The Canadian Coddiwomplers: 2024 South-West USA ("Not all those who wander are lost.")

*Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."  Del Rio, Marfa, El Paso When we took a look at the next leg of our journey, we thought we’d like to visit Big Bend National Park.  Unfortunately, there were no sites available in any of their campgrounds.  Oh well, when you’re coddiwombling you need to be flexible.  We decided to stay in Del Rio.  I spoke with the owner of the Hidden Valley RV Park.  I will kindly say that she was a little bit scattered – that’s actually an understatement.  For example, she asked if we had any pets, I said yes an indoor cat.  She then asked me if the cat barked.  By the end of the call, I was not overly confident that we had actually made a reservation. We made sure to plan shorter days for this leg. We passed a sign that told us that all vehicles had to enter the border patrol station.  We spoke with a very nice customs officer who...

*Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."  San Antonio – The Alamo Tuesday was our day to visit the Alamo.  Did you know that in English, Alamo means poplar tree (the cottonwood is one species of poplar)?    We spent most of the day at the Alamo, which is right downtown in San Antonio.  We opted for the  45 minute guided tour and were really glad we did.  Our guide, Andrew, was very knowledgeable and was able to explain the rather complicated history of the site and the events that changed the history of Texas.   I never understood what the Battle of the Alamo was about and who was fighting who and why?   I actually thought that Texas was fighting for independence from Spain. The former mission, now known as the Alamo, has existed under five flags of independent nations and served as a garrison for five different armies. As you can imagine, the history is long and complicated so I’m just...

*Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination." San Antonio – Mission Reach  On Sunday, after watching the Harcourt live stream, we cycled south on the River Walk trail along the Mission Reach.  Our first stop was at the San Jose Mission for a Mariachi Mass. This was an amazing service with Mariachi music provided by guitars, flute, violin and a small chorus.  Very moving. Here is a brief (1:40) video:      https://youtu.be/teisFvQkEao The Mariachi Mass was introduced by a local nun after hearing a similar mass in Mexico.  She approached the Ortas family to provide the music and it has been a tradition in San Antonio since 1969. The extended family have led the choir and the mariachi group for three generations. Their Sunday performances are almost always at Mission San José. Mission San Jose Church The service was in Spanish and neither of us speaks Spanish but I recognized enough words to know that the pri...