Remember the Alamo

So its been a few weeks, but i'm bored and I reckon I ought to get this done even if nobody is reading it anymore. So we rolled out of New Braunfels with another short day to our final destination. I can't tell you how excited I was to get to the end. We knocked out about 35 miles into the wind and yet again 105 degree temperatures. It is probably getting a little repeatative hearing about the weather, but imagine riding your bike in it. It is kind of the overarching theme of the trip. So we get to the hostel in San Anotonio about 11:45am which was cruical. Apparently, the main office is closed from 12-4 every afternoon. If we had to wait until 4pm to check in I might have done some serious damage to a door trying to get to the air conditioning and a shower. Let me start by saying this hostel paled in comparision to Austin and New Orleans. It is best summed up by a coversation we had with a cab driver on the ride home the next day.

Cabbie- Where yall heading?
Me- The hostel on Pierce St.
Cabbie- Is that the place that looks a little creepy?
Me- Yes, yes it is.

This place looked like a creepy old haunted house with some old army barracks attached. We were in the barracks, it was a little nicer on the inside, but not much. Also, the folks staying there were not as social as the others. We decided to get the bikes taken care of and shipped back to ole VA. We rode about 3 miles to Bike World. They had an impressive store and we got to watch the end of the Tour that day. We had them box up the bikes and FedEx them for us. It was a tad expensive, but the piece of mind knowing it would be done right was worth it. Especially after watching the Greyhound people toss the boxes around after we got off the bus in Houston.

After getting the bikes situated we ended up at a suprisingly classy Mexican restuarant. Since we hadn't showered yet and were still in bike jerseys we opted to sit outside to spare their other clientelle our distinctive aroma. We then headed back to the hostel and got a quick shower and a nap before heading down to the famous River Walk. Over the next few days we spent a fair bit of time down there. Personally, I felt it had a very Gatlinburg, TN feel. Very hokie, very family oriented and confusing as hell. But we ended up, grabbing a few beers and head back for the night.

The next day, our last full day of the adventure we had to make it to the Alamo. If for no other reason then to try and find PeeWee's bike in the basement. Well there was no basement and the Alamo was not as impressive as you might expect. Here is something I have been wondering about, is this the only place were we make a tourist attraction out of a place were Americans were slaugthered by Mexicans. Not our typical M.O. Well we got a few pics and wondered around a bit, before we headed back for a quick nap. That night we were going to have a celebratory steak dinner to finish the trip. We checked the GPS and decided to head for Steers and Beer. Most definitely a place we would enjoy. Unfortunely it was being renovated or just closed for good. We had steak on our mind so we tried a few other places. They were either closed or a tad out of our class range. We ended up at Hooters. Thank god for Hooters, you can always count on them for a good time. We ran up an 80 dollar tab, had a great time and said screw you to the steak houses. Really, not being able to find a steak house in Texas, I thought this was America.

Our flight the next day didn't leave until 5pm so we watched the Tour in the morning headed back downtown for a couple hours and caught a cab to the airport. Both of us were pumped to be headed back east and out of San Antonio. The heat and the fact it was the last stop on our trip and the overall feel of San Antonio did not leave a particular good taste in our mouths. But we were headed home and it was about damn time.

One last thing, when we got to our room we noticed one of the beds in our bunk was occupied. The person had incredibly small shoes so we figured we had a girl roomate. Unfortunely, it was not a girl. It was the smallest man I have ever seen. This little Frenchman was not a midget, but stood probably 4'8" and was 80 lbs soaking wet. I am not even exagerating on his stature.