Because Lex was off, we both spent a lazy Monday just poking around the house. Later in the afternoon, I did go into town to run a few errands and pick up some groceries. Came home, put together some dinner, and ended up going to bed early. So, not much else to report about Day 41 except that I did talk to a mobile RV repairman, and he’s trying to find a replacement belly pan for us before we leave SA this weekend.
Tuesday was a bit more interesting.
I had just turned out of the RV park and onto Donop Road this morning when I saw a pair of young blue heeler dogs running loose. The smaller of the two had a collar, but neither had tags. I have nowhere to keep stray dogs while trying to find them a home, so I just stopped the truck, got out and approached the dogs, then fed them that can of food I bought for the other stray I saw last week. They were so sweet and so hungry. I just wanted to scoop them up and bring them home. As I pulled away, they trotted behind the truck for a moment before realizing I wasn’t going to bring them with me. Heartbreaking!
San Antonio is to stray animals what Calcutta is to poor, starving human beings. Someone who wants to help barely knows where to begin. You can save one, and there are still a thousand others wandering the roads. It’s a battle I fought while I lived here, and it’s one that pains me still. I can hardly bring myself to leave a stray behind, but particularly given that we are traveling, there was little else I could do.
I proceeded from there to Palo Alto College where I worked in the writing center for 7 years before moving to Baltimore in 2005. I know it’s the latter half of summer, but I was hoping to bump into one or two people I knew from my days there. I did see the English department secretary, Sabina. She was SO wonderful and was completely surprised to see me. We couldn’t chat long because, true to form, she had a lot to do. From there, I went in search of the head of grounds, Roger. He was a good friend of mine during my time there and is a Vietnam vet, a poet, singer, guitarist, and visual artist. Plus he’s got mad gardening skills! I caught him out and about on the campus while he was driving a Bobcat. Fortunately, I snagged him right at lunchtime, so I talked him into letting me take him to get something to eat.
Over a lunch of Mexican food, I got caught up on what’s happening around the college. There’s lots of construction happening, so that means Roger and his crew have to work that much harder to keep the grounds looking good even while it’s getting torn to shreds. Rather like the Dundalk campus is the crown jewel of CCBC when it comes to the beauty of its grounds, so is Palo Alto the prettiest of all the Alamo Colleges, thanks to Roger and the horticulture program there. I was thrilled to see him; he was one of the people I really wanted to visit while I was in town.
After dropping off Roger, I went on a shoe-buying frenzy. I haven’t really bought shoes for myself in more than five years, and the last time I bought them, I invested in a few pairs of SAS shoes. They aren’t sexy, but they are SO comfortable and durable! SAS shoes are made right here in San Antonio on the Southside, where they have a factory outlet they have modeled after an old general store. It’s really quaint and full of antiques.
The service at their store is amazing! I took in a five-year-old pair of shoes and asked them to please do a repair, and they did! They took the shoe back to the factory, found a seamstress who stitched up the tear, and brought it back to me. Ten minutes, no charge. I bought some new insoles and polish for those shoes, and now they are just like new. When I got home, I also polished up my old SAS sandals, and I don’t plan to get rid of them anytime soon, either. They are just about all I wear all summer long. It’s a sad day when the weather gets too cold for me to wear them, and I have to return to closed-toed shoes for six months. They look so forlorn on their shelf in the closet during winter.
SAS shoes aren’t cheap (at least by this former Payless patron’s standards), but they are amazingly well constructed and last forever. There was a woman in the store demonstrating how the topstitching on their shoes is all done by hand. She was actually piecing together shoes that will later end up being sold right there in the shop. Amazing!
After having my old shoes fixed, I got fitted and bought replacements for a couple of other pairs of SAS that I bought years ago. Rather than let a salesperson measure my feet, I just walked in the store, grabbed the shoes off the shelf, and bought them. Bad idea. I ended up getting shoes that were about half a size too small for me. I could get them on, but they were never really comfortable. I wore the heck out of those shoes anyway, but they still have a lot of life in them. I polished them up and am going to donate them to Goodwill. Someone will buy them and wear them for another decade.
Shoe Fest 2010 didn’t end at SAS. There’s a Skechers Factory Outlet not far from SAS, and I needed a new pair of hiking boots. After last winter, my old Skecher boots were starting to fall apart. I wanted something waterproof and with lots of tread. If we get more weather like we got this last winter, I’ll need them. I found a pair of boots, and since they had a buy one, get one for half price sale going on, I picked up a new pair of tennis shoes. All I will say about the new tennis shoes is that they are shiny! I couldn’t help myself; my inner crow manifested and snagged the sparkliest ones she could find. Both my tennis and boots were five years old, and the soles were starting to crack and degrade. They needed replacing. Now that I have a whole closet full of new shoes, school can begin. That and a Trapper Keeper, and I’ll be good to go!
I got home, showed off my purchases to Lex (who shook her head at my very sensible, unsexy shoes), and then got back into the truck and headed towards Floresville to visit Wes, a friend and former coworker. We were both teachers together years ago at Floresville High School. After I moved on, we stayed in touch. I haven’t seen him in some time, so it was great to visit for a while. Tina, his wife, and Josh, his son, were busy packing for camp, while Jessica, the daughter, showed off her kittens and her music boxes. Wes was just thrilled to finally have a new La-Z-Boy. They shared their dinner of pizza with me, we chatted, and I got to visit the non-human brood that lives in Wes’ home.
For years, Wes and Tina have raised, trained, showed, and rescued Mastiffs. They are tremendously huge dogs that can grow to well over 200 pounds, but they are also big, loveable slobber monkeys who like nothing more than a good scratch. I can always count on a sloppy, happy mastiff smooch when I visit Wes’ place, and I also get to bid hello to an assortment of parrots, snakes, mice, fish, cats, and guinea pigs. Animal people are the best kind of people, in my opinion. At the end of the evening, I said my goodbyes and invited Wes and Jessica to come swimming at some point this week while Tina and Josh are off camping.
I’m back home for the night. Not sure yet what tomorrow holds. I will probably have to go to the post office and possibly get the oil changed in the truck. We’ll see!
Tags: Floresville, friends, San Antonio, shopping, Texas, Travel
