26-29 Sep: After Big Bend, we headed east across Texas, noticing a gradual transition from flat arid ranchland to gentle hills and finally greener terrain. We dedicated a full day to San Antonio, where we biked on the Leon Creek Greenway; explored the Riverwalk; and toured the Alamo. Compared to our bike rides in Colorado Springs and Albuquerque, Leon Creek was much more pleasant, with good shade and an attractively landscaped curvy path. Future trail segments are planned to extend it and link with other trails to make a nearly continuous ring bikeway around the city.
The Riverwalk in the heart of San Antonio is an attraction not to be missed. This walkway, one level below street level, follows both sides of the San Antonio River for several blocks in a loop and is lined with shops and restaurants. It was constructed by the WPA in the 1930s and surely ranks among the top city parks in the U.S. for its beauty, incorporating fountains, sculptures, and even some magnificent old trees in its landscaping. Tourists can ride on narrated tours aboard motor launches. Close by is the Alamo. The tour and film describing the events and significance of the battle there were well worth taking in. Although the Texans lost the battle of the Alamo to Santa Anna’s vastly superior army, the event inspired the rallying cry “Remember the Alamo” and soon Texas won its independence from Mexico.
The next day we visited the two districts of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park: the visitor center in Johnson City and the LBJ Ranch 14 miles to the west. The visitor center did an excellent job of summarizing LBJ’s life and his many accomplishments as President. We took the driving tour of the ranch and stopped at LBJ’s house, known as the “Texas White House,” because he often held meetings and entertained foreign dignitaries there. Although the inside of the house was closed to the public due to “structural security concerns” (note in the photo the huge live oak limb that fell in the front yard), the film in the visitor center next to the house provided a good insight into LBJ’s family life.
We spent our last night in Texas at a rustic campground in the Sabine National Forest, where a cemetery in the clearing was proclaimed to be the “NATIONAL Hall of Fame Cemetery of Fox Hounds.” Upon arriving there while setting up, we found that the spare tire mounted on the back of our camper had (1) lost its cover and (2) had its side wall blown out. (No idea how that happened, but we bought a new spare the next day!)
