Day 119: San Antonio to Austin, TX

 We started our day with a drive to New Braunfels, Texas, the birthplace of the wire fence. An odd claim to fame but there it is. We are well acquainted with wire fences on our farm back home and so, are grateful for this invention.

New Braunfels is also home to the Comal River, the shortest navigable river in the USA. Today we did the longest float down the shortest navigable river - another unusual claim to fame. On this real life lazy river, we floated downstream for close to three hours. We saw birds, ducks, turtles and fish - really up close! It was amazing to us that the river water, which flowed right through the heart of the city, was clean enough to float in and was clear enough to see the bottom. We even saw people swimming laps right in the river. Imagine doing that in the Rideau Canal - ew!

Some sections of the river were connected to each other via a water chute. We navigated the chutes successfully but I capsized at the bottom of the largest one, sadly losing my left flip flop to the river. I am now sporting a mismatched pair since I broke the right flip flop from a different pair at Arches. At least I still have two functional shoes in my possession despite them being different colours.

There were huge beautiful houses lining the river built up on gigantic stilts.

The hot sun and lazy river wiped us out. After lunch the boys were exhausted. Car nap!

After a rejuvenating afternoon snooze, we headed out to explore the Hamilton Pool Preserve in Texas Hill Country. This was a short hike (though it required a timed entry reservation) to a grotto with a waterfall. Unfortunately, the waterfall was nonexistent during our visit - wrong time of year, perhaps. However the pool was the most fascinating shade of vibrant mossy green. We also got to see a water moccasin (poisonous snake) and big catfish! We didn’t swim since we were all watered out from our long tube ride earlier but we had a snack on the rocky beach before heading back to the truck.

Coiled up water snake. Ew!

Catfish swimming around.

Before heading out to supper, we stopped in to visit Jester King Brewery. This company used to be a driving force in the sour beer industry about a decade ago and so was on Ian’s radar. We stopped in for some beer samples while the kids enjoyed home brewed lemonade and hibiscus mint iced tea. It was a cool place with major farm vibes and a relaxed atmosphere.

Sadly we visited on the wrong day/time for goat tours. That would have been right up my alley.

We had the opportunity to experience authentic Texas BBQ for supper with a colleague of Ian’s from work, Andrew and his family. We feasted on brisket, smoked sausage and all the sides with spicy BBQ sauce. It was delicious and the company fantastic. Yum! It was nice to share stories and food with friends.

We are camped out at Bastrop State Park tonight with electricity, water and showers! Life is good and it has been a wonderful day.

Day 118: Junction to San Antonio, TX

We arrived in San Antonio, Texas this morning excited to explore. Our first stop, after dropping off the truck and trailer in a sketchy looking public surface lot on the edge of downtown, was the city’s Riverwalk. This path was beautiful. Absolutely something that Ottawa’s Rideau Canal should aspire to. There were lush, topical forest inspired gardens lining the emerald green river on both sides with loads of cafes and restaurants with waterfront tables. We learned that it took some major rehabilitation for the river to look this way. It used to be full of mud and garbage. Then it flooded all the riverside residential homes resulting in everyone moving further away to rebuild. However the extensive cleanup and commercialization of the river really worked for the city because it is now an amazing tourist destination.

We strolled the riverwalk to the Alamo, where we took an educational tour with guide Illa. We went into this with the vague idea that Davy Crockett (King of the Wild Frontier) had something to do with the Alamo but absolutely no knowledge beyond that. After a 2 hour intensive history lesson, we can now speak much more articulately on what is a surprisingly complex topic. We learned about the religious mission focused origins of the famous scalloped topped Alamo building (it was originally built to be a church but never operated as one). We learned about the repeated armed conflicts between Texas residents and the Mexican army. We learned about Mexican President and military leader Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and both his incredible military prowess as well as his unbelievable bad luck. He acted as President of Mexico for three separate terms and fluctuated between being viewed as a national hero at times as well as a hated exile at others. His would be a fascinating autobiography to read. Finally, we learned about David Crocket’s exit from Tennessee after not being reelected to congress, his journey to Texas seeking a fresh start with new land and hopefully wealth and political influence in this new wild frontier, his volunteer position fighting with the Texas resistance defending the Alamo from being conquered by Santa Anna’s Mexican army. Crockett (like every other man fighting on the Texas side except one slave) died during the 1936 battle at the Alamo (though the exact cause of Crockett’s death - dying in battle versus being executed immediately after the battle - remains hotly contested). There were other much bigger players at the Alamo, particularly Travis, Bowie and Santa Anna but Crockett had the celebrity factor than none of the others had contributing to why he is so often remembered as linked to this event.

The boys were incredibly well behaved during our visit to the Alamo (which they found somewhat dry) so we rewarded them with ice cold water and strawberry lemonade at a cool cafe on the riverwalk during our trip back to the truck. It is really hot here - low 40s degrees Celsius and extremely humid. We have transitioned from dry desert hot to humid and sticky rainforest hot.

For dinner we BBQ’d hamburgers in a local park before heading up to Bracken about an hour away. We left the trailer downtown so we ducked in for a quick oil change with the truck to keep it running smoothly.

Our final stop of the day was to Bracken Cave Preserve for the nighttime show 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats exiting their cave in search of food. The bat flight started at precisely 7:35 pm and, as anticipated, they streamed out of their cave in a spiraling black vortex before heading off farmers’ fields to eat their fill of bugs. Apparently they especially love corn cob moths but will eat all insects. Witnessing the bat tornado felt like truly a once in a lifetime event. The exodus started all at once and with a minute there were thousands and thousands of bats in the air. It was pretty incredible.

We headed back to San Antonio after the first two waves of bat exits (apparently it can take 3-4 hours for them all to fly out) and slept in the downtown lot where we were parked. The San Antonio Tower of the Americas was lit up beautifully and we listened to high speed trains whiz by the trailer all night. After the first few, we kind of got used to it.