RIVER WALK IN SAN ANTONIO TEXAS

Currently in Elmendorf TX (Low 59 Cloudy, Rain, a Little Cooler High 65) 

Today may be the last cool day for awhile as 80s and even a few 90s are in the forecast for early November.

We went to the River Walk and we can confirm that there is water in the river. The last time we were here in 2010 we did not know about the cleaning schedule and the river bed was dry. 

The River Walk is officially known as the San Antonio River Walk but also known as Paseo del Río. The River Walk is along the San Antonio River in downtown San Antonio and is one story beneath the streets. It is lined on both sides by food and drink places and shopping with pedestrian bridges from one side to the other. 

It was a great time at the River Walk. Our first stop was the Visitors Center across from the Alamo.

We got there before it really started getting hot. Here is one of our first views of the River Walk.

Had a great lunch at 'Rita's on the River'. We got a coupon for free queso at the Visitors Center. With chips, salsa and queso we decided to split an order of fish tacos. We had dessert in mind also contributed to splitting a meal - more on that later. 

There were ducks swimming in the river who decided to come ashore.

One of them came to the restaurant to see if we dropped anything. You could tell they were kind of used to people.

We then walked along the River Walk for awhile. Here is a tour boat with the aforementioned pedestrian bridge in the background.

Our destination was Ghiradelli Ice Cream Shop for the world's best hot fudge sundae. 

We can remember back when there were only 2, one in San Francisco and one in Las Vegas. We must have bragged enough about the hot fudge sundae because now there are 23 locations.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

HAD TO LEAVE KERRVILLE-SCHREINER RV PARK

Currently in Elmendorf TX (Low 50 Plenty of Sun High 85) 

Not really on the road again as we will only be staying a week at Braunig Lake RV Resort in Elmendorf and then back to Kerrville.

The annual Kerr County Fair is this weekend and the entire park was reserved so we decided add days on both sides of the weekend and be out of the park for a week. We decided on the San Antonio area that although about an hour away we take many trips there for shopping at Costco/Sam's Club and medical stuff we haven't done much sightseeing. We will just be tourists for the week.

So we departed yesterday for Elmendorf Texas, it was approximately 80 miles. This is the route we took.



One thing we are wanting to do is see the Riverwalk when it actually has water 😃 The last time we were here as tourists the Riverwalk was drained for cleaning 🙁

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WEEKLY UPDATE: WEATHER, DOCTORS, TV BRACKET

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 54 Some Rain and a Thunderstorm High 77) 

We remember back to when we were working at this time of the year when we ended up with 3 or 4 coats at work. The time of the year when the weather was just starting to get colder and the overnight temperature and early morning temperature was low enough that you needed a coat. But we were out of the habit having a coat at work so invariably we left the coat and needed another one the next day. We had a couple of those days this week. One night the overnight low was 40 but it got up to 80 during the day. Just another reason why we are thankful we are not working anymore. Besides with limited space we don't have that many coats anymore.

We had a couple of doctor appointments this week. Bob for his thyroid and Jo at the Pain Center. Bob got another sonogram this time done by the doctor himself and a blood draw. He is scheduled for a Radioactive Iodine Uptake test in early November. Depending on the results of that test he may have a fine needle aspiration biopsy.

As home projects go the new TV bracket was fairly successful as it only took a couple of trips to Lowe's to get the right bolts. In last weeks blog we told you about the bolts to connect our existing plate for the telescoping arm to the adapter plates. Because we had to flip the adapter plates so our existing plate would work that screwed up the connection to the TV for the adapter plates so Bob headed off to get new bolts which worked, the TV is now affixed to the telescoping arm and locked in place. Here is the existing bracket with telescoping arm showing the storage behind the TV.

We put the two plates together and attached them to the TV. The darker plate is our existing plate, here it is connected to the adapter plates and the adapter plates bolted to the TV.

