400 Miles of Nothingness to Big Bend

Boy, it is a long way over here! We left San Antonio in our rental car (crappy little Buick) about 7:30 this morning. Came all way across south Texas on Rt 90, a pretty good road all the way. Speed limit was 75-80, virtually no traffic. At first, the landcape is pretty bleak, looks like Southern Idaho! Its a long way between towns. The only real towns along that 400 mile stretch were Hondo, Uvaldi and Del Rio. (At least big enough to have a WalMart). Crossing the Pecos River, the further west we went the more desolate and uninhabitable it became. Rolling hills and mountians off in the distance. We passed through some honest to goodness recent ghosttowns....very depressing. Towns like Dryden and Sanderson are all boarded up. Although, we can't see why those towns were here in the first place; there's nothing here! No sign of any resource activity like oil and gas or mining.

We finally arrived at the Big Bend Nat'l Park at about 5PM, after climbing to about 5000 feet altitude. We checked into our rustic room at the lodge, greeted with a great view off the back deck. Dinner at the lodge restaurant proved interesting. There was a not-so-unusual power outage so the only meals they could prepare were those that they cooked on the propane grill. But a goood cheeseburger just the same. Walk after dinner down to "The Window", the most popular view in the park.

When we got back to our room, it was obvious the power outage was for real. Just as were getting used to the idea of living in the dark, the power came on!  But, alas, no internet! No cell service either. Of course, this place is about as far from civilization as one can get, so I'm not surprised! We'll see what tomorrow brings!

The Pecos River

Its an international Biosphere Preserve

Casa Grande dominates

The Window

Riverwalk, Great Rotary speakers and the Ranch

Had a nice breakfast outside on the hotel patio by the Riverwalk, lots of birds visited for handouts! Then a 30 minute stroll amount the loop. The Rotary session this morning was a very interesting talk by media consultant Paul Rand who spoke about the Rotary brand and ways we can make it more identifiable - specifically we have to embrace social media (I knew that but I don't want to!)

For lunch we were bused a few blocks to the HUGE San Antonio convention center. This was the traditional "All club" luncheon where Rotarians from all over the SA area could attend. (I'm told there are 50 Rotary clubs in the SA metro area).So, there was a large crowd. After a so-so chicken dinner, and an excellent mariachi band, we heard from John Germ, from Kentucky, the Rotary International President for next year.

Then back to the hotel for two more afternoon sessions. The first was interesting and very relevant. as Dr. Robert Lufton from Atlanta has written a book called "Toxic Charity".His premise is that our good deeds can do more harm than good. We can undermine a person's sense of worth and make them ultimately dependent on our charity. (Think Emmett Friendship Coalition)

Our second speaker was Ms. Dean Rohrs a soon-to-be Director of RI. She told about her time growing up in South Africa under Aparteid.

For our dinner and evening's entertainment we were bused a hour west of town, on I-10, to an event venue called Don Stange Ranch. We were all encouraged to wear our western attire (which we did, sort of). It was really hot and humid, the band was good but very loud, and the meal of green chile enchiladas and Lone Star Beer was excellent! Back to our room by 9:30.

So that's enough Rotary, we head out early in the morning for Big Bend.

Thursday, All Rotary, well, almost

Most of today was spent with Rotary Public Image Coordinators. Sessions were lead by Mike Forney and Lisa Herring. Good stuff! But, this PIC business is growing into a job! Linda went exploring the Riverwalk this morning and generally spent the day relaxing!

Our luncheon speaker was Ray Klinginsmith, a former RI President. Our evening banquet featured local Interact kids presenting the flags of the Rotary world (apparently a tradition at International conferences). It was impressive, but took way too long! Our evening entertainment was a very entertaining singer/impersonator/comedian Tony Pace. (We are quite sure we've seen him before, but we can't remember where.)

Our evening ended with an after dark boat cruise around the Riverwalk. Couldn't see much in the dark!

Arrival in San Antonio

We left the house at O'dark thirty this morning; flew United through Denver and arrived at San Antonio about 1:00. Its mostly cloudy, warm and humid. Texas Rotarians were at the airport to meet us and take us to the Westin Hotel.

We are here for a Rotary Zone Conference. Its an annual event for Zones 21b and 27 which is comprised of 43 Districts in the west/middle part of the country. The latest roster show 408 people here. Our District 5400 has nine Rotarians and spouses signed up: Howell, Jones, Hogge, Phillips, Johnson and us. Then there's singletons Ben Nelson, Marianne Barker, and Terry Gilbert.

Zone is primarily a training event for District Governors-Elect (DGE) and District Governor Nominees (DGE). There's also a group called "Emerging Leaders". I came under that group two years in Austin. This year I'm with a group called "Public Image Coordinators" (PIC).

We had some time this afternoon so we walked up Commerce Ave and visited the San Fernando Cathedral and Market Square. Its hot and muggy but we got back in time to watch the beginning of the Republican debates!

 Riverwalk in front of The Westin Hotel

San Fernando Cathedral

Market Square

The old Commerica Bank Building