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Published: February 27th 2019
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After a relaxing couple of days at Lake Livingston, we were next headed west to San Antonio. By curious coincidence, Cathy's sister and her husband (PD & David, the notorious PDD) were going to be spending a few days there too, after attending a wedding in Austin. Also, Cathy's nephew and his family were living in San Antonio as well, where he is completing his Army PA training. So, our plan was to try to arrange a meetup, to see if we could get all of us together for the first time in over twenty years.
The drive over was fine, only about 5 hrs of mostly rural Texas driving. We had booked three nights camping at a RV campground a little south of town. We had one other stop to make along the way though.
As I had mentioned before, the venting fan on our composting toilet was acting up, it's been running most of the time for the last 3 years, so I guess it's no great surprise that it's getting tired. It's a tiny thing, only 40mm square, and 12VDC powered, so I knew it would be very hard to find a replacement locally. It was
available on Amazon of course, in a 2 pack for ten bucks, but how to get it sent to you while on the road? I did a little research, and I found that Amazon offers a no-charge delivery option called "Amazon Locker". In certain areas (not Redwood or the like) they maintain "smart" lockers, you have your package delivered there, then show up, put in your code, and pick up your parcel -- and on your way.
We chose a delivery point on the SE side of the city that was on our route to the campground, it was at a 7-11 right next to the freeway. I had gotten an email the day before notifying me of it's arrival at the locker. So we just drove there, punched in our code (there was also a bar code on the email that would have worked) and a door popped open -- there was our package! I had hardly gotten back in the truck when I received another email, confirming that I had picked up the shipment. Say what you will about Amazon and the effect it is having on the retail market everywhere, but you can't say they're not
good at what they do.
After that, we dashed to the campground, checked in, dropped off ol' Fred, and headed for downtown San Antonio. It was only about 20 mins to the Riverwalk area, and we found a parking spot big enough for Moby Dodge quite easily. It was just a block to PDD's hotel, and we met up and headed for the Riverwalk. That area is a developed strip of hotels, bars, and restaurants along a twisting stretch of water. Sunken down well below street level, and shaded by huge old trees, mostly bald cypress, it is a beautiful spot. We walked along it for a bit, then climbed back up to the street to visit San Antonio's most famous attraction, the Alamo.
I know the Alamo is of tremendous importance to those interested in the history of Texas, but for me it's important mostly for it's reference in the movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". That movie was a great favorite of our boys when they were growing up. The supposed hiding place of his prized bicycle in the "basement of the Alamo" was a hugely popular catch phrase in our house for years. So, upon arrival
at this most sacred shrine of the Texas Republic, my first act was to be photographed on hands and knees, searching for that mythic cellar. I immediately texted it to the boys, and received the expected responses -- success!
After making a fool of myself there, it was back over to the river for a short but enjoyable ride on the little electric tour boats they operate there. I could see it was powered by a Torqueedo drive unit under the stern, and the driver said it used Tesla batteries, but I don't have any other details, pretty cool.
By then, it was long past time for a tall, Texas size (22oz) Shiner Bock draft at a riverside bar, then back to PDD's hotel to meet Ian and his wife. I hadn't seen him since 2014, when he was a student at Embry Riddle in Prescott, AZ. That was when I was on my CC Porsche trip. The rest of the us had not seen him in over 20 years, since he was a little boy. Seeing him again though, all of our reactions were just the same, we recognized him in an instant, and we would have
known him anywhere. We had a wonderful visit with him and his lovely bride. Those years faded away in no time, and we were with family again. After dinner we all parted, happy to hear that Ian and Mariah's next posting will be at West Point Army Hospital in NY, we are hoping to get to see a lot more of them soon.
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