San Antonio Texas October 3-7, 2009

We decided to attend an informative conference for full-time RVing organized by Howard and Linda Payne. They have an excellent website and planned this conference in Kerrville Texas. Prior to the conference we spent three days in San Antonio touring all the sights. After flying flying from Indy to San Antonio via Southwest Airlines, we headed to the Drury Inn located right along the picturesque Riverwalk. The hotel has a great location and the breakfast included each morning was very good.

We decided to get an overview of the area and took a Trolley Tour with an hop on and hop off feature. One of our stops was along the Mission Trail at the San Jose Mission This mission was established by the Catholic Church in 1768. The missions were primarily religious centers where the Coahuiltecan Indian population was instructed in the Catholic religion and taught European beliefs. This is now a National Park and the 25 minute video in the visitors center was very well done and gave a balanced account of what has occurred




We spent several hours there enjoying this tranquil site. The highlight was a beautiful Sunday mass. The church is still active and each Sunday they have a mass open to all @ 12noon that features guitars, brass, and the local church choir. It was delightful!


All of the construction was completed by the local Indians under the direction of the monks and everyone lived behind the enclosed walls. Five missions were along the trail separated approximately every 5 miles along the river. The San Jose Mission is the most extensive.




Another stop along the trolley tour was the King Williams District. We later went back and took a walking tour of these beautiful homes the were built by German immigrants.

We enjoyed spending time along the Riverwalk. There are narrated barge tours that cruise along the river. We had a delicious dinner one evening @ Boudours. The barge came right to the restaurant and we enjoyed our dinner cruising the river and seeing all the sights. It was lots of fun and the highlight of our visit.

No time in San Antonio would be complete without visiting the Alamo. Most tourists are surprised to find it located right in the downtown among all the skyscrapers. Before touring we saw an IMAX movie that depicted the battle and some of the history. It left us wanting to read more about this battle. Davy Crockett was one of over 200 hundred men that died at this battle.

Our last day was spent walking through the beautiful San Antonio Botanical Gardens before we left for our RV-Dreams Rally. It was a very pretty garden and we enjoyed a nice lunch on the premises before taking off for Kerrville. (Check out the handsome guy next to the trumpet vines)

We left San Antonio and dove about 1 1/2 hours to Kerrville through the Texas Hill Country. We met up with our friend Carol. We decided to visit LBJ's Ranch the next morning. It was called the Texas White House and was the family home for Lyndon Johnson.

LBJ traveled there often during his presidency and he is now buried there. It has recently become a National Park and admission is free($1 to tour home). Upon arrival we watched an excellent film in the visitors center. In addition, we received a CD audio to play in the car as we drove around the property. A park ranger gave us a tour of their home and showed us LBJ's amazing car collection. It included one car that he used to drive through the river and surprise his guests.

We enjoyed our visit and the Hill Country and are very excited to attend the rally tomorrow.