked on the Canyon Lake Dam. It’s nice to have extended family in beautiful places!

After our visit with Mike, Robin and Aaron, Fred and I headed west to Fort Stockton, Texas for an overnight. The landscape here is very different than where we’ve been (no oak allergens here!). 

Next stop:  Las Cruces, New Mexico!