Day 16 April 24 The Battle of the Flowers Parade

After an evening of the Coronation of the Queen of the San Antonio Fiesta, our Waltz Across Texas group attended The Battle of the Flowers Parade.  In our premium bleacher seats, we had a great view of the more than 200 parade entries --- Fiesta royalty, high school and university bands, beautiful floats, giant balloons, and horses…lots of horses!  

Finally, the parade comes to our viewing area!

Many floats featured Fiesta royalty in the beautiful dresses
and trains worn at the Coronation ceremony. Gorgeous dresses! 

"Show me your boots!" shouts the crowd.  Wait, she's wearing Converse! 

NOW we see some mighty fancy boots…and some personality! 

At the Battle of the Flowers Parade, even the horses wear flowers! 

And where there are horses...

Linda and Arnold kept Tex entertained when there were gaps in the  parade. 

Wagonmaster Susan introduces Tex, and Adventure Caravans, to a parade volunteer. 

Don was a good sport…but after a while, he'd had enough sun, enough queen waves, and enough parade….

…so it was time for the nearby Buckhorn Saloon & Museum.
A  hamburger buffet and much-needed liquid refreshment were ready when we arrived.

Tex felt pretty small next to this bull. 

After our dinner, Linda, Arnold & Tex awaited our bus with a real cowboy.
Wait ---- he can't bring that cigar on the bus!!!  

     

It's siesta time for Tex and Guinness.  San Antonio has been great,
but it's time to rest up for tomorrow's adventure with the Waltz Across Texas caravan.

San Antonio Fiesta Coronation

The San Antonio Fiesta is a festival like no other!  This annual spring event began in the late 19th century to honor the memory of the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto.  Today the Fiesta is governed by a nonprofit commission and involves hundreds of events.  Our Waltz Across Texas caravan was there for all the major events:  the Texas Cavaliers River Parade, the Coronation, and the Battle of the Flowers Parade.  An earlier post gave photo highlights of the Texas Cavaliers River Parade.  This post will describes the Coronation of San Antonio Fiesta royalty. 

12 Duchesses from San Antonio and 12 visiting Duchesses make full-court bows at "The Court of Captivating Islands" followed by the presentation of the princess and the coronation of the queen.

The young duchesses wear elaborate dresses with trains spangled with glittering beads, crystals and jewels. 

As each young lady processed to the stage, we noticed that the trains were quite weighty. Young men wearing tuxedos escorted the duchesses to their places, and arranged the trains for best viewing. 

The Coronation of Her Gracious Majesty, the Queen.  The Order of the Alamo presiding. 

The Coronation event was held at the San Antonio Majestic Theatre, a most ornate atmospheric theatre, built in 1929.  Tailgunners Rick & Sharon Gilbert recognized the John Eberson design of the theatre immediately, as their hometown theatre, the Marion Palace Theatre, is also a John Eberson theatre with a Spanish design and twinkling stars in the "sky".  The Coronation was quite the elegant event, and the Majestic Theatre was a fitting venue. 

Inquiring minds will want to know:  Did Tex attend the coronation?  You bet, he did!  

Day 14, 15, & 16 San Antonio Highlights continued

After getting soaked in an afternoon downpour, hearing the story of the Alamo and walking through the famous mission structure, it was time for some fun and refreshment.  Who knew that San Antonio's German population celebrates Fiesta in authentic German ways?  

German music, German food, and beer! 

These three Adventure Caravan amigos found new hats, and a German lady friend!

 

Day 14, 15, & 16 San Antonio Highlights

Tex found a great pair of SAS boat shoes, but no one to buy them! 

Our days in San Antonio were filled to the brim with activity, leaving us little time to blog!  So to catch up, here are the highlights of our San Antonio Fiesta week adventures.  

SAS = San Antonio Shoemakers, so after our tour, we became SAS shoe buyers! Grand total:  34 pairs!   

John looks pretty concerned about the possibility of BULL in the SAS store!

Then, we were off to the Tower of Americas for an IMAX movie, The Price of Freedom, followed by a wonderful lunch at the very top!

Dennis & Beverly enjoyed the stellar view of San Antonio! 

Ron & Phyllis and Guy & Norma got acquainted over San Antonio.

The story of the Alamo is larger than the relatively small mission building at the center of Texas history. And because we had all gotten caught in a quick Texas downpour, none of our group posed for photos!

Day 13 April 21 --- Free Day in San Antonio

A staff prepared breakfast of biscuits and gravy, fruit and pastries gave us a good start on the day's activities.  It seems that the coffee was a little hard for some to locate!

Stu and Hollis, coffee is not usually served from a keg!

Some in our group tackled laundry, others shopped or went to a museum.  And then, there was the gang that enjoyed watching others work hard! How many "supervisors" are needed for rig washing?  

Rig # 11 is getting "the works".

Today's contributors:  Rick and Sharon Gilbert, tailgunners

Day 12 April 20 -- Exploring San Antonio

Tex, our bullish mascot, says……   


Monday was a very busy day for me!  We started our day with a boat ride on the San Antonio Riverwalk, the heart of San Antonio.  Everywhere, there were preparations being made for the big parade.

