To San Antonio

---

We left West Houston on a windy, cloudless day and it was 40 degrees. The land was flat and the ranching was cattle and grass hay. We could see how cattle could be hard to find and hard to round up in these live oak and mesquite trees and tight brush. A lot of cattle were wild before the great cattle drives started and we could see why. Rich says that cowboys wore chaps to prevent scratches and tears from the brush (chapparal) and that even horses wore leather "armor" from their necks down past their chests. We saw our first prickly pear cactus fence. Rich's comment -"Why does ANYONE live in Lousiana when not far away is this beautiful country where the climate is better and drier?" He wasn't real impressed with swamps and alligators. Some of you might remember the TV show, Sky King. We assume it had something to do with the King Ranch in Texas that covers almost a million acres. The Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle was developed there, and so was the Quarter Horse. We have seen cattle that Rich calls "Mexican cattle". They have shorter horns than longhorns, are smaller, and are usually red and white and spotty. We don't know what their official breed is. Later, there were fields of corn stubble. There were deer blinds and deer feeder stands to lure the deer closer to the blinds. Sounds unsportsmanlike. We began to see palm trees. In one town we passed Lucille's Restaurant. We couldn't stop, because Rich's mom, Lucille, was the original and certainly a better cook! For miles over the last two days, we've seen billboards advertising Buc Cee's, with a beaver on it. It was a gas station - convenience store - gift shop- bakery - and lunch place. One of the signs said "fabulous restrooms". We stopped. Yes indeed, they had fabulous restrooms - all new tile, each stall private, about twenty of them, and the rest of it decorated with artwork and cowhides. Continuing on, the soil looks good and is rich and black. The creeks are dry and the grass and weeds are brown and dry. Far in the distance we saw tall buildings, so we knew that we were approaching San Antonio. There was a lot of work on bridges, as there has been all along our trip. We set up at the RV park and headed for Wal-Mart so Rich could get a prescription refill for his leg. They didn't have enough pills for a complete order so they said to return on Sunday for the rest. While we were at Wal-Mart, we bought some Christmas lights for our camper. After we put them up, we tuned in to the news and found out that Houston, where we were this morning, had snow today and so did New Orleans, and Baton Rouge, where we were two days ago, had 2 inches of snow!!! We missed it! After some dinner, some backgammon and some blogging, we went to bed. We thought about snow - in other places!

---

Comments

[T]

Great Ride
Rich, I can't imagine what an amazing experience it would be to take off on your best horse with ample provisions and ride across one million acres. Do you think I would be cured by the end? How long would it actually take? Only in my dreams! I hope you guys took some pictures. By the way, I just asked Phil wasn't it time for you all to come over......we sure miss your faces! Much love, T

[Rubber Bums]

Great Ride
We worked out that if the million acres were in a rough square, it would be a little more than 40 miles across. It would take you three comfortable, enjoyable days to ride all the way across. Isn't that neat?