Today I drove 114.9 miles traveling from Johnson City, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.
I am spending the night at the SpringHill Suites in downtown San Antonio, Texas.
I have a standard suite with two queen beds.
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Cordial Greetings, It was another fantastic day in Texas. Weather was perfect again today. First on the agenda was the LBJ Ranch. It was only fifteen miles from where I spent the night last night in Johnson City.  One of the first places you come to on the ranch is the Johnson Family Cemetery. In the picture below you will notice the two larger stones in the Center. Of those two stones the one on the left is Lady Bird Johnson and the one on the right is President Johnson.  Directly across from the cemetery is the birth home of Lyndon Johnson. With all the warm weather we've had it surprised me that there wasn't leaves on the trees. But I think it's a very pretty picture like it is.  Below is a somewhat lacking picture of the interior of the modest home.  I had a great deal of fun wandering around the ranch. I pretty much had the place to myself. Very few people there besides me. I think I was the first one there after they opened at 9:00am. It is still a working cattle ranch. You can see a large number of cows under the trees in the picture below.  This little guy was holding up traffic. Traffic being just me.  The next point of interest was the airfield. I got to walk through Air Force One Half. I don't see how President Johnson fit in the thing. I was banging my head on the ceiling as short as I am.  Directly behind the airfield is the "Texas White House." Unfortunately it is being renovated and is temporarily closed. You'll have to settle for one of my high quality photographs of the exterior.  I spent a little over two hours on the ranch and enjoyed every minute. It is so peaceful. When the cows aren't mooing there is complete silence. I can see why President Johnson loved the place. I reluctantly left and drove 77.6 miles to San Antonio. I made a quick photo stop at Mission Concepcion before heading to my hotel.  My hotel is just 2.6 miles from the mission. I'm staying at the SpringHill Suites in downtown. After getting settled I set out on my scooter to explore the city. My first stop was the Alamo.  The Alamo Cenotaph Monument is a Granite monument bearing the names of those who died in the legendary Battle of the Alamo.  The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century. It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a pivotal event of the Texas Revolution. The picture below was taken behind the Alamo.  Below is the Marriott Riverwalk where I stayed on my visit back it 1985.  The River Walk winds and loops under bridges with two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops.  I continued along the Riverwalk over to Hemisfair Plaza. There are lots of beautiful fountains in front of the Tower of the Americas.  Next I ventured to the top of the 622 foot high tower not counting the antenna. The tower was built for the 1968 World's Fair and was the tallest observation tower in the United States until the Stratosphere Tower opened in Las Vegas in 1996.  It has an outdoor observation deck but you still have to shoot your pictures through scratched and dirty glass. A design flaw that should be corrected immediately. Below is a picture of the view from the top.  When I came down from the tower it was back to the Riverwalk. I explored several different forks.  Most major cities have some sort of river or canal walk in their cities. But none compare to the San Antonio Riverwalk.  I like the picture below of the Torch of Friendship and the surrounding buildings.  At this point I had been scootering around town for over four hours and was getting hungry. I decided to eat at a Texas favorite, Whataburger. There are over 670 Whataburgers in Texas. I took my food back to the hotel.  After I finished my dinner the sun had just set and I left again to check out Fiesta San Antonio which is the city's signature event since 1891. It lasts eleven days and tonight was the first night.  Below you can see the Chick-fil-A cows dancing to the lively live music.  I wandered around a bit through the large crowd, but no one had on a mask, including me, so I decided to call it a night. But at about 10:00 I heard fireworks going off. So I went down to the hotel parking lot and watched the fireworks around the Tower of the Americas. I don't have a still shot of the fireworks, I only took a video. But below shows where I was.  That concludes my report for today. Looks like I'm going to have a late night getting this email and the web site done. Tim |
Covers 102 miles from Johnson City, Texas to San Antonio, Texas. |
Click on the arrow above for tomorrow's adventures.
| TIM'S HOME PAGE SITE INDEX | |||
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