Today was my day to geocache here in San Antonio. Before I did that, however, I needed to get the oil in the truck changed. We’ve come over 2,000 miles on our trip, so before we start heading back, we needed to take care of our tow vehicle. I had the shop put Rotella T in the truck; it’s the oil recommended for diesels. It’s a heavier weight oil so can handle the wear and tear of towing and hauling. I learned about it on one of my favorite RV blogs, Long, Long Honeymoon.
My geocaching goal for the day was to find as many of the 72 caches along San Antonio’s Mission Trail as I could before my ankle and the rest of me wore out. Well, I didn’t do a very good job, finding only one lousy cache of the six that I searched for before getting so hot, sweaty, and tired that I gave up. I’m not as patient or persistent as I used to be when it comes to geocaching. Of course, I’m not in the shape I once was, either. I really need to get up off my duff and get more exercise. When a simple park-and-grab leaves me drenched in perspiration, that’s bad.
While I appreciate the mammoth task that it must have been for that single cacher to place that entire series and then to keep it maintained, I hate, hate, HATE it when cachers place micro and nano caches when there is plenty of opportunity to place a larger cache. I understand micros and nanos in an urban or other high-traffic setting, where risk of muggles is significant, but in parks and along trails with lots of undergrowth, bridges,and fallen trees, it’s ridiculous! I don’t get the same satisfaction from finding some tiny bison tube or key holder with a little roll of paper inside that I do from finding a Tupperware container full of cool swag and a larger log with lengthier entries from cachers. I think this is another reason I gave up so easily. Just adding to my found count isn’t enough for me (as is evidenced by how few caches I have under my belt). I like really interesting, fun ones. I could see where this series would be great for hikers and bikers, but for me, it was just an exercise in frustration.
If you are a non-geocacher and understood only about half of the above two paragraphs, my apologies. Here’s a caching lexicon to help you out.
Suspension bridge along the San Antonio Mission Hike and Bike Trail
All my grumbling aside, the Mission Trail itself is beautiful, and if you are ever in San Antonio, see all the missions and all the park lands connecting them. There’s so much more to this city than just the Riverwalk, Sea World, Six Flags, and the freaking Alamo (though this last is actually one of the missions).
I had a nagging headache by the time I got home, possibly aggravated by the heat, so I took a little nap before waking up and driving us to dinner. This evening was a special dinner date for us. We drove to the Dairy Queen at Zarzamora and Gillette and grabbed some food, then drove to Arnold Park, located immediately behind the DQ. We parked under a shade tree and had our dinner and chatted about everything that has changed in the area (and some of the things that haven’t) since we last stopped here together some years ago. Lex and I both worked at Palo Alto together for a short while, and periodically we’d take our lunch hour and spend it eating, talking, and napping at this particular park. This was during the early days of our relationship when we managed somehow to spend even more time together than we do now (is that even possible?). The memory is a fond one, and we wanted to revisit it. I’m glad we did.
We came home in time for me to tidy up a bit and wash the sink full of dishes before Roger and Susie came to visit. Roger had promised to come by before we left San Antonio and bring us a copy of a CD of his music that he’d made. Roger is a singer/songwriter, quite a good one, really. His music is very folksy and is about the things that matter: love, family, grief, spirit, memories, war, and peace. His voice and his style reminds me quite a bit of Bob Dylan.
They also brought us a beautiful little watercolor picture in a frame, quite old. It’s tiny, maybe 2″x3.5″, perfect to hang on the wall here in the RV. Most importantly, it’s a painting of bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas. I treasure it already and have hung it just above my desk so I can look at it often and remember the wonderful friends who gave it to me.
After Roger and Susie left, we watched our Redbox movies I had grabbed while in town and then went to bed. Tomorrow is our last full day in San Antonio, and I will miss it when we go. I feel like there are so many more people to see and things to do, but our time here has run out. Of course, we may yet visit SA again next week, as Bandera is only an hour away, but I know there’s still no way to do it all or see it all. That’s not really the point of this journey. We will return some other summer to the city that has always felt the most like home to me.
Tags: friends, Geocaching, San Antonio, Texas, Travel
