Howdy, y’all!

I’m back in the Lone Star State visiting my punny buddy, Mack, and we’re headin’ into old San Antonio to visit its historic Spanish Missions! First, though, to prepare for a long, hot day, we powered up with some Beaver Nuggets from Buc-ee’s, a gargantuan, beaver-themed, food-and-gift-and-home-decor emporium that’s totally unique to Texas and has super-duper clean bathrooms!

Loaded up on sugar, we careened into one of the Lone Star State’s largest cities, San Antonio, home to the most famous of all Texan landmarks: The Alamo! Deep in the heart of the city, this smaller-in-life landmark was originally a Spanish mission dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, and gave its name to the city of San Antonio! Spanish troops stationed here in the early 1800s shortened the name to Alamo, because it was located in a grove of cottonwood (alamo) trees!

It’s this military history that still resonates in the hearts of all Texans, for here at the Alamo, in 1835, a group of 200 Texas volunteers, abandoned by their commanders, fought against a legion of 1,800-6,000 Mexican troops during Texas’ war for independence from Mexico! Though the battle ended in the demise of almost every Texan in the Alamo, the rallying cry of “Remember the Alamo!” heartened troops in future battles and helped Texas win independence over Mexico!

Today, the Alamo is a memorial and museum with living history exhibits outside! There, folks in period attire talk about life in 19th century Texas and some of the non-military folks who lived here at the Alamo! For as much as the Alamo has been gigantified by history, I was really surprised at how small it was, but as I’ve learned in my own experience, it’s the size of the story, not the storyteller, that matters!

The Alamo is but one of five Spanish missions here in San Antonio. The other four are part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, further south. To get there, we started a stroll along the super charming San Antonio River Walk, where boats whizzed by and folks enjoyed tasty lunches alongside the ducks! It was also the perfect place to get out of the crippling heat and humidity, which I sure wasn’t used to, living in drier California!

Walking in the heat wasn’t going to be a great option, but luckily, these new scooters have taken hold in San Antonio! With a beep and a boop, we powered up two Limes and headed south down St. Mary’s Street, wind whipping and hoots hollered!

The first of the four San Antonio Missions was Mission Concepción (in full, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña), which opened in 1755! Because it was built directly on top of bedrock, it is mostly in the same condition as it was when it first opened!

Mission Concepción was the office of the Father President, who administered all the missions along the San Antonio River. As such, it also played host to many religious festivals!

One other neat, and mysterious, feature of this mission is that one of the windows inside perfectly aligns with the setting sun on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. When the sun shines through, it illuminates a cross on the floor and the face of the Virgin Mary over the altar at the same time!

From Mission Concepción, we scooted south to our next stop, the extraordinary Mission San José! Though named for a boy saint, this mission, opened in 1720 was called the queen of Texas missions! Tex-yass!

Because it was so huge and so ornate, Mission San José attracted a lot of attention from the Apache and Comanche tribes, who raided the fields and livestock! To keep the missionaries and parishioners safe, this mission had huge, thick walls surrounding it on all sides!

About 350 Native American neophytes tended the fields and livestock of this mission, which became a major social and cultural center in the area! Even today, there was a wedding photographer taking bridal photos in front of this spectacular church!

Unlike Mission Concepción, Mission San José suffered a lot from the winds of change! Its dome, bell tower, and one of its walls, had all collapsed and had to be restored, but 80% of the church is still original to its 18th century glory!

Further down the road, we arrived at a peculiar looking mission, Mission San Juan Capistrano, not to be confused with the famed home of the swallows!

What made this mission, built in 1731, so strange was that it looked like a movie set! The front facade with the bell tower was backed by a square box of a building! That’s because smallpox, measles, and other European diseases had killed off so many of the Native Americans in the area that efforts to build a bigger, better church just plain failed!

As our scoot neared its conclusion, we stopped to check out the Espada Aqueduct, the last remaining Spanish aqueduct in America! Fifteen miles long, this incredible structure kept over 3,500 acres of crops irrigated!

Our last mission of the day was also Texas’ first! Mission San Francisco de la Espada (St. Francis of the Sword) started up in 1690 as an outpost against the French on the Louisiana border, but moved to this location, along with the other missions, in 1731!

This petite mission housed lots of crafts, like blacksmithing and weaving on three huge looms! This was also the only mission in the San Antonio cluster to produce bricks and tiles!

As we wandered through the labyrinth of old building foundations at Mission Espada, I wondered how the tribes who’d lived here for generations saw this strange new way of life. The Spanish missionaries completely washed away their ancient customs, but with the ever-present threats of drought, disease, and attacks from other tribes I wondered what choice the local Native Americans had. I am glad that these amazing monuments are still here to remind us of their stories, which need to be told!

With the sun slinking toward the horizon, it was time to head north. Mack and I hopped back on our scooters through the wooded pathways along the river, but only made it to about Mission Concepción before my scooter battery pooped out! Luckily, we were close to a playground and caught a ride back into town. Boy oh boy, was I happy to be back in the air conditioning! Now, to get ready for an overnight bus ride much further south

Happy trails!

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More 2018 Adventures

Total Ground Covered: 177.0 mi (284.9 km)

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