What a great day, after a worrisome start with weather. Last night was so beautiful, but we woke to gray clouds and cool temps, looked like it could storm. But predictions said it would start clearing about 11am, so we proceeded with Sara's drop off at Lucy's Doggy Daycare at 9am. Then we made a stop at Walmart to get a bike helmet for Linda, then decided to stop at the main visitor center for San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and San Jose Mission. Most people have heard of the mission at the Alamo, but there are actually 5 missions under the Park Service and they are all connected by the Riverwalk trail. The visitor center was about the 5 mile mark of the 10 mile trail, as was our campground, so we stopped in there while driving back to park the RV at the campground - the weather was still ugly, so we dropped in to see the movie and view San Jose Mission first. We learned that early peoples of Texas became vulnerable to Apache Indian attacks and an influx of European diseases, wiping out much of their population. So they chose to come under the rule of the Spaniards who set up missions and work communities, but also provided protection for their people. And a large part of their rule was conversion to Catholicism, hence the many mission churches at each community. We then toured the San Joe Mission, saw the living quarters, perimeter walls and the mission church (which had the bell tower roped off for inspection since it had been dropping chunks of stone recently, so they were "checking it out" - 5 men in a bucket loader, staring at the walls). They also have beautiful flowering pomegranate trees and flowers. We then drove back to the campground and broke out the bikes - it was finally beginning to get sunny so we were anxious to get on the trail. We left our RV park at 12:30 pm, heading south on the trail to Espada Aqueduct (an example of how sophisticated irrigation canals were built to the missions and their farmlands. We had only biked about 2 miles and yet we felt like we were in the country side and the peace of the river and irrigation canals was perfect for the ride. Next on the ride, was a suggestion from our campground host, to get BBQ at Big Bibb's restaurant in the Stinson Airport terminal (a municipal airport) close to the trail. We enjoyed the pulled pork and chopped brisket sandwiches while watching the planes landing. Lunch complete by 2:40, and on the trail to Mission San Juan - not as many outbuildings remain, but the church still holds services and is very charming inside. At this point, we started worrying about our time limits (had to be back at the campground by 7 to go pick up Sara), so we found a shortcut to our trail exploration - for $1.45, we caught the city bus, which transports people and bikes all the way to the northern end of the mission route, the Alamo, so that we could then ride south from there to our RV park. The bus ride was a cool respite from the heat of the day (85 degrees), and we got to see a little more of the city. We visited the Alamo quickly, since we had both been before, but I was most impressed by the Emily Morgan Hotel next door (originally built as a hospital, but is a flatiron building with beautiful architecture). Then we tried to find the Riverwalk Trail to head south - unfortunately, that's a bad idea in the downtown area - we had to walk the bikes through the crowds, through an indoor mall, then up and down many stairs. We considered going up to the street to circumvent this area but it was rush hour traffic, and that looked worse. We would have enjoyed just parking the bikes in that area, and walking the downtown Riverwalk, but alas, running short on time. We did get off the trail in the King William district to view the homes built by 1800's German merchants - kind of like Inman Park of Atlanta with Spanish touches to Victorian and Italianate houses. I heard later there are self guided tours of this area, and I would have definitely loved to spend more time exploring this area. We rode on now to Mission Concepcion, but found it closed by our 6pm arrival. The outside was impressive enough, looks to be a very large church. The trail led us out through Concepcion Park and Sports Complex - so many beautiful green areas here! We came off the trail at our Travelers World RV Park at exactly 7pm, jumped in the RV and drove out to get Sara (would have rather jumped in the nice pool at the RV Park!). Sara seemed to have a good day - got a report card that rated her "sociability and play skills" in the A range, but only got a C grade for her "eating" activity (apparently didn't finish her dinner). Back to the RV Park, did sewer dumping, then hooking up the RV, loading bikes, showers and laundry. All in all, I LOVED this Traveler's World RV Park - facilities are superb, and location to the trail is great!! Would have loved more time here, but have reservations in Kerrville tomorrow night. Time to move!