Toy Soldier Traveler San Antonio (1 Viewer)

[MCKENNA77]

THE TOY SOLDIER TRAVELER

Home Base – San Jose, CA
Destination – The Texas Toy Soldier Show – San Antonio Texas
Miles Traveled Round Trip – 3,110
Cumulative Miles Traveled = 19,798
Method of Travel for this trip – Plane

Hey dudes:
This little bit of information is nothing more than a diary log of my travels to toy soldier shows across the world this year. This year’s itinerary included(s):
The West Coaster
NY Symposium
London Show(Unscheduled Stop) - March
San Antonio Show
London Show – June
The Big Show – Chicago

FRIDAY MAY 23RD 2008
Sara KGB and I caught an early flight out of San Jose to Austin Texas. Unfortunately for us the only flights available to San Antonio required two layovers. The most efficient route was a direct flight to Austin and then rent a car for the 85 mile drive Southwest to San Antonio. Additionally, my Grandma lives near Austin in a small community called Georgetown Texas. I hadn’t seen Grandma in a while and I knew she was anxiously awaiting our arrival. My Grandma is a complete crack up and she’s never had any problems or concerns voicing her opinion. The hot topic of concern for the visit was KGB’s new tattoo of which Grandma did not approve. I busted out laughing after Grandma stated, “that’s going to be on your arm forever? That’s ridiculous.” Grandma is getting along pretty well for herself. She’ll turn 89 this year and she still lives independently and drives her own car. Yes, her driving is a bit frightening I’ll agree. After an early dinner with Grandma at the local country club golf course we got ready to head down to San Antonio. Upon getting in the car Grandma reminded me to “go out and behave yourself”. Those are words that I haven’t really listened to my whole life but on this night I probably should have.
The drive to San Antonio really wasn’t too bad. We were still able to make good time despite Friday and Memorial Day weekend traffic. After checking into the hotel we made a very short drive to downtown San Antonio’s famed River Walk area. At this point it was about 8pm and it was insanely hot out. I’m talking about 95 degrees and at least 95% humidity. I think legally I couldn’t have been more hot and uncomfortable. Now I’ve never stood at the mouth of Hell’s furnace but I can’t imagine that it’s any warmer then what I was experiencing. Additionally, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so I have to admit that climate wise I`m totally spoiled.
After strolling along the River Walk for about an hour we decided to get some drinks. We stopped at a totally random little red door with a paper sign attached reading “jazz music inside”. The restaurant was an Italian joint called Dolores Del Rio. Thick brick walls lined the entire inside of the restaurant giving it a great cozy feel. I wouldn’t be shocked if someone told me 100 years ago they had a huge Mexican gun battle occur inside. So what else does a person do when they’re uncomfortably hot and sitting in a bar – that’s right DRINK BEER. Seems entirely logical right? In a New York minute I had downed about 7 or 8 bottles of beer as I was listening to a great 3 person jazz group. Now what’s the last thing you would expect at an Italian restaurant with a jazz band playing? You guessed it, a belly dancer. As the jazz band stopped for a break, out of nowhere appears this woman who’s as hot as the sun. She proceeded to shake her money maker better then the paint mixer at Home Depot. Being half in the bag and having all ready passed the car keys to KGB I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Before you know it I looked over to notice KGB stuffing one dollar bills in the belly dancers belt line. I thought my heterosexual head was going to burst into flames at this point. CAN LIFE GET ANY BETTER THAN RIGHT NOW? I DON’T THINK SO. The show lasted for about fifteen minutes and I completely peppered the Del Rio with some great drunk loud and lewd comments. I was deservedly getting the hard core stank eye from some of the staff members there. This is usually a good cue to make like Elvis and exit the building.
I continued stumbling down the River Walk with KGB in tow. Yes I mean literally in tow. I was sideways at this point and KGB was holding on to the back belt loop of my shorts to make sure I didn’t fall into the drink. This I’m sure is a lot more work than you think as there are large stretches of the River Walk that don’t even have handrail. We must have been an entertaining site to see. We managed to make it over to the Hyatt Hotel and we found a great jazz bar called Jim Cullum’s Landing. This was a 7 man jazz band that played some great New Orleans style jazz. You’ll have to forgive my ignorance of jazz music. I really don’t know much about it but I do enjoy listening to it. I guess this particular band has had their music played on a show broadcasted by NPR for some time now. They were by far one of the better jazz bands that I have ever seen play. KGB played the responsible one at the end of the evening and drove back to the hotel as I kept saying take me drunk I’m home.

