It turned out that he's incredibly easy to get along with. He's former Army, and an outdoorsman, artist, adventurer, and much more. Over the course of four days, we toured the the parts of San Antonio that everyone knows about, like the River Walk, as well as the out-of-the way, quiet streets and neighborhoods of the city.
I had expressed my intent to go to Mexico, more or less just to be able to say I had. We went to Nuevo Laredo. He was able to provide helpful advice for dealing with the border towns, advice such as: walk in instead of driving in; avoid the Federales; be careful of everything. I had hoped to buy a useful souvenir like a hat or blanket, but sadly, every shop there had the same undesirable goods, all imported from China. I used my very basic knowledge of Spanish to find a post office and buy some stamps and currency, which actually make decent souvenirs. It seems the drug related violence has destroyed the culture of the border towns.
Later we went kayaking on the Guadalupe River in low water. I capsized more than once but learned a few things to avoid. Finally, on our fifth day, we went to Bird Island Basin, part of Padre Island National Seashore. We were facing Laguna Madre, a strangely shallow body of salt water. We paddled a kayak, grilled, drank beer, fished, birdwatched, and camped until the sun set, and watched as little crabs crawled out of the sand to patrol the beach after dark. The pace of our activities left little time to take photos in the past few days, but at Bird Island Basin I was able to get quite a few. The next day we drove over onto the gulf side and took in the ocean and waded out into the beautifully colored and pleasantly warm water. We drove onto the beach and over the sand, which I thought was particularly fun. Finally we parted and I continued on my journey, ready to begin the next chapter - the Deep South.
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