Let us start with talking about all of the awesome things we did and saw today. We saw the Alamo and 2 other Missions that make up the San Antonio Missions National Park (there were 2 others we didn’t get to). We had the best Mexican food we have had in a long time. Sounds pretty cool and exciting, right? Well, it will only get more interesting.
So we started the day in Austin,TX. Danielle mailed a few post cards, we took the opportunity to sleep in a little because our next stop, San Antonio was only about 1.5 hours away. We had a reservation for the Battlefield Tour of the Alamo at noon so we thought we would get lunch before. Our intentions were to eat at this place:
It was a really cool, highly rated restaurant (probably for tourists but still) that was located in the Market district. It was an open air market with food, jewelry, gifts, nuns, bands, etc. If we had more time we would have defiantly done that. BUT, no sooner did we park the truck did we notice we had an unwanted visitor on our journey…… a screw. It was stuck right there in the back right tire of our 2015 Chevy Colorado. We just bought the truck in February, we have this great service deal with Chevy so we thought we would take it to a Chevy dealership, they are all over the place. But wait, its Sunday and they are all closed. So we looked up the number for Pep Boys and sure enough they are open. They told us they could patch the tire and it would only be about $22. At this point it’s almost time for our tour, they were pre-paid and scheduled ahead of time. We were a mile away from the Alamo, the tire wasn’t flat (yet) so we decided to go ahead and go on our tour and then immediately go to Pep Boys.
We drove into town and went to The Alamo. You all should remember it, i’m sure. We had scheduled a “Battlefield Tour”. Admission into the Alamo itself it free, which we did go in but could not take pictures. It was pretty crowded in there. Our tour was great, we got a tour guide that was a good tour guide but just a little long winded. Our tour ended up lasting about as long as the actual Battle of the Alamo. We were taken all around the site of the actual battlefield armed with a map of what the Alamo and its complex looked like back then. What was interesting was what we all think of as “The Alamo” (the old Catholic Mission building) was not where most of the fighting happened. Instead it was in the area around it which is now home to a Ripleys Believe it or Not, Snow-Cone Stand, and various other amusement attractions. So the tour was great, we learned a lot, and John bought a full size replica of the “Come and Get it” flag for his classroom. We headed back to the truck and on to Pep Boys.
Pep Boys was about 15 minutes away, we got there and checked the truck in. There was no one else waiting so we thought this would be a simple in and out, how lucky! Well turns out the mechanic literally just walked out the door for his hour lunch break. We know, because we saw him punch out. So it would be at least a hour before he come back, plus however long it takes him to patch the tire. At this point we are hungry, Its going on 2pm. We walked outside and saw an I-hop and some Chinese place to our right, or some place called “Gilbert’s” in the strip mall to our left. I guess we were feeling adventurous because we opted for “Gilbert’s” which from the outside seemed to promise good things because pretty sure it was situated between a Laundry Mat and a Nail Salon.
We walked in and for some reason the wood paneling, peeling burnt-orange booths, and the myriad of posters and framed portraits on the wall did not turn us away. We were really hungry. It was crowded, and it was our best option. You could tell right away this place was family owned. We got some chips and salsa. Dang, it was good. We ordered our food and waited just a few minutes. Just long enough for us to look up the ratings/review of this place online. Holy crap, 5 stars on Yelp. 4.4 Stars on Google. Great reviews on Trip Advisor. Did we stumble onto some hidden treasure? Apparently so, because our food was delicious. Enchiladas and Tacos, simple but amazing. We told our waitress why we were there (getting the tire fixed) and that we are on this road trip and where we are from, etc. We go to pay and she yells over “Grandpa! These people are from Pennsylvania!!”. Over walks Grandpa, standing at a towering 5’0”, weighing in about $0.99 plus tax. He grabs both of our hands and looked at us with sincerity and said “You stay here! Do not go back to Pep Boys. Have them call you!”.
“No, No” we insisted. We wanted to be there the instant the car was done, we had other things to get to.
“But, take some tea?” said Gilbert, who know reminds you of your great grandmother trying to force you to take left-overs home that you clearly will never eat. Also warns us that mechanics try to steal your money.
“No really it’s ok.”. The granddaughter added that we are on a road trip and where we were traveling.