Our guide entertained us as we traveled through the Riverwalk.

Then, our bus took us to El Mecado, where we shopped and enjoy a wonderful Tex-Mex lunch. 

Len and Carole explore the marketplace.

Tex was really happy to be invited to lunch with Hollis & Sharon 

After lunch, it was time for a little Texas history.  We visited two missions that have become US National Parks:  the San Jose Mission and the MIssion Concepcion.

Sharon admires Tex's sombrero. 

The history lesson and lots of walking were a bit much for Tex and friends, so it was back to the RV park for a little siesta time. And then, it was time for the day's biggest event:  the Texas Cavaliers River Parade!  

Our front row seats gave us a great view of the floats!

Evening came, and the lights made the parade even more beautiful. 

For me, and for Jerusha (the monkey on my back), the day had been pretty exciting and we were pretty tired after the long parade. We were ready to head back to the barn to sleep and to dream about tomorrow's adventures tonight -- I'm always ready for a good time!  

Today's contributors:

Sharon & Hollis Harvey 

Day 11 April 19 Travel Day

Happy birthday Beverly! 

Our travel from Corpus Christi was totally uneventful, with all rigs arriving in our San Antonio RV park by mid afternoon.  A 5 o'clock Social Hour brought the group together for snacks, birthday celebrations for Carole and Beverly, and road trip stories.  The afternoon sun was especially bright, and Linda enjoyed sitting under the protection of the Buckeye tent…quite a sacrifice for a Wildcat!  Guy demonstrated his active imagination, entertaining us with quite a story about our mascot, Tex.  

Carole shares a birthday smile

Guy works himself up to share some Bull Talk

Day 10 -- April 18 Bull Talk

Saturday, April 18th was our day to have Tex, the mascot for our Waltz Across Texas trip with Adventure Caravans.  

We visited the WWII aircraft carrier, Lexington, in Corpus Christi.  Tex was a naughty animal.  He crawled on some of the airplanes and on a jeep hood when the sign clearly said not to do this. He poked little children with his horns, and he even made one little child cry.  

Guy and Tex learning about the airplanes on the Lexington 

That evening, Norma and I were both reading.  I thought I heard someone saying "Hey, you!!" I looked at Norma but she was deep into her book. I looked outside, thinking that someone there was speaking to me. I went back to reading my book.  A short while later, 
I heard "Hey, stupid!"  Again, I wondered if Norma was talking to me, and then I realized it was Tex.  

He told me I was a Real cowboy because I could hear Bull Talk.  The others on our tour who hosted him were not Real Cowboys, because they could not hear Bull Talk. 

Tex said, "You were at the King Ranch the other day and I saw you looking at that picture of the bull.  Do you know the name of that bull?"  

"No," I said, "I do not remember."  
"Well, I was that bull, and I am going to be one of the bulls in the rodeo that you'll see in a few weeks."
"So what do you want me to do?" I asked.  
Tex answered, "I need someone to practice riding…someone I can toss off.  We need to practice that, you know.  How 'bout that Viola gal?"  
"No," I said, "she rides a scooter."

"The way I see her riding that scooter reminds me more about bull riding than scooter riding," said Tex.  

Then I remembered Jerusha.  She has traveled with us from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from North to South.  And in her younger days, she was a champion bull rider. I explained the situation to her, and Jerusha agreed, with great enthusiasm, to ride Tex.  "I will kill him," she screamed, pumping her monkey bones in the air.  

I set things up and helped Jerusha wrap her hand tightly with the rope, and then opened the gate.  Tex came out jumping, twisting, bucking, kicking his hind feet up in the air…but Jerusha hung on. I rang the buzzer, but Jerusha would not get off, and Tex refused to give up. He twisted, turned, spun, jumped, kicked and braked. Jerusha hung on like she was fastened to Tex with SuperGlue.  

Eventually, Tex began to wind down, like his spring had run out. He landed on his four feet with his tongue hanging out. 

He turned to Jerusha and said, "Hang on there, Jeri!  As soon as I get my breath, we are going to go at this again, and THIS time, you are going to go flying!  Do you know WHY?" 

"Why?," asked Jerusha.  
Tex answered, "Because in this world, a Little Bull goes a long way!"  

Guy tells the story of Tex and Jerusha with the enthusiasm of great Bull Talk 

Today's storyteller:  Guy Grube, and Norma, his biggest fan 

Day 9 -- April 17 -- Corpus Christi, Padre Island and the ranch

Tex is happy to be on a Corpus Christi adventure with John, the one who actually suggested his name.  

John and Tex, ready for a bus tour of the Corpus Christi area.

Ready for some fun on the beautiful beaches of Padre Island.

Tex and John enjoy the ferry ride back to the mainland. 

Off to the King Ranch!  Can anyone guess what is in the brown bag?

Tex found a girlfriend named BettySue at the ranch.

Why do these little egrets keep following the  cattle?

Our first look at the Texas Bluebonnet.

The BBQ and ranch life was great, however, the 2 million rattlesnakes kept us out of the long grass.  

A great day was had by all!  Thank you, tour guide Ann! 

Today's contributors:  the Geraghty's