Remember the Alamo – and so much more

New Braunfels – San Antonio, TX

Sometimes it’s a great thing when the bike store is closed. So it was today.

Upon approaching San Antonio we decided that we would head immediately to the bike shop – with the intention of changing out the chains and maybe the tires on Old Dan and Little Anne before we headed toward the border and Mexico. 

We had even checked to make sure this particular bike shop would be open – because it was a Sunday and we had noticed that some of them were closed. But when we arrived there was a hand-scrawn note on the door: “Sorry for the inconvenience . . .”

The great thing was that we had biked up at exactly the same time as two other people – a man and a young woman. The young woman was bubbling with enthusiasm and immediately told me she loved my shirt. I only have four along on the trip – so it is about time you start identifying them . . . This one says something about not petting the fluffy animals – with a picture of a buffalo head-butting a tourist – and then it says something about Yellowstone Park. My friend Corey gave it to me.

(One of the top ten favorite days of my life was when Corey and I skied into Yellowstone Park to Old Faithful and back. It was an arduous journey – 100 kilometers round-trip on an ungroomed road. Took us like ten hours . . . 

But boy was it worth it. We had the park all to ourselves . . . Well, we had to share it with the buffalo and elk that we saw – but besides the wildlife it was just us. 

At one point we are skiing along and there are all these mists from the geysers because it’s like 10 degrees out. Out of the mist in front of us a buffalo appeared. We spent a few minutes talking about our next move – how were we going to get around this large – 2,000 pounds? – bovine with horns? He’s just standing there, staring at us, and with the cold weather there is what looks like smoke coming out of his nostrils . . . Not good.

After a little discussion we realized that the buffalo in front of us was the least of our problems. We were surrounded – we just hadn’t noticed the others. Corey’s solution? Just keep going right past the buffalo – and if they attack hit them with our ski poles. Good idea Corey! 

As it turned out, the buffalo paid no attention to us – and on the way back, after we saw Old Faithful do its thing – we happened upon a herd that was ambling along the road. We had to ski through the herd to get back. It was an amazing day . . . Thus, the tee shirt . . .) 

Sorry. Off topic. 

With this tee-shirt as our ice-breaker, we started talking to Lily and Gil, and within a few minutes Gil volunteered to guide us to another shop across town. Awesome! 

Even better, on the way there we stopped in the Pearl neighborhood and walked around a pretty amazing farmer’s market. Lilly had just finished a solo bike tour of her own and was loving the idea of our trip. Lilly is a professional skateboarder/snowboarder – who teaches those sports in Aspen – but she is originally from San Antonio and is here briefly in between her teaching gigs. Love the energy of young people like Lilly!

Gil had worked at a bike shop himself and is a great biking enthusiast who wants to start his own shop. He has a great personality for it and I’m sure he will be a big success if he goes forward with his plans. 

Gil brings us to the Hub. Within a minute of walking in the door we meet Marty. Marty grew up in the Twin Cities, was an early biking enthusiast, rode BMX, biked with the likes of Geno Oberpiller and our good friend Drew Holbrook, and went on to ride professionally – sponsored by Mongoose (I think). He ended up down here after he was diagnosed with cancer and came to UT for treatment – and he never left.

So fun to talk to Marty. Great to connect with a fellow Minnesotan.

It turned out the Hub didn’t have the parts we needed – but we had a great time stopping in and chatting with our people!

Later, we’ve cleaned up and we’re heading to see the Alamo in downtown. We decide to grab a donut – because I’m pretty much always hungry these days; I have to keep up with Diana you know . . . 

We sit down, but before we can take a bite, a guy we’ve never seen before says:

”You’re the people on the bike trip.”

”What? Will yes. But how did you know that?”

Turns out this new friend – Greg – knows Gil well and saw Gil’s post on Instagram – featuring Diana and I. So when he saw us eating donuts he recognized us – and now we’re friends. 

Greg is yet another biking enthusiast, an amazing photograper, and another all-around great person. We are now friends with and connected to four different people from San Antonio. 

Even before seeing any sites we love this city!

But, remember, the Alamo! (Seems that is a required line a post about visiting San Antonio).

Yes, we visited the old mission, turned fort, turned battleground, turned tourist attraction. The City is doing a lot of construction to make the scene even better – but it was really good to see it just the way it is. Augments all the history we learned in Austin. More on that another time . . .

Fortunately, our good luck with closed amenities continued this evening . . .

We managed to tour the Alamo during the worst of the heat of the day. Diana does not love the heat and started feeling a little woozy. The effects of the donut had long since worn off for me as well – so I was starving by then too – and we agreed we needed to find a place for dinner. 

“We have a thousand miles of Mexican in front of us – so maybe we don’t need tacos,” I suggested. 

After several weeks in the South, we’ve had plenty of barbecue lately as well. We figured we should take this opportunity to grab some other ethnic food. 

There was a Thai restaurant across town that google said was open and had high ratings. Another chance to see San Antonio. So we head out – and it’s a bit of a journey to get there. As we approach the red dot on Maps things start looking a little concerning. A burned out house on the corner. Industrial wasteland type area. 

Where are we going? 

Then we see that it’s a food hall – and there are some people sitting out on a few picnic tables. Okay, we’re good. 

We head in – super happy to finally have some food and drink . . .

Umm, what is this? 

There is no food hall on the other side of the door. Instead, we see a series of locker type things – like we’re at an amazon pickup/drop-off thing inside a Whole Foods. There is another guy there and he explains that you can order anything from the various food places at this “hall” and they stick it in the locker and you pick it up here. That’s the food hall he says cheerily. 

What?

You remember the other day when Diana said “we aren’t going back”?

Diana wants air conditioning – and I do too. So we are definitely going back . . .

We agree to try a place that we passed on the way to the “Thai” place. But when we go in there we are confronted with things like fried chicken fingers with fries. I mean, we’ll eat food like that – when we’re trapped in a small town where this is the only place . . .. But what is the point of a big city if you have to eat at places like this? 

Strike two.

Finally we head back downtown and go to a Mexican place. Blog Subscriber Constance V told me to try fajitas down here – and I finally did. Best fajita I ever had. 

Afterwards we took a stroll on River Walk – another big San Antonio attraction. 

Super well done. 

And we happen to walk out exactly at sunset – which meant that we were treated to this amazing symphony of birds. Have I mentioned how happy I am with the birds on this trip? Love songbirds – and we have had them the whole time. 

We’re taking a picture later when we meet yet more friends. These two are from Armadillo, Texas and were just married this morning. She’s in the military – there are two big bases here I guess – and is going to get her assignment soon. I think they wanted to marry before this all comes down . . . They seemed so happy. Hopefully we’ll connect through the blog as well. 

San Antonio – I was going to give you an A+, but the first bike shop and the Thai restaurant were both kind of fails. So you get an A. 

Great town. 

Well, that’s it for big cities before Mexico. Will be a few days – but there isn’t much between us and the border now . . .New Braunfels – San Antonio, TX