Thursday in San Antonio... I decided to let Grand Trolley Tours do the driving today so I could enjoy the sights and hear the narration by a local guide.  Turned out to be a good decision!  We started at The Alamo.... which I was surprised to learn is right smack in the middle of downtown S.A.  It is a beautiful old mission building and the historic artifacts and displays were very well done. 

We journeyed on to two additional missions, learned quite a bit about life in South Texas in the 1700's.  They were so beautiful!

On to Mexican Market area (reprise of yesterday) where we dined at a great Mexican restaurant rather than shopping.  We were so full,

we opted to buy pastries at their in-house bakery to enjoy later.

Then it was on to the San Antonio River Cruise where we enjoyed wonderful views of the city from a whole new perspective.  Our guide (below) was lots of fun and extremely knowledgeable.  Doesn't the building look like just one wall of bricks?

Our last stop was at the Buckhorn Saloon where a crazy (like a fox) barkeep had bartered beers for animal antlers/horns for many, many years and also decorated in mega-taxidermy.  A little creepy to be sure.  It also housed some strange artworks... a "picture" of a deer made of rattlesnake rattles, a 78 point buck??? and a whole museum of artillery and badges and lore of the Texas Rangers.  We were tired by the time we got to the Buckhorn so the Virgin Margarita and Brown Beer were more to our taste than the decor was to our style!

Our day ended with a rather long wait for our bus & driver....  a flat???  So a van brought us back to the RV Park.  Our neighbors had been hired as dog walkers but Mr. Hobbs sure was relieved when we got home!  Found a local meeting place and that was fine.

Today we had a full driving day.... made a little longer by having to back track for fuel... seems the space between Gas/diesel stations is a WHOLE LOT LONGER here in the West.  So when my truck warned me about remaining fuel - we were way too far away from pumps.  Gratefully, we made it 28 miles back to the nearest town - on fumes to be sure - but we made it.  I'll pay more attention to the remaining fuel "screen" than the odometer as we go forward.

Onward to Carlsbad tomorrow....  

Arriving in San Antonio yesterday, we settled in and waited for an RV repair guy to come and "fix" my fridge which hadn't worked right since we left home.  Cannot believe that it was just the battery disconnect switch on the panel!!! Can't tell you how many times I've asked guys which way the battery disconnect switch should be in transit and storage.  The double negative really got me.  Seems that my grammar is excellent - but the switch was installed by an RV guy who doesn't know grammar.  When your battery disconnect switch is in the on position, the battery is connected!!! Who knew...

We enjoyed a fabulous morning at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens...Pam has a reciprocal membership so it was free!!!!  Here are just a couple of the 45 photos I took:

Our tour of the gardens was followed by a fantastic lunch in the Gardens' Restaurant.  Since we had missed having muffaletta sandwiches in New Orleans, we were pleased to see them on the menu today.  Yum!   And honest-to-goodness fresh squeezed lemonade was the finisher.  We drove around the city for a little while (my GPS was having a bad day) but found the Mercado Mexican shopping district.  Pretty to look at but super high prices for most of the merchandise.  Pam did find some very pretty wine glasses though, so we chalked it up as a successful shopping expedition.

Then we came back to basics and did our grocery shopping at the local Wally World.  (After all, I have a fridge now!)  Tomorrow I get a day off from driving and we'll take a guided tour of San Antonio.  Our RV neighbors have agreed to walk Mr. Hobbs so we'll be leaving at 8AM and be back 'round 5PM.  Missions, Alama, River Walk/Ride and Museums are on the itinerary so it will be a full day of adventure.  More anon......

Since we "scoped out" the city on the Hop On/Hop Off bus on Saturday afternoon, we were armed with our desired tour stops for our Sunday.  We both wanted to visit Mardi Gras World and it was a great choice.  This company creates all the decorations for the floats, builds the floats and sells them to the "Crewes" who ride them.  We visited one huge warehouse and saw drawings/designs, sculptors at work, decorations/floats in storage and saw a movie about the history of New Orleans Mardi Gras.  They even had costumes we could dress in for photo ops! 

Our campground was less than fabulous.... but we had water, electric, locks on our doors and windows.... inexpensive and very close to the French Quarter so it was perfect!  Oh yeah, there was also a huge RR train depot right over the fence but with our air conditioning turned on the sounds of the trains was nothing more than background and soothing.

We  walked a lot.  Wandered down Magazine Street, visited a few shops, took a break at Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets.  Wonderful!

Today was a long driving day but we knew it would be and despite the holiday it wasn't bad.  The roads in Louisiana (at least Route 10) are crummy & washboardy.  We found most of our crackers and cereals on the RV floor when we opened our door.  So Pam has been reorganizing the kitchen since we got  here and now knows where everything is! 

Tomorrow we head for San Antonio... Bye for now... Devon

An easy two hour drive to New Orleans yesterday... settled into our inner-city RV park, not pretty and not in the best of neighborhoods, but we have a good lock on the door and lots of estrogen so we're fine.  We went to the French Quarter welcome center where I convinced the Hop-on/Hop-off lady that if I bought a ticket at 3:30 and the busses stop at 5:30 she really should consider giving me a two-day pass for the price of a one-day!  She hesitated, then said "what the heck, have a good time!"  So we toured and scouted out the city by bus and settled on a plan of where we will hop off and on today.  Lunch/Dinner at The Gumbo Shop was yummy - jumbalaya, shrimp etoufee and lots of southern charm.  I promise there will be photos soon.

After a pretty sleepless night due to excitement, we got on the road this morning, Friday, at 8:30 AM - a half hour before scheduled!  It was a long driving day.... 366 miles.... but we are settled in at Azalea Acres in Robertsdale, AL for a one-night stay.  It's off to New Orleans tomorrow!

Four days left to plan and pack.  I think I can, I think I can....  laundry, clean out the fridge, clean the truck  I think I can, I think I can...

I've changed my settings so that readers may comment if they wish.  Hoping this works....

Getting Ready

The 5th wheel is packed with non-perishables and linens, all repairs have been done and all that remains is perishible groceries, clothes, camera, computer, maps, guidebooks, etc., etc.
Just when I think I'm ready, I think of something else!  It's 7 days and counting before our departure and I'm pretty anxious!  My travelling partner, Pam Phillips, will arrive here in G'ville next Wednesday and we'll do the final "loading" and then be on our way Friday morning the 23rd.  Our first overnight will be in Robertsville, AL at Azalea Acres RV Park, a simple overnight enroute to New Orleans.  It will be a long driving day, but it's day 1 so we'll deal.