Jan 15 - Had a note from Mick Chalmers about my idea for Picton Port to become a cruise ship site. He and Dave MacKay and I are going to start a transfer business, looking after the cruise ship guests while they visit the County. Mick figures we can make millions. Can't beat 'em, may as well join 'em.

On Wednesday we had a very nice drive along the backroads (once we escaped the clutches of onandon Houston suburbs) to San Antonio. Towns like Eagle Lake, Halletsville and Shiner, finally Gonzales. All have unique histories, which I won't bore you with. In Halletsville, we found a little garage where two great young guys did an oil change for the rig. We'd checked with an rv service near Galveston, who wanted $200. for a simple oil change. My buddies in Halletsville did it for $41. And the shop owner gave us some great tips for restaurants in San Antonio. That was too cool!!

Shiner is famous for it's specialty beer house. So what did we do when we got to a pub along the river walk? Had a Shiner. And it was great. As for Gonzales, about 30 of their fighting men ended up trying to help stave off the Mexican Army at the Alamo. You know the sad result. None of this excitement would have been ours had we done the I-10, which would have been faster but boring.

Weather here has been terrific, near 70 both days, and sunny. We'd been to the Alamo before, but couldn't resist, and spent quite awhile there, as there are displays that we hadn't seen last time. Lots of interesting info, and a good video, so we're tuned into that part of Texas history. The other thing we had to do was the River Walk, as the last time we were here the weather was cold and not pleasant. This time we walked all of the interior portion, and it was great. That's where we had our Shiner. Then a walk up to the big Mexican market, the Mercado, to go to the restaurant our friend in Halletsville had told us was a must-do. And it was! Musicians wandering through the restaurant, a million colorful decorative lights, and female servers in traditional costume. Food was great. It's called Mi Tierra, and was started in the Depression by a young Mexican who came to San Antonio to start a new life. Married a hard-working young lady, and they built a great business that their kids and grand-kids now operate. Only in 'Merica.

Along the River Walk, we met a young woman who told us about a bike trail along the river. We got info and that's what we did today...38 kilometers along the San Antonio River, which parallels the Mission Trail. It was a great ride, with lots of ups and downs. We huffed and puffed at times, but knowing our van was parked in a specialty brewery parking lot, we persevered. We visited two of the missions, San Juan and Concepcion, both of which were very interesting in terms of structure and what went into their creation. Imagine landing in uncharted territory as a Franciscan brother, no one but you, and having to win over the local natives, change their way of life, build a mission, get into the trading business, draw maps of the area, all for the glory of the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church. Quite an assignment! They had no damned business being here, but that's the way it was then. Still going on today in lots of places! Things change but stay the same.

Tomorrow we move on to San Marcos, a small city halfway between here and Austin. Gail and our dear friend Beryl in Ottawa love a Blues singer named Guy Forsyth. He's from Austin, so we looked him up on the internet, and lo and what do you know, he's performing acoustically tomorrow night in San Marcos. So we've ordered tickets, set up our r.v. park for tomorrow night, and will be moving on. Impulses! Short term planning! Makes this kind of trip fun. Stay tuned.