Monday January 28, 2008

Just wanted to finish our time in San Antonio with a night time shot of the Alamo.

We got up this morning to a misty drizzle. We looked out the window of the motel and there was a steady stream of cars heading into the base. Fortunately, when it was time to go to Cookie and Ron's house, we turned in the opposite direction of the gate. We chatted for a bit and then went for breakfast at a little home cookin' restaurant. The walls were covered with pictures and posters of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and other movie stars. Dave, Ron, and I had pancakes, while Cookie, Trey, and Lettie had Mexican fare. We stopped back at the house and Ron showed us his music room. He was in a number of bands (mostly played lead guitar) - he showed us an album with photos of the different bands - cowboy outfits and all. He then showed us a contraption he built to provide a backup beat for his guitar. It attached to a keyboard and was quite ingenious - we told him he should apply for a patent. He then showed us a jukebox that he bought when a Mexican bar/restaurant closed. He put some of his own collection of 45's in the jukebox and she played a few songs for us - really cool! Finally, it was time to get on the road. We have had a great time visiting with them, it was hard to leave. We hope that soon they will come to Connecticut so we can show them our neck of the woods. Trey and Lettie may have a conference in Boston in late Fall, so we are hoping they have time to come to Mystic - we know they would love to meet our kids and get to know his Yankee cousins! We got on Route 90 and stopped for a break in Alamo Village. This was a Hollywood set town that was built on a ranch complete with the Alamo a frontier town and a deserted Mexican village. The original movie with John Wayne was filmed here as well as many other Westerns - Gunsmoke, Texas, Arrowhead - over 100 movies, documentaries, music videos, and commercials. We especially enjoyed chatting with a couple of local cowpokes in the cantina. Apparently, during the height of the tourist season, they have do gun battles on the main street of town. We decided to stay over in Del Rio (we stayed here before we went to San Antonio) and then slowly make our way to Big Bend. We can't get into the park until Friday (we have reservations) so we will just poke along and stop when the spirit moves. We may go back to Cripple Creek tonight for dinner - it was so good the last time we were here and we are getting hungry as we skipped lunch due to our huge breakfast (thanks Ron and Cookie).