Day 16 - San Houston Jones State Park - San Antonio

---

Today was my birthday! I woke at 6am, to find I was the first one up. As I left my tent to head to the shower, Sarah had just woken and was packing up her stuff from one of the picnic tables she slept on the previous night.
After having a quick shower, I took my tent down, and waited for the others to all wake up. They slowly all say ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, and despite now being 24, I still enjoy my birthday every year.
As usual, once everyone had breakfasted and packed up, we soon hit the road, but not before the group all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in the van to me. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, I send us on our way with the first tune of the day.
As we were using the FM transmitter for the first time, we had some teething problems in that the empty radio frequencies we used kept picking up a station, so there was a lot of stopping and searching for another empty frequency, but we soon found one that doesn’t seem to want to pick anything up and we carried on.
Today’s destination was San Antonio as we headed into Texas. Todd stopped us at the service stop that has the big ‘Welcome to Texas’ sign by it, and everyone made their way to get a picture by it. Jess and Sarah said that they were going to get as many photos of me today as it was my birthday, so I was the first to pose under the sign.
I also got a pose in with the big star statue embedded into the ground at the entrance to the stop.
Todd advised the previous day that Texas is the largest state in America, and that it would take a few days to travel through the vast, empty plains of the state. He also advised that Texans are so big headed, that most if not all think that Texas should be its own country…again!
Whenever I picked up WiFi, I received birthday messages from the family and the guys at work, which brought a small smile to my face each time.

At lunch time we stopped at another service stop for lunch. Whilst the vultures all gathered around our food to make their lunches, I called home to speak to someone. Eventually Mum answered and was surprised to hear it was me calling. Back home it was close to 9pm in the evening, so I know that Rob was properly at football, and Mum and Dad were watching the TV. She wished me a happy birthday and asked how the trip was going, before putting me on to Dad, who basically asked the same thing.
They didn’t talk for long, as they knew that it was costing me money speaking to them, so a little reluctantly, the call was soon ended. It was a shame really, but I know that I’ll speak to them again on the trip so am not fully down heartened.

Back on the road, we carried on to San Antonio, passing on the outside of Houston. Like most US cities, it just suddenly appears on the horizon, a small skyline of buildings and skyscrapers against the backdrop of the clear blue sky. Nothing else really appears on the horizon at this point.

By midafternoon we arrived in San Antonio. Like Houston it has a small skyline of buildings and skyscrapers, but they look more beautiful and historic than Houston.
After parking up we headed out in the searing heat towards the main attraction of San Antonio – the Alamo. The site of one of the pivotal events in the Texas Revolution, severely outnumbered Texans fought in vain to defend the mission from Mexican troops. If you ever heard of Davy Crockett, he was one of those who fell at the Alamo.
All that remains is the unfinished church building that stands on Alamo Plaza. There is a long stretch of lawn in front, with a plague in front of that copying the words of the letter send out pleading for reinforcements days before the battle.
The church building shines in the sun, lighting up its white stones and making it look newer than it actually is, as we stood outside taking our pictures ready to go in.
There was a queue to get into the building. Just outside the doors is a sign saying photography is banned and all caps and hats must be removed as a sign of respect. Talking is not really allowed either, again as a sign of respect.

As soon as we entered the building I could feel the drastic change in temperature from the heat outside to the utter coolness inside. There’s one big open room with some artefacts and displays detailing the battle, as well as flags of the different countries represented by the defenders of the battle.
As the queue quietly snakes up the other end of the room and back, we make our way into the first room on the left, which led onto 2 more rooms. Each room has more artefacts, mainly weapons, clothing and tools used at the mission during the occupation of Texans. There’s even a section dedicated to Davy Crockett’s former possessions, all of which have been donated by various owners, museums and charities, before soon reaching the end and the back door out of the building.