Gilbert proceeds to tell us how he went to Memphis for Elvis’ funeral with only $75 in his back pocket. “And today, today I wouldn’t even go to my own funeral”. At this point he is making us take Mexican candy and shaking our hands (both of our hands at the same time if you can image that. John’s in his left, Danielle’s in his right). We walked over to Pep Boys and felt better for having met Gilbert. We didn’t think to get a picture with him but here is one that was found online (with random people we don’t know) and I think captures the man and the restaurant atmosphere nicely.
We walked back over to Pep boys. The car was still not done, so we “browsed” the store and settled on a Sun Shield for the truck since it was 100° today in Texas and sunny. The mechanic was back from lunch (probably not as good, or as interesting as ours) and was working on the tire. Everything checked out, it was an easy fix and we were ready to pay! “$11.73” the guy says. He explained he gave us a discount because we had to wait! Sweet, so that $11 Sun Shield was basically free! We got in the car and headed back into San Antonio to go to the San Antonio Missions National Park.
The San Antonio Missions were started by the Franciscans, they started Missions here and today 5 of them (including the Alamo) make up the San Antonio Missions National Park. They are basically all connected by Mission Road and you drive about 3 miles between each one. On a nice day you could ride a bike, they had them for rent throughout the city and could be returned at any of the stations. We went to Mission Conception, followed by Mission San Jose. The second one being the biggest of the Missions and from the 3 we saw, the most impressive. You could tell this was more than just a church. However, the other 2 who we saw apart from The Alamo, still hold regular mass. The Missions close at 5pm and after we finished at Mission San Jose it was about 4:45. So we decided we saw a lot, and learned a lot, despite our minor set back with the tire. We decided to head to our camping destination for the night, just outside of Fredericksburg, TX.
We stayed at Enchanted Rock State Park. And as the name suggests there is a huge rock there. We got in, realized we had to walk all of our stuff to our camp site, and after about 5 trips we were finally settled. Tent was up, we christened the camp stove by making some soup and decided let’s celebrate with a nice little fire. John begins to acquire the materials for the fire while Danielle was doing something over at the picnic table, checking Facebook probably. Its getting dark and we are using our head lamps until the fire starts.
“Danielle, I cut my finger and its really bad!”. Oh no… not really what anyone wants to hear, especially not at 9pm, after a long day about a quarter mile from your car. Like any good captain, John went down with his ship truck. Accidentally sliced the top of his left index finger, gushing blood. Blood everywhere. Soaked through all of the paper towels we put on it. Ok yeah, this needs medical attention. So we grab what we need to and head to the car, get the first aid kit. Get some gauze out, wrap it in some more paper towels pretty tightly and get into the car. Danielle drove the 16 miles back into town and to the closest Hospital. I guess you could call this “getting a taste of the local culture”, because Hill County Memorial Hospital was the place to be on a Sunday Night. We checked in and waited for about 30minutes. John was triaged, they took off our make-shift bandage and started gushing blood again. They cleaned it out (painful) and determined it couldn’t be stitched but it was cut really, really deeply. Medical term: Arterial Avulsion. Basically filleted the top of his finger off. They moved John to another room where the doctor and nurse took the first dressing that they did off and Bam! gushing blood again. After a few very painful minutes and a lot of pressure, they get a new dressing on using a clotting gauze and about 100 more layers of various other gauzes and wraps. 3 hours and $233 later we were headed back to camp.
Its going on 1 am at this point. We are tired, John is down to 9 1/2 digits, and we just want to lay down. We turned onto the road to take us back to the campground and guess who shows up. Deer. Not just a few either. In the 16 miles back to camp we saw 19 deer, 4 of which ran out in front of us. As we turned into the main entrance of the campground we saw this one making it 20.
We loved the Alamo Tour, and probably liked Mission San Jose the best. But we were ready for this Murphy’s Law of a day to be over. We managed to survive the tire, the finger, and the deer. John hasn’t bled through the bandage, the pain is going away and we can take the dressing off on Wednesday. Everyone and Everything is fine. Its will leave a scar, or something that once resembled a finger. Regardless, it will always be something we can remember San Antonio by. Which by the way, was an awesome city that had we had more time, would have loved to explore how American and Mexican culture merge into this unique place!
Dietz Summer Road Trip 