Tuesday, April 10, 2007

My camera batteries went dead when I was downloading some of the photos so the ones posted I will tell you about and do the rest in the morning. Now is the time to go for that bathroom break or make that cup of coffee.......First I have some instructions, yes !!!it is my blog I can instruct you!!!!!! It is obvious that I am going to see some wonderful sights, monuments and historical places of interest, so rather than me tell you all about them and the history, if you are interested please just google and read on the internet all about them. River Walk San Antonio will tell you all about the pictures of the canals, but wait I get ahead of myself....Yesterday I left the CARE centre and drove to Houston and went and saw the Battleship Texas(google that) and the San Jacinto Monument, I didn't realize how important to US history was this battle, the monument is a little higher than the Wa,shington Monument and was a sight to behold. I have never seen so many guns as on the Battleship. I then drove to the tennis facilty which was on the other side of Houston, I decided to get there early and did, about 4 hours early and got a great parking place next to the stadium. I have been to similar places before and know that if you dress smartly and look as if you own the place funny things can happen, which is what I did. The facilty is beautiful and I was surprised how few people were there but I managed to walk right into the club house and looked around and went into the mens locker room and saw all these young modern tennis players getting changed. I recognized a few faces and I then went over to the practice courts and saw them knocking balls about. It was interesting to me to see the players, the coaches, the press, the beautiful girls and groupies and imagine what kind of life a tennis professional has but then I saw the other side when a couple of them got defeated and that the tournament is finished for them. It was a good insight into how the professional athelete competes both on and off the court. As I was there so early it was a bonus as I just walked to my alloted seat for the night games and saw two afternoon games as well. It was my first time at a Tennis Championship and I really enjoyed the experience (thank you to my ex co workers at the Granary because the retirement gift of cash they gave me I saved and used for this event). I then felt good so decided to do some late night driving and drove to San Antonio, where I parked overnight in a truckers area and slept like a baby in the van. This morning I awoke to a very foggy morning and drove down town San Antonio, this town is noted for it's River Walk and even tho it was cool and cloudy I really enjoyed the walk and the river and shops and sights are beautiful. I then headed north for the Enchanted Rock State Park ( on google all the information is given about this park, quite interesting). The very nice young lady in the wardens office told me of her favourite hike around the rock and then up to the summit. It seems like everything else does on this journey, all is in my favor, it seemed as soon as I parked the fog cleared and the sun errupted and the sky was blue and it was like almost 80 degrees. The hike around was 4 miles and the hike up was intense. My pictures of the rock will get posted tomorrow, there are two that show how high the rock is, one is taken from the summit looking down at the road and in the top left hand corner very tiny is my van, the other is taken from my van with the bike showing, and looking at the top of the rock. It is hard getting photos of myself when travelling alone but in one of the photos you will see tomorrow it is taken at the top of the rock, up there I met this family and would you believe they were on holiday from England and live in Manchester about 45 miles from where I grew up( I know some of you who know me saying "you never grew up") Again more pictures tomorrow will show how pretty the road sides are with the Texas State flower, the blue bonnet everywhere. Of course the Texas long horn cow is a very famous animal. I then did a big drive this afternoon and evening and I am now in Lubbock and tomorrow a short drive to the first of my cannons, can't wait!!! Sorry this is a bit disjointed and hope it wasn't too long....thanks Les

No comments:

Thursday 5 th January 2023…it was a great run!!!

 This was my first ever blog post back in November of 2006!!! With just a couple of days off I have written a blog every day since and I hav...