After soon meeting up with everyone else, and after Jess has finished posing with more uniformed policemen, and a crazy street preacher (who just seemed to shouting and rambling at no one has he walked around in circles), we headed for the River Walk, a public park open all year round, lined with individual businesses composed of restaurants, hotel, attractions and more. We decided on getting a drink, yet Sumi prefered to go off further to see what she can discover. Out of all the bars and restaurants on the Walk, we decide on going into one called 'Dicks'. The concept of the bar being that all the staff treat and behave as rudely as possible to you. I can see the idea behind it, and it is quite funny hearing some of the insults, but despite it being my birthday I was in a funny mood now. It may have been due to the fact that I forgot my passport again so couldn’t get a beer. I must remember to keep that on me at all times!

By early evening, though the sun was still high above like it’s earlier in the day, as we headed on the campsite – another KOA. After checking in and turning up at out designated site, we discovered that another Trek group, going in the other direction to us on a slightly smaller tour, was on the next site.
After quickly setting up our site, most of the group headed over to mingle and share stories. Graham later got one of the blonde girls to participate in a game of Frisbee, which got stuck on the roof of the toilet block right by our sites. We all had a laugh watching Graham trying to climb up onto the roof.
As the site is a KOA, there wass a swimming pool up by the main office, and this one had a Jacuzzi area as well. When some of us headed over the pool is quite full with annoying kids and their parents, so we took a seat in the Jacuzzi til it clears. Despite it being still blazing hot, the Jacuzzi was still refreshing, but when we finally get into the pool that was much more relieving!

I was given the choice as we left New Orleans about what dinner I wanted on my birthday, and in the end I decided on spaghetti meatballs, which Group C were preparing. Whilst they do so, I was presented with my birthday card, signed by 13 people who only 16 days ago were complete strangers, and my birthday cake. I had the honours of cutting the cake, but not many people wanted a piece, so in the end I ate a quarter of it!

After the very delicious dinner, we were about to head out to a bar. I took my seat at the front of the van, but was soon summoned out again. “This can’t be good for me!” I joked as Graham led me to the front of the van. I was then blindfolded with a towel and spun away several times. When I stopped a stick was placed in my hand, and I had the task of whacking a piñata.
Only a few weeks ago at Cubs did we have a piñata which I took great amusement out of the spinning the boys around and getting them to have a whack. That time, the first boy succeeded with his first hit, so there was pressure on myself now to do something similar.
I swung several times, occasionally hitting the thing, but never hard enough. I even hit the road sign that was attached to the tree that the piñata was hanging from. Which really hurt!
With no success, I was finally able to see the piñata, when I then proceeded to destroy it to within an inch of its existence! Everyone then jumped on the stash of sweets to haud up for their usual sugar rushes!

And with that, we headed to the bar. It was about a 30 minute drive, which was filled with country songs that Todd had on his i-pod. Everyone enjoyed the Big & Rich song ‘Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)’. By the time we reached the Midnight Rodeo, the sun had well disapperaed and the dark sky now filled the air. Everyone makes sure I had my passport this time, and after gaining access, we discovered that there was barely anyone in the bar.
The bar itself is quite open spaced. There’s 2 rectangle bars with seats around the outside and a walkway in between which leads onto a dance circuit. That’s right all the way around the inside of the building is a dance floor for folks to dance in a big loop. Inside this loop are seating areas, where I set myself down for the evening. We really thought this place would be heaving, but seeing as it’s a Sunday, maybe it’s their quiet night.
Kylie, Zoe, Jess and Tanya all tried to teach me to dance, and even tried to get me to dance with Sumi, but I kept insisting that it’s an impossible task.
Several years back, one of my work colleagues had a gathering of everyone from the department round her new house, and in the end, we had a go at the dance mat, which I was good at, but when it came to dancing normally, 3 hours worth of teaching got me nowhere. It goes well for about 30 seconds, then my Chandler and Joey dancing from Friends kicks in.

For those who didn’t sit around and try and teach me to dance, there are some pool tables at one end of the bar, which I finally ventured over to, and ended up teaming with Scott against Graham and Neal, before taking Graham on in singles as well. I don’t know why, but I really wanted to beat Graham, but I ended up losing 2-1.
After a couple of hours, we headed back, and as soon as we parked up, I headed off to bed. Maybe it’s the 3 beers, but I suddenly wasn't up for staying and talking with the other group.
Still this was my first birthday away from my family, and I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The fact that I spent it in a historic town like San Antonio, in one of the most famous countries in the world.

---