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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

HANGING IN SAN ANTONIO


We're still at Canyon Lake near San Antonio. We were driving to the grocery store in Spring Branch, Texas. Driving down the road we saw these creatures. Not what you'd expect to find in Texas!!! Gnus, Scimitar Oryx and Zebras!! Pretty wild - in any sense of the word....













Thursday, November 19, 2009

STILL HERE!


We're still at Randolph Recreation Park. Only 2 other RVs are here. It fills up on weekends, but is still a very quiet place. Some wild storms. John calls them "Blue Northers" and says they are common in the hill country. The RV rocks from the wind; the rain comes down in torrents. There's thunder and lightening! Then it's over. And everything is quiet again. Canyon Lake is way down and, after the rain, the dirt road is dry as if the rain never happened. This place needs more rain, but I can do without the wind! Daytime - getting some Christmas shopping done and working on our genealogies.... Another photo of our neighbors! He makes me think of Bambi when he became Prince of the Forest. Remember? Lighting's tough because it is dusk and the natural light is funny... I'm aiming into the dark trees and it is bright all around us. A young doe "challenged" us yesterday when we were starting down the road in front of the RV. She just stood there and looked at us as if to say, "How dare you!"




Sunday, November 8, 2009

AIR SHOW @ RANDOLPH AFB

Well, we picked the wrong day!!! The air show was Saturday & Sunday. We decided to go Sunday and to go to the Officers' Club for Sunday brunch. Great idea, but the weather did not cooperate! Saturday was balmy with morning fog, but sunny in the afternoon. Sunday, very foggy, overcast, very low ceiling and rain, at times heavy.

Brunch was great! Lots of good food! The static displays at flight line, awesome. The air show, so-so. First off, because of the low ceiling, the most exciting parts of the show were cancelled. Then, the announcers never shut up!! And there was an annoying, unsyncopated music track always running loudly in the background!! There was a show of remote controlled planes that teased at what the real planes could do! Actually some of those little ones are pretty darn big. The C5A is humongous and is built to carry 2 tanks or our 42-ft RV plus our towed Prius. They can also carry a couple hundred troops at a time plus the tanks. The C130 John remembers from Viet Nam as "Puff the Magic Dragon" It has a 105 mm howitzer and a gatling gun on its side. When the gatling gun is fired at night, it displays a stream of fire - like from a dragon's mouth. It is still providing gun support in Iraq and Afghanistan.



We finally gave up as the rain drops got bigger and got on the highway as it started to pour - which it did for a few hours once we were home...

Thursday, November 5, 2009

NOVEMBER in TEXAS


We are spending November (yes, one whole month!) at Canyon Lake, Texas. It is the Randolph Air Force Base Recreation Area and overlooks a large and very pretty lake formed by Canyon Dam. It is heavily wooded, very rural (translation: no trains and no superhighways) and very pleasant. Our neighbors are all deer. And I mean "deer" not "dear". They are nibbling the shrub and grass around the house pretty much all day. It is quiet! The city of Canyon Lake - not much happening; next town, New Braunfels - larger, but still pretty quiet. Then, the big city of San Antonio - which is about 40 minutes away.

New Braunfels, whose early settlers were German and Czech, had a Wurstfest last week that we attended. Lots of different sausages, lots of frothy beer, ompabah bands, polkas and nachos. Hey, it is Texas! It was fun and loud!

One problem with this locale - internet service. We're in the boonies and reception is iffy. John is still refining his jury-rigged antenna system. He's tried out various antenna and amplifiers plus an adjustable pvc pole attached to the RV ladder. In other words, he's enjoying himself! He loves gadgets and tinkering!!

The lake is really lovely and has a good sized marina. On the weekends the view is beautiful - clear, blue sky splashed with white sails! You can see from the photo how far down the lake is and how badly this part of Texas needs rain.