Day 20 Movin'on to San Antonio and Boerne TX.

It looked like rain this morning as we "struck the tent" to get on the road before it did.  The humidity at 7:00 was 75% and the temp was 73F.  We had a good start at just about 8:00 AM  and stayed dry until we were on the road.  The rain lasted about 30 minutes and I mentioned to Ruth as we headed NE that we could run out of it. And about 45 minutes later it diminished  and finally stopped for the day.  There were no trucks to speak of  being Saturday of Holy Week, so that helped in the predictability of driving. (Trucks have a lot of "suction" as they pass ,when you are pulling a trailer or a big rig, and tend to "pull" the vehicles to the left.)

The Counties south of San Antonio are quite poor , have few residents, and are engaged in small farming (cattle and stock mostly, with many goats). One of the counties (Brooks) has a severe problem with "B and E's", from the desparate "wetbbacks"  seeking food and shelter as they work their way north. In that county the Hispanic population os about 80%. It lessens as you go north.

The inspection station just 40 miles north of the border. Dogs,
a visual check and a "good look over" by the Border Patrol
The dog is to the right of the orange cone.Look hard!

From the campground, a look  at "Hill Country".

Name the vehicle (easy) and the year (harder!)

The towns on US 183  are very spread apart along with the sparse population. Two counties have about 5-8 persons per sq. mile.  We stopped at one of those very fine rest areas which is an "Island" in the middle of the highway. (US 183 is not a freeway but a divided "access" highway). Ruth usually birds those areas and picked up a Northern Waterthrush  for her effort under one of the trees. (See bird in pictures)
                                                                                   

Northern Waterthrush (Pic Stevenson)

  We contined up US183 , which becomes  joined with I-37 all the way into San Antonio,  and the land becomes rolling and is known as the "Hill Country" of middle Texas.  Gradually, from vast acres of scrub land with mesquite, salt bush and other small trees, the infrastructure is more concentrated as the rural environs of San Antonio continue to grow. Downtown San Antonio is a magnificnet landscape, with many tall buildings, and a long way from the days of the Battle for the Alamo. (We did not stop but admired the view as we passed by.

We traversed three Freeways to get to the main SAS store to purchase some shoes. Traveling city freeways with a trailer is not my idea of  good time.  It takes focus, awareness (changing lanes for turns and which lane to get into in enough time.)  and of course looking out for the other guy. Texans (my opinion) have many drivers that have no patience to wait for someone to move over to the right after passing. They do a lot of "careless " lane changing.

Flowers started to appear some 100 miles north of Mcallen, and these are seen here as Ruth snapped away at 60 mph.

The bluebonnet and a yellow flower ?  on the roadsides.

                                                By mid-morning the skies looked windy and threatening

                                                                          but it did not rain anymore.

Anyway we did get to SAS and had a good hour spent there .  The staff is very friendly, open and knowledgeable. We made our purchase (4 pair of shoes), looked over the displays , took a few pictures  (see) and got back on the road for our RV Park in Boerne  25 miles to the NW.

This  RV Park is called "Top O the Hill" and it is well named. All the sections are at different levels although all the pads are very level. I can see only the trailers and rigs that are near me as others are up or down the hill, and over the top.

Tomorrow we will attend church at the First UMC in Boerne, where, at 11:00 they have what they call a traditional service. It is a large congregation with over 900 in attendance last week. It is communion Sunday here as well.  A Sunday dinner at a place called " The Dodging Duck" is on the Agenda. A very  Happy Easter to you all.