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.

FMCA Convention - Bowling Green Ohio

We attended the International Family Motorcoach Association (FMCA) rally in Bowling Green. It was held July 20-23 at the campus of Bowling Green University. This is the first time we have attended. Our friend, Carol Miller, had encouraged us to attend. We are so glad that we did.

We traveled in style and stayed with Carol Miller in her lovely Monaco motorcoach. Our friends Les, Kathy, Marlene, and Linda also came along in their rigs. This is a motorcoach only convention.

There were over 2800 motorcoaches with approximately 6000 people attending. People were camping all around the campus and at a nearby fairgrounds. Over 900 volunteers helped out. In the picture above you can see all of them. There was a wide variety of coaches and many of them were amazing and very expensive to own.

A wide variety of educational classes are provided. John and I split up and tried to take in as much as possible. Some of the classes included:

• Basic Training for RVERS
• Fire and Life Safety (our favorite)
• Traveling to Alaska by RV
• Managing digital pictures with Picassa
  

And so much more. There was entertainment nightly, but we never did attend. At the end of the day, we were so very tired. We enjoyed talking with our friends and sharing all that we had learned and experienced.

There was a huge vendor section. It was like a candy store (so irresistible) with everything imaginable to purchase for an RV. You sure could drop a lot of change in there if you wanted. Our friends bought a unique golf cart.

On display outside were all the new motorcoaches. Most of them were well out of our price range, but it was fun to see them. John feel in love with a Tiffin Motorcoach and there was a very good deal on a Holiday Rambler. Hopefully soon we'll be able to purchase one for our journey.

We would definitely attend again. Our only complaint was the long commutes from the fair grounds to the seminars by school bus. The facilities were very nice and the event was so organized.