January 25th thru Feb. 4th 2011
Sorry so slow with the last update. We got home in Mitchell SD about 6:30 Feb 4th after stopping at Sioux Falls to visit Norma, Beckie just happened to stop by too at the same time and we got to hear about her Mexico trip also. Gary’s Mom is fine, and remembered us well…we are so grateful for that. She was in a discussion with other residents and the nursing staff, waved us over and introduced Gary and I to the group. It thrilled me to no end, as we assume someday it may always be that way with most Alzheimer patients.
On January 27th we were all packed up and ready to leave the Rockport TX house. Chuck and Carol Krcil made a mad dash home for a favorite sister in law’s, SISTER’s funeral, at Yankton that following Sat the 29th. She had been ill and so they more or less expected her death.
Bonnie and Jerry Krcil left for Houston to visit their son, Kevin & his wife & 3 grandsons. Bonnie & Jerry were scheduled to meet with the John & Shirley Little and head to New Orleans to travel that area.
Sandy & Wayne headed out to tour the Goliard Mission ‘LaBahia’, which we had toured already with Krcil’s and the Little’s. Our grandson, Josh, also toured it, when he left Rockport for San Antonio, and then home to Mitchell. We all agreed it was better than the Alamo, because so much of the forte was still preserved you really get a good picture of a fort/mission area in those historical days.
Gary and I headed to San Antonio to tour a Witte Museum and to then meet Sandy and Wayne on the Riverwalk. This proved to be more of an adventure than we had imagined, as we met up with what we shall call a volunteer Veteran, who walked the legs off of us & showed us the highlights of the Historical Area of San Antonio.
One area was the Old San Antonio with LaVillita village, San Fernando Cathedral, oldest church (1731) in the U.S. There are relics of the Alamo heroes entombed there. Our volunteer Veteran Guide, Mr. LaRoache showed us the hole that the people went into the tunnels to be saved from the killing rampages, and how well the church itself was preserved, and updated some. Unlike some of our local churches they saved most of the marble statuary and gold in the altar. Do a website tour of it on the internet to really get all of the information, hopefully the tutorial tour is up and working when you do.
We ate on the veranda at a Country Line restaurant on the Riverwalk, was a fun & most enjoyable meal time & rest…it called for a Martini as we were totally exhausted. I got my photo of Sandy and Wayne to have on my cell phone so when they call me their photos pops up, so I know who is calling at a glance.
Just before we all headed out the door at our Rockport TX house, we took photos at the in front of the large Sailfish mounted on the living room wall. The lady of the house must have caught it as there was a photo at the house of her and this fish. Messed up though and didn’t get a photo of Josh at the house with us.
So the Jefferis’s and Shafer’s decided to stay at Craig and Corky Porter’s house while in San Antonio, as Gus and Virginia VanSteenBerg had offered us a 2 bedroom apartment in their Majestic Bldg for our San Antonio visit, but since Virginia’s Sister-in-law was ill and possibly dying from a Brain Tumor, we weren’t too sure that the VanSteenBerg’s would be there during our entire 3 day stay. Wished we had now as we were downtown on the Riverwalk area so much, would have been more convenient.
We were able to visit with Gus & Virginia a couple different times, and met their son Nick, his wife Alejandra & their son Nickky, plus their daughter, Drew, and Ginger’s sister, Felisa Kazen. Felisa was visiting from New York to also see the ill sister in law, who resides in Laredo. I found Felisa Kazen was most fascinating, and she is a writer and producer in New York. She explained a lot about the horses-cattle-culture that we viewed in the Long Horn Cattle Drive parade. Gus and Virginia were there with us the entire duration of the Rodeo Parade, we then ate lunch with them it a very amazing historial BUCKHORN SALOON MUSEUM. If you go there plan to spend 1.5 or more hours to view.
Virginia (Kazen) VanSteenBerg is a very accomplished woman too. She and Gus have preserved & gutted out & refurbished the MAJESTIC THEATRE as close to the original décor as possible, and gutted out & decorated all of the offices & apartments in the huge building complex also.
Then on top of it all, she was part of again preserving & moving THE FAIRMONT HOTEL. It was done on a roller set up, and took 3 days to do it. She hired a large firm out of the New York area to move the Hotel, it too can be viewed on-line: http://www.thefairmounthotel-sanantonio.com/ of it’s historical venture. Virginia renovated this hotel too.
Their son Nick, and daughter, Drew are involved in their business properties too. It was a honor to have been with them, and to see Virginia and Gus’s most historical home. It should be on a website too. I was too embarrassed to take photos of their home, but did get one of their front door area. I ran out of battery on both our video and digital camera, after the Long Horn Cattle Parade in front of their Majestic Bldg., so didn’t get any photos of the inside of the Majestic Theatre. It is most unbelievable & outstanding—words cannot describe it, I wished they had a website of that to view also. Just go to http://www.themajestic.com/ to view some of these buildings.
While in San Antonio, the Jefferis’s and Shafer’s attended Sunday Mass at the Mission of San Juan, toured this mission and two others: Mission of San Jose & Mission Concepcion, which were quite well preserved. It is amazing to view all of the marble statuary in those churches and to think they were saved also from the rampages those forts went thru. These sites can probably be viewed on-line too.
Craig and Corky Porter were wonderful hospitable friends to stay with. Sandy and Corky enjoyed discussions about teaching children, Corky and Craig do a lot of volunteer work at their grandsons school, and also with boy scouts. Craig loves to cook while we all sit at his 12ft granite curved island. He made us caramelized salmon, while we drank his wine and watched him prepare the food right in front of us. It’s what he requires his guest to do. The rule is ‘Don’t cross into his kitchen work station’, it upset and aggravates him mostly. What a great cook he is and loves to do it for guests too. Let’s say it is his creative hobby. He has 2 refrigerators, and 2 dishwashers, and Corky & Craig each have their own sinks. They really did a good job when they built that house let me tell you.
The plan was to leave San Antonio on Monday the 31st of Jan, and tour Ft Worth TX stockyard area. When we were near Ft Worth time was getting late, and then we heard of the plans for the Super Bowl in the FtWorth/Dallas area, plus the up & coming winter storm that Porter’s had warned us about.
We then decided to drive up north more, a mistake as got stuck in a little town of Sherman, OK and the storm hit. We were brave the next morning, drove 30 miles North in the snow and ice to Durant OK, to a humongous ChocTaw Casino…4500 machines to play around with for 2 days to wait out the storm. It was stupid to drive in it and a delight to be in the Casino during the ICE/SNOW STORM. We saw cars & pickups fishtail & swerve into the ditch, trucks get stuck going up the slightest hill off the interstate exits (no chains), and people do ‘loop de loops’ in front of us. This happened on our 30 mile treck from Sherman to Durant and then out of Durant into Kansas City. So it didn’t make much difference waiting for a couple days, other than most of the truckers were off the road, but Oklahoma doesn’t have crews for Ice/Snow events…so didn’t seem like the driving conditions were too different waiting it out. Those people don’t know how to drive on winter roads either, we must have guardian angels as we made it. In hindsight we should have stayed at the Porter House when they warned us of the storm approaching, & extended their invitation for the favorable San Antonio weather. Just thought it wouldn’t be that bad, wrong again!!!.
The Jefferis and Shafer’s had planned to stop and see Aunt Elnora (Hemmer) Snow in Blue Springs, MO (suburbs of Kansas City), but she had an attach of the flu that day and actually made a trip to the hospital, & back to the Manor bedridden for hours. So we drove on home instead, arrived like I said on Feb 4, 2011 about 6:30..safely. God Blessed us that is for sure.
Kay Shafer signing off until our next adventure: California to see cousins, Shirley Danish, and Tom and Sue Hart, & meet with friends The Porter’s to tour San Fransciso. It will be our first trip in Our 40ft Gulf Stream Motorhome for our Full time Retirement Traveling years, starting around the late Fall of 2011, as we sell the business to our Daughter Kim and husband Rick Swank and retire full time.
