Reby's Weight Loss and Breast Cancer Journey: Remember the Alamo!

Yesterday we made it to the Alamo in San Antonio. Wow! It was quite amazing.

From Nacogdoches to Goliad, we have been following a set tour in the Fodor's Guide to the Old West, a tour book I bought Mark years ago. It has driving tours around different themes for every old west state. The first time we used it was in 2009 in Kansas. We have also used it for the driving tours we did of Nevada, Arizona, and South Dakota. Last year we went to Hawaii instead, which is why we are doing two states, Texas and New Mexico, this summer. Texas had three tours, so we chose to do two of them.

This tour was centered around the Texas Trail for Independence. Oddly, it did not include coming to San Antonio for the Alamo. It also did not have Houston for San Jacinto or Gonzales where the first shots were fired. We added the Houston part, and yesterday we added three nights in San Antonio. Monday we are adding Austin for just a day to see the state capitol before going to San Angelo and starting the next Texas tour, the Panhandle. We are driving north from San Angelo to Amarillo for that tour.

The Texas Independence Trail was fabulous. We did it in the order the tour book had it, but in order of the battles, we were sort of mixed up. The order of the main battles would have been Gonzales (which we did not do), Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto. I was really surprised by how fast the Texans won their independence from the much larger and well-equipped Mexican army. The first shot was fired at the Mexicans at Gonzales on October 2, 1835 and Santa Anna surrendered at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, just over six months. I never knew that. Of course, the Texans had Sam Houston, who was truly brilliant.

Before heading to San Antonio, we started yesterday morning by driving nine miles out of Goliad to the little town of Fannin. It is named for Col. Fannin because it was on that land that the Mexicans attacked his regiment. He surrendered to the Mexicans, thinking his men would be safely held as prisoners of war. They were marched back to Presidio La Bahia win Goliad, held as prisoners in the church for a few days, told they would be released, but actually taken out and shot. I posted those pictures yesterday from Presidio La Bahia. One of the survivors of the Goliad massacre went back three months later and put up a pile of rocks where Fannin had surrendered. Fifty-eight years later the landowner replaced the rocks with a giant cotton gin screw to mark the spot. The next landowner donated a large portion of his land to make a little park there and preserve the history of that battle.

We had been warned the Alamo wasn't spectacular anymore because it's part of downtown San Antonio now and surrounded by big buildings and stores. True. Much of the original Alamo land is now a huge multi-story post office building, public streets, and kitschy stores like Ripley's Believe it or Not, Guinnes Book of World Records Museum, Trolley Tour sales, Visitor Center, and restaurants. That didn't bother us at all. As we walked through the church that everyone thinks is all there is of the Alamo plus the museum inside the Long Barracks and the gardens and grounds that are left, Mark and I were both impressed and moved by it. Maybe it is because we have been steeped in the history of the Texas War for Independence for over a week, but we were quite impressed with the whole thing.

No pictures are allowed inside the Alamo church or the Long Barracks museum. That was unfortunate because both were spectacular. Some of the artifacts in the museum were amazing such as a locket of Davy Crockett's hair, Travis' little book of poetry, and two rifles. One was a rifle owned by Davy Crockett. The other was a replica of Crockett's rifle presented to Fess Parker. Parker later donated his rifle to this museum, so seeing the two together was interesting.

Today is Shabbat, so we will not spend money. The Mission Trail, nine missions along the San Antonio river, is free. One of them is a National Park, so we can use our Golden Pass to get in everywhere free, and I can get a stamp. Our plan today is to drive up that mission trail, get a stamp, use our gift card to eat at Subway, and then come back to the hotel to relax, read, and use the pool later in the afternoon. It should be a lovely day.

I ate 1420 calories yesterday, walked 2.5 miles, and kept my weight the same as yesterday. Today my calories will be perfect again, and there should be some walking and some water aerobics. Maybe tomorrow I can show a little drop.

Here are pictures from Fannin and the Alamo.

Mark on the spot of Fannin's surrender.

Wearing the shirt Cindy bought for him in San Antonio on her visit. He changed in the Subway at lunch!

Remember the Alamo! I don't think I'll ever forget.

The Long Barracks

The start of the phrase "draw a line in the sand."

Mark is listening to the wand for the audio tour that we rented. He's wondering if he's standing on the right side of the line! Of course, the docents can only guess if this is the actual spot where Travis drew the line in the sand.