April 29 – “Bat Cave”

We did a walking tour of the new part of the San Antonio River Walk last night.  The evening started with a Mexican food dinner at Café Rio in downtown San Antonio.  Then we parked over at First Baptist Church and began our trek.  Josh borrowed a wheel chair from the church for Mom.  We put the two boys into the stroller, and the adventure began.  Our goal was to get to the bridge under which resided the local colony of bats.  Josh had been told that it was just two bridges away.  No problem to walk it.  He should have checked his sources a bit more carefully.   I don't know for sure how far we finally walked, but estimates ranged into the miles.  Good thing we had that wheel chair.  Without it we would still be walking and stopping to rest.  The trip was very nice, though.  The weather was great, and except for occasional swarms of gnats, which we officially deemed "influxes of Bat Bait," the walk was not all that bad.  Our first tourist site was an actual dam and system of locks that the city had built for the river taxis.  It was like being at the Panama Canal.  Well, it's not like I actually know what it's like to be at the Panama Canal.  But I have read about it.  We saw one boat go through each way.  The process didn't take all that long, either.  Definitely worth stopping to watch at the dam locks.  Which reminded me of another trip we took years ago to Colorado.  We stopped at a gift house related to a local dam there.  But that is a story you will have to ask my sons about.   We continued on in search of the bats.  Finally we reached the underside of Interstate 35.  The home of the San Antonio Bats.  But they had already stepped out for the evening.  Quite the disappointment.  But Zakary spotted a man-made grotto on the other side of the river, so we decided to make a real adventure out of the evening.  He and Chris and I walked up the stairs and across the street and back down on the other side.  And there was … the Batcave.  Not the boring old home of San Antonio bat population.  No.  This was the Real Batcave.  And it was no accident that Zak was wearing his Batman t-shirt.  He was the Real Batman.  Guess that made me Robin.  Chris was the photographer.  Zak and I explored.  He climbed the walls.  We both avoided spider webs.  I think he could have stayed for another hour, but it started getting dark.  And Chris got a call from Josh making sure we knew that it was rapidly approaching bedtime.  Christi and Caleb had located us from across the river and were waving as we made the return trip.  We still had to make it back to the church before we would have a car to get us home.  But we persevered.  And we made it.   1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."   Father, thanks for the beauty we experienced tonight of that river.  And thanks for the unbridled joy we saw in Zak as he uncovered the mysteries of the Bat Cave.  Amen.