Missed opportunity

Thursday, 29 Nov

After we had checked in to the military FamCamp on the north side of Canyon Lake yesterday afternoon, gotten settled, and had dinner, I started working details for today and tomorrow.  It was then that I checked the Harvest Hosts web site for options.  Harvest Hosts is one of many RV clubs - what makes this one unique is that it gives you access to over 600 wineries, farms and museums that allow you to dry camp at their location for free.  It does come with an expectation that you will purchase products in the amount you would have normally spent in campsite fees.

About a week ago, we learned that Harvest Hosts had purchased the RV Golf Club, which like Harvest Hosts allows you to dry camp in golf course parking lots at over 300 golf courses.  As it just got added, the process to find participating golf courses is a bit kludgy - something that will improve with the next app update.

In doing my trip planning last night, we learned that the golf course where we had a morning tee time for today was a participating golf course.  Oh well - you know we’ll do a better job in planning going forward.

We woke up to 55 degrees, and high temperatures expected in the low 70s  - temperatures more like what we hoped for by making this a traveling winter.  It was a short drive to Lakeside Golf Course on the other side of Canyon Lake.  We arrived just before opening time, which surprised the pro.  He got us a cart and range balls, and said we could settled up after hitting on the range.  We were the first ones off, and enjoyed playing at our pace.  The course was just in okay shape - we learned later that they had really bad weather in September and October - the golf pro said it was the worse he had seen.  The fairway grass was pretty thin, making for balls that went a long way. Kris had 4 drives over 180 yards, and Darrell even had one around 230 yards.  After nine holes, Kris was leading by two strokes.  Darrell opened the back nine with a birdie, and by the 12th hole, we were tied.  We went back and forth until the last hole when Darrell made several bad shots in a row, and Kris made par.

We finished golf before noon, leaving us with more of the day than we planned.  Next stop was the Natural Bridge Caverns.  It is co-located with a wildlife park, and zip line.  The first clue we had that this was different from other caves was the entrance being 4 lanes wide - sort of like entering Disney World.  Ample parking, and as it was not busy, Sprinty got to park near the Visitor Center.  

The next  clue that it was was different was that the facilities were in amazingly good condition - modernized (and clean) restrooms, the building was in good repair.  Not your typical tourist place that has been hanging on to its past hoping to avoid doing typical maintenance and upgrades.

Upon arriving, we learned the next cave tour was in five minutes - just enough time for a quick restroom stop.  We learned the cave was discovered in March 1960 and opened for tours in 1964.  Unlike other caves we have tours, the temperature underground was 70 degrees, and towards the end of the tour, it seemed even warmer than that.  The Discovery tour (they have several different ones) goes 180 feet below the surface.  The deepest part of the cave we went through is called Purgatory Creek, 211 feet below the surface (we got to look down at the bottom).  Overall, the tour was about 3/4 mile in length.

As we reflected back on the various cave tours we have done, this one was the wettest (we learned that the September and October rains made several features more interesting than normal), and that every cave tour we have done has been different.

By catching a tour just as we arrived, we were done by 1:15pm, a lot earlier than expected.  So we made our way to a nearby Starbucks (an advantage being near a large city) for Kris to pay up.  We then made our way to Travelers RV Park located in south San Antonio.  When doing my planning, it was not an RV park I would usually consider as it was in the city.  Then last night, we were watching YouTube videos on Big Bend National Park as part of planning our visit there, and found that one of the Big Bend video creators had also done a video on San Antonio.  We learned they they stayed at Travelers RV Park, and used the city bus to the sights downtown.  For $2.75.  And since RV parking downtown was going to be more of a challenge than we wanted to mess with, this made a lot of sense.  And reviews on AllStays gave it 5 stars.

We got checked in to the RV Park just before 3pm, and had about 10 minutes until the next bus going downtown.  We rode the bus downtown, which dropped us off right at The Alamo Plaza.  

We visited the Alamo first (www.thealamo.org).  We already had gotten a lot of the Alamo story and it’s significance in Texas independence with the other museums we have visited since arriving in Texas.  We toured the old mission and viewed the video on the history of The Alamo, from its original construction as a mission, to being a fort, the the battle in 1836, and its uses afterwards.

We then made our way to the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum and the Texas Ranger Museum (www.buckhornmuseum.com).   The Buckhorn Museum features wildlife from all over the world; including fish from the seven seas, animals from every continent and strange animal oddities which have been collected for over 100 years!  The exhibit halls are comprised of over 520 species of wildlife—many of which are record holders.  There was also a section devoted to sideshows, and had various freak animals on display.

The real interest for us at the Buckhorn was the Texas Ranger Museum.  The exhibits chronicled the establishment of the Texas Rangers, notable Rangers, and lots of Ranger-related artifacts.  And it did not feature Cordell Walker.  

Next up was to walk along the River Walk.  After wandering for awhile, we decided to have dinner at a TexMex Restaurant located right on the River Walk.

After dinner, we caught the bus back to the RV Park.  We also took advantage of the amenities by doing some laundry and enjoying great showers.