 

[MCKENNA77]

SATURDAY MAY 24TH 2008
Getting up the next day was just brutal. I wanted to check out the Alamo before heading down to the Texas Toy Soldier Show. The Alamo was packed with people there for Memorial Day weekend and it was around 100 degrees out and about 95% humidity. Now being hung over is one thing. Being hung over when it’s insane hot out is like Gitmo style. Nothing like amplifying your torture times ten. In the words of Spinaltap’s Nigel Tuffnail “this one goes to 11”. Dude, I should have listened to Grandma and behaved. The guy in line in front of me to get into the Alamo had a shirt that read Everything in Moderation. I’ll I could think about was dude, you don’t know the half of it.
In the queue for the Alamo I was begging for clouds to block the suns liquid hot magma from pouring onto my head. As if I didn’t hate life enough at this point, out pops one of those “screaming” preachers to enlighten everyone’s day. I haven’t seen one of these people since I was in college and I use to love to mess with them all the time. The best part was that English was not this lady’s first language. So not only did I get to hear Bible verses but I got to hear them in broken English. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. I always wondered what sort of conversations these kinds of people had before they left their home to go preach. What are you going to go do today? I think I’ll head downtown and scream the Bible out loud at random people so they’ll convert. Oh that sounds like a great idea and tactful to, good luck.
The Alamo is an incredible historic site and a must see for any visitor to San Antonio. The Shrine and Long Barrack Museum provide great exhibits and the buildings themselves are neat to check out. The only bummer is that you are unable to take photographs inside the Alamo buildings due to copyright laws. Make sure you take the time to walk around the Convento Courtyard as it provides great views and excellent shade. The best part of the Alamo in my opinion is the history teller who gives talks about the background information leading up to the events at the Alamo. The teller is located on the West side of the Alamo near an area called The Palisade. Don’t be a Homer Simpson like me and ask questions like where is the basement to the Alamo.
The Alamo possess a really unique historical story and it’s kind of funny how some history gets remembered in a certain way. The basic story of the Alamo is the story of sacrifice. Colonel Travis and the rest of his Texian and Tejano volunteers were outnumbered 10 to 1. They knew before hand that no quarter was going to be given to them. They had ample opportunity to leave and they decided to stay in order for other Texas troops to get mobilized against Santa Anna’s forces. The whole crew knew that they were going to get rolled and they did in 90 minutes. The question I always had was if Santa Anna’s armies had crushed the Texas Rebels would the Alamo be looked at in the same light it is today? When it comes to history, asking what if will get you in a never ending debate.
After viewing the Alamo I made a quick stop into King and Country King’s X Toy Soldier Store. The store is about a baseball throw away from the Alamo. Upon entering I was floored by the massive Alamo diorama which dominates the show room floor. Believe me, the pictures do not do this diorama any justice. This work of toy soldier art is huge and it’s by far the best 54mm diorama I have ever witnessed. Of course the diorama was created and built by none other than Gordon Neilson. I guess it took Gordon about six months to complete the project. I must have stared at the diorama for over 30 minutes as it was that good.
Moving on, I made the 15 minute walk to the Texas Toy Soldier Show located in the shopping area called La Villita(Little Village). At this point in the day I was looking and feeling like I was on the bad end of 8 rounds with the Brown Bomber Joe Louis. The show consisted of 15 dealers spread out over 44 tables. The most important thing about the show was that it was air conditioned. I almost verbally busted out into my own version of Handle’s “Messiah” when I walked in. Although the show was relatively small in size it provided some great visual treats of new toy soldier releases to come. Obviously King’s X was there to show off the upcoming Rommels Horch. This set is tight and the level of detail, especially the radio in the car, is beyond belief. The only shame is that the set is strictly limited and if I were you I wouldn’t wait a long time to get one. With this set being SL, German and Afrika Corp German it has the perfect storm making of sold out before it gets to the store. King’s X also had some sweet, soon to be released, US Cavalry collectors club figures. According to King’s X these figures are exclusive to the King’s X store. My guess is that you’ll see them go on Ebay for single figure record amounts. Other highlights from the show included two dealers I had never heard of or even seen before. I got the opportunity to view diorama pieces by a guy named Ed Gannon. On hand, he had an incredible saw mill diorama piece as well as an unbelievable windmill. Both pieces were constructed and modeled with plywood so they were really heavy in weight. They were also both really pricey coming in at $850 a piece. Also there was a NY based outfit called the Marx Man. Surprisingly, they don’t sell any plastic toy soldiers. They did have some sweet 40mm casted and you-paint-it-yourself armies though. I was lucky enough to have my champ of a wife pick up 46 of these toy soldiers(Alamo version) for me. Now all I have to do is talk her into painting them for me(yeah right). I also had the great opportunity to meet Alex Prieto in person and he was nice enough to drop off my newly repainted German grey BBG09 Raupen Schlepper. Alex is a first class dude and his work is off the chain. The plastics that were there were some of the best I’ve ever seen. Toy Soldiers of San Diego had some stellar late period WWII German Elite troops. Additionally, Steve Westons Toy Soldiers was there all the way from Essex England. Steve brought with him their newly released Mexican Bandits line which was really tight. You can reference the forum’s Texas Show thread for all of my show pictures. Sorry dudes, I wasn’t coherent enough to get pictures of the belly dancer.
Well nothing like a fully packed active day to kill a hangover. We decided to head to dinner on the River Walk again and KGB decided to go back to Dolores Del Rio. They really have excellent Italian food and I highly recommend the lasagna. At this point in the day I was far too tired to be a knucklehead and go for a repeat performance of the previous night. After dinner we walked around and checked out the majority of the shops on the River Walk.
SUNDAY MAY 25th 2008
KGB and I had a mid day flight out of Austin so we decided to make the most out of the day and visit San Antonio’s Missions. This 18th Century chain of missions established along the San Antonio River is the largest concentration of Catholic Missions in North America. The Missions provided not only great historical views but excellent tales about power, influence, dominance and every day Mission life in the 18th Century. The Missions are all part of the US National Park Service. If you’re going to check these out make sure you pick up a park map and stop at Mission San Jose where the visitor center is first. The Spanish Colonial architecture at these sites is sweet and well worth the trip.


