Day 7 – August 28, 2004

{Photos} Relaxation Day {Home}

Today we did not have to get up early because our kids were going to meet us at the motel. They arrived around 9 am and we spent time just talking. Even as close as we are, it is still always special when you can get your grown children to spend time just sitting around talking and we treat those times as special times. A few hours later, Cory and Angie wanted decided to go for a swim and Kelly, Karen and I took a ride downtown to check out the Alamo and the River walk. I somehow always pictured the Alamo as being more of a tourist attraction separated from everything else so I was surprised to find it right in the middle of town on a main street. We parked the bikes in a multilevel parking garage and took a stroll down along the river. Diamond and I enjoyed an ice cream cone made in front of us by mixing some sweet cream and chocolate chips. Kelly also got ice cream and we watched the boats ferrying people around the area while Karen got a Starbucks coffee. I am not sure where the boats went, but the people seemed to be having a good time. There were so many restaurants and sidewalk cafés that you just had to try something. I think there were as many tourists watching us with Diamond riding the bike as there were looking at the sights downtown. We even had one couple ask us if we would let them take a picture of us. Then we headed over to Joe’s Crab Shack for a Saturday night meal that we hoped Cory would remember. We said good night and headed back to the motel. On the way, we stopped for gas and I should have known better. Several different times on this trip, either just before, just after, or as happened twice on this trip so far, it started raining when we stop to gas up. If we had gone straight back, we would have been dry. Still it felt good to cool off after such a hot day. I think when the leaders of our armed forces decided where they should train new recruits they must look at the map, pick the hottest, wettest, coldest, and driest places in the country and said, “Now how can we make this place miserable for trainees?” He has to go back to the ranks tomorrow and will spend a month or so in Kansas before coming back down here for another three of four months of technical schooling. After that no one knows where he will be going, so this time may be very important. We will get a little time with him on the base tomorrow, but then it will be back on the road for us and back to the AF for him. For now I am going to try to get good nights sleep and look forward to being back on the road again. If you are out there the next few days, then I’ll see you on the byways…