San Antonio

Day 8
Destination: San Antonio, TX
Miles Ridden: 308 Total Miles: 2,693
Route: Highway 77 to Kingsville, 141 east, 281 north, and 16 north

Points of Interest:

• Highway 16 (nice road, beautiful green farmlands)
• The Alamo
• Mengers
• Dirty Nellies

We were up early enough to take sunrise photos of the beach at South Padre Island and the Gulf of Mexico. We opted to avoid a swim in the gulf, since there were flag warns of "venomous" creatures in the water. That was enough for us to avoid the gulf waters. It didn't scare off the others, since there were others already enjoying the beautiful water. When we got to Kingsville, we noticed that Bob's headlight was broken. He and Mike decided to ride to Corpus Christi, about 30 miles east, and Bud and I decided to take the back roads to San Antonio, where we would later meet at the Alamo.

Waiting for Bob and Mike to arrive, we found an English pub called Mengers. It was built in the 1800's as an exact replica of the pub across from Parliament in London. Teddy Roosevelt had visited the pub in search of his Rough Riders. It is possible that David Crockett and the others are actually buried under the bar, since the remains have never been found and history reveals that they were buried alongside the Alamo shortly after Santa Ana was defeated. When the boys arrived, we crossed the street to visit the Alamo. For anyone who has not visited the Alamo, it truly is a shrine to heroism. People from all over the country met there to defend a small church from Santa Ana and a large army. They fought to the last man for freedom and the independence of Texas.

During the evening, we went to an Irish Pub called Dirty Nellies. The entertainment was outstanding.