Spring Branch/San Antoio, Texas (Jan. 19, 2012-Jan. 30, 2012)

It had been a while since we visited my brother so we took this opportunity to do so. There had been a lot of changes in his family over the past few years for him and his family. Two of his children added a baby to their families. We were eager to meet them and catch up on everything. He had planned a family get together on Saturday to do just that.

After setting up and getting situated we all went to one of our favorite watering holes and eatery, The Shade Tree Saloon. The is a typical Texas roadhouse and the clientele are very diverse. They have the greatest burgers and the coldest beer in the Hill Country. We can attest to that.

Saturday we prepared for the afternoon's feast with the family and played with the dog's and drank beer; Shiner Boch, of course. Everyone started dribbling in after 1 PM and by 4 PM we had a house full, several grills full and a table full of food, hugs, laughter and lots of talk.  The babies were awesome and everyone enjoyed themselves.  By 8 PM everyone was exhausted, especially the Boys.  The next few days were spent visiting and relaxing.

Our last few days were spent trying to get prescriptions filled at the local Army hospital.  They had mixed up our order and instead of leaving on the Friday like we had planned, we had to wait until the next Monday.  No problem. We took the time to re-visit the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Alamo and have lunch with a dear friend of ours.

We had not seen Jean in several years.  In fact the last time we had seen her or my brother is when we rescued Rosco in June of 2010 (see September 3, 2010 post).  I had worked with Jean back in the late 80s and I and a fellow Signal Officer Candidate School (OCS) graduate convinced her to go to Air Force OCS.  From that time on we remained good friends and kept in touch.

We met her and her hubby, Alan, at a local joint in San Antonio.  We ate great burgers, drank good beer and caught up on old times.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with both of them.  Always look forward to our reunions.

On Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, we packed up and hit the road again.  Man, how we love hitting the road.  Our next destination was just a few hours from San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country.