Toy Soldier Pick Ups:
Casted 40mm Alamo Figures by Marx Man(quantity = 46EA) – these paint it yourselfers looked great, now I just have to find someone to paint them.
BBG09 Raupen Schlepper – Repainted German grey by Alex Prieto. I still can’t believe how well this turned out
Other Items Purchased:
You know after all this travel I’ve really curbed these spending area. I didn’t make any additional purchases on this trip besides food and beer.
Travel Advice:
If you’re headed to San Antonio and you can get a direct flight there take it. My flight got canceled on the return trip home and I had to reroute through Dallas/Fort Worth which was time consuming and a big hassle. The only thing I regret is not finding a hotel directly in the downtown area. I would have paid the extra money to do so because even making a 15 minute walk around in the warm San Antonio sun could make you melt. Additionally, make sure you bring plenty of sunscreen and lightly colored loose fitting clothes. The only drawback to the “Alamo City” is the weather. Believe me, they should put up public showers everywhere in this place. The strength of the sun here will have you making ball soup in no time flat. I was really impressed by the live music scene in San Antonio. They have a ton of live bands playing all types of music in multiple areas of the city.
“Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it.” – Louis Armstrong
Next Stop: The June London Show – We’re singing for England. We’re singing this song.

 

[MCKENNA77]

Picture descriptions:

1. Me and Grandma, have to see Grandma
2. Crazy preacher lady at the Alamo
3. Alamo
4. Alamo
5. King's X Store
6. King's X Alamo Diorama
7. Texas Toy Soldier Show
8. Ed Gannons Windmill
9. 40mm MarxMan Alamo Troops
10. Alex Prieto's work
11. River Walk
12. River Walk
13. Mission San Jose
14. Mission Concepion

 

[MCKENNA77]

Here are the pics:

 

[MCKENNA77]

More pics:

 

[MCKENNA77]

Last pics:

 

[Capitolron]

McKenna

Great report - thanks for the travel tips - I hope to go down there sometime soon.