For us not a bad project, only a few days and 2 trips to Lowe's 😅

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

WEEKLY UPDATE: WEATHER, DOCTORS, NEW PHONES AND TV BRACKET

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 64 Not as warm with a Thunderstorm High 73) 

We are sure you have heard the phrase, if you don't like the weather in [insert place here] just wait 12 hours. Well that applied to Kerrville earlier this week. From a high of 92 to a low of 51 less than 12 hours later we had a couple very nice days before it turned warmer and more humid for the weekend.

More doctor stuff this week with more appointments and flu shots.

We switched from Verizon to AT&T for phones and data getting new Samsung Note 8s and a new HotSpot.

As far as the new TV bracket goes it should be subtitled 'Nothing is standard, Part 2'. The adapter bracket bolts to the existing bracket and then to the TV. They provide nuts and bolts to connect the two but they are too large for the holes on the existing bracket. The existing bolts are too long and would gouge the TV. There is a huge festival in town this weekend which would make parking almost impossible so Bob is heading to the hardware store early this week. We are sensing a Part 3 to the saga :-(

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

NOTHING IS STANDARD ON AN RV PLUS DOCTORS

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 59 Partly Sunny and Warm High 88)

We found yet another thing that's not standard in our RV. We replaced our 50" Jensen HDTV (1280x720) with a Samsung UHD TV (3840x2160). Since both televisions were the same size we thought the existing articulating bracket would work since both manufacturers claimed VESA standard compliance. Well the Jensen TV had the mounting holes for a 40" TV while the Samsung had the correct mounting holes per the standard for a 50" TV. We setup the new Samsung using the stand so we could watch TV that night and then the next day researched options. We have storage behind the TV so want to keep that type of mounting and the existing bracket if at all possible since a lot of brackets don't lock.

Bob's first thought was to buy another bracket and then have a shop weld the two plates together. His further research found out that we weren't the only one with this problem. There are a lot of adapter plates that instead of welding together you just use the mounting screws.

We should receive the above adapter plates next week, we'll let you know how it works out. 

It was also a week of doctors, for both Bob and Tiger. 

The nodules on Bob's thyroid have gotten larger so he will have a fine needle aspiration biopsy in the next few day, hopefully next week. Tiger had a rough patch this summer so we took her back for blood work. Her kidneys have gotten worse so she is now on meds and special food. She is a very finicky eater so we are wondering how the food will work out.

As mentioned before Sunday is now DVD day, not NFL day. We plan to see 'Fences' and 'For Greater Glory' and some 'Aerial America' episodes. We have been amazed at how good the picture is even on DirecTV and DVDs. We knew we were going to be blown away by the Blu-Ray discs and we have been.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

REPORT ON A COUPLE OF MOVIES WE SAW

Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 66 Clouds and Sunshine High 85)

Based on the recommendation of Jim and Dee from Tumbleweed we saw 'American Assassin'.

We have read the Mitch Rapp books and really liked them. They picked a good book as it was a prequel to a lot of the earlier Mitch Rapp books. This allows the cast to age if they make more. After this one we think they should. Lots of action and you don't need to have read the books to like the movie. So like Jim and Dee we recommend this movie.

The other movie we want to talk is 'Hacksaw Ridge' which we saw on our Sunday DVD day (instead of Sunday NFL day). Telling the story of Desmond Doss who served in the Army Medical Corp but didn't want to carry a gun. He ended up being the only conscientious objector to win the Medal of Honor. A great movie but the true story is even better. In fact a couple of events were omitted from the movie because they were afraid they weren't believable. Hacksaw Ridge was the name given to a cliff that the Army had to climb on Okinawa. The true event omitted from the movie was that Desmond Doss was one of the 3 that climbed the cliff to secure the rope ladders as shown here.

The other event deals with his injury at the end of the movie. Carried on a stretcher to the rope ladder another soldier needed to be lowered first so he gave up his stretcher. While waiting a sniper shot him and shattered his left arm. With a bad arm and the leg damaged by the grenades Desmond climbed down the rope ladder by himself.

Whenever we stand for the National Anthem with our hands over our hearts we think of our dads who served in the Navy, guys like Desmond Doss and all those that didn't come back from war. What makes "Hacksaw Ridge" personal is that two of the ships supporting the invasion of Okinawa were ships that our dads served on.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo