The Goldwing got filthy yesterday!!  This morning I spent 40 minutes trying to clean it.  Later I found I’d missed several spots.

The Alamo is filled with history, both things I knew and didn’t know.  Santa Anna committed a much worse atrocity in another location in Texas, but the name hasn’t carried the same emotion through time as the Alamo has.  But in any case, San Antonio has done an extremely good job of explaining and illustrating the history of the creation of Texas.  (Of course, history is written by the victors.  Mexico’s telling might be quite different.)  As with so many other prominent events in history, few people appreciated them until decades later.  The Alamo served as a store and storage facility before a handful of people (mostly women) got the government to take notice.  I spent about 90 minutes on the grounds.  I could have spent another hour.

The Riverwalk (or River Walk?) is just what I expected.  A lot (a LOT) of very nice restaurants and shops on both sides of a canal, which is one floor below the streets.  Everything is essentially in the basement, with additional shops above.  Tour boats ply the waters.  Ducks and swans populate the waters too.  There is an amphitheater with the stage across the canal.  There are a lot of historical markers along the ways, which hint at a very significant amount of germanic influence.  (Tomorrow I’m visiting a nearby town named Fredericksburg.)

Tonight I completed one significant bucket list item: I attended a San Antonio Spurs game.  (I’m a big fan of the Spurs.)  It was only the second NBA game I’d ever seen, with the first being in 1978.  Attending the game brings to a close what I’ve considered Grand Adventure Leg 1A.  My drive to Key West will be Leg 1B.  But the true significance is that I now have no time-sensitive event until July, when I’ll need to be in Glasgow, Scotland.  Until then, I can go as fast or as slow as I like.