Ron

 

[nmrocks]

McKenna,
Great report from our globetrotting corespondant!
Ya, my sister and Mom live in Austin and your right about the humidity, it is literaly a killer! even without the night before enhancements to your physical condition the normal combo of heat and rediculous levels of humidity can make you swoon with just normal activity. A seriously sweaty place!
Ray

 

[Louis Badolato]

Excellent report as usual! You are one lucky guy getting to hit all these fantastic shows!

 

[jazzeum]

Talk about laugh out loud. I nearly keeled over. Bummer about not getting a picture of the belly dancer. I would have paid for that. We need to hang out with you in Chicago. Forget toy soldiers

 

[tdubel]

Best Toy Soldier report I have ever had the pleasure to read, fantastic!

I hope you are going to Chicago, I look forward to downing a few with you.

Tom

 

[wadepat]

Hi MCKENNA,

I simply want to remark that the world is a small place. Your Grandmother lives in Georgetown. I attended and completed all of my undergraduate work at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Who could have known that two toy soldier collectors on this forum had connections with Georgetown, Texas! Like I said, it is a small world.

Great report. Thanks for providing it for us!

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[OzDigger]

Informative and funny as usual

Btw, I don't have any relations in Georgetown but my wife has a cousin that lives in College Station, Texas which is just two counties away according to my Google map. He was in Australia recently and I showed him my K & C collection. And as he used to own a ranch in Texas I mentioned the Kings Ranch connection with K & C. He said he had been to one of the King's ranches and noticed that all of their animals seemed to be red in color be they horses, cattle, dogs etc And then I looked at the pic below of the three red cars parked in front of the Kings X building and wondered if red was a Texas thing

 

[vandilay]

Great report , "ball soup" I laughed out loud when I read that .[ i,d never heard the saying before] who says you dont learn anything usefull on a toy
soldier forum .

 

[Tony Neville]

Guys

Mckenna is a very funny guy.........and a great reporter! and by the way a very very generous guy.

We looked after him when he 'Popped over ' to London and as a thank you he sent me and Mike two Crimean Medals which we have at the framers being mounted. He also bought a mass of other things for the guys at K&C UK and they were all greatfully received!

Look out for his June report on London as he and his good wife Sara (KGB) are over and are being looked after by us in Durham for a few days!

Mckenna a true dude and a true gent!

Tony

 

[Warrior]

After reading that report, all I can say regarding OTSN is "I want to hang with this guy, he's beyond comical" and he's 100% correct about San Antonio, I visited a friend of mine there eight years ago in early June and it was 1000 degrees with 999% humidity during the day, 999 degrees with 998% humidity at night.

I felt like I was a mile from the sun and San Antonio is the only place I've ever visited where I was sweating in the shower, it's brutal down there, just brutal............

 

[Mister Dave]

Yeah, I cannot wait to do my 2 week AT at Ft. Sam Houston in August. Imagine standing outside at mid day in those conditions wearing a full chemical warfare suit lined with powdered charcoal...:

MD

 

[Warrior]

Mister Dave; June was bad enough, August is beyond my comprehension. I really, really wish you the best, stay strong and drink plenty of fluids......

 

[Peter Reuss]

Just not the same fluids McKenna had...

 

[Boyer PFC]

Informative and funny as usual

Btw, I don't have any relations in Georgetown but my wife has a cousin that lives in College Station, Texas which is just two counties away according to my Google map. He was in Australia recently and I showed him my K & C collection. And as he used to own a ranch in Texas I mentioned the Kings Ranch connection with K & C. He said he had been to one of the King's ranches and noticed that all of their animals seemed to be red in color be they horses, cattle, dogs etc And then I looked at the pic below of the three red cars parked in front of the Kings X building and wondered if red was a Texas thing

OzDigger as I have ventured down under to your fine country I did not want you to be misled about Texas. In Texas there are only two colors - Maroon for the fighting Texas Aggies of College Station, and Burnt Orange for the Longhorns of the University of Texas. Red is the COLOR of my home state Nebraska, a mere 3 states north, home to the best in football tradition. the Nebraska Cornhuskers - GO BIG RED!