It's been a pleasure for me to have visited with so many of you this Winter Texan Season. Your sense of humor, your kindness, your contributions to our communities has made me appreciate so much more all that you do for us.

And so, now the time has come when you are thinking of returning to your summer home up north. You will be with your family, your children and your grandchildren and oh, what a busy summer it will be. We will miss you. We hope you have a blessed summer and that you come back to be with us next year.

 

In preparation for 2021, my office is already planning for next year. And yes, we will continue those favorite tours of yours - the King Ranch, the Farm Tour, the new one that we named the Battlefields of the Lower Rio Grande Valley...that one was a hard sale but once it got off the ground, all that I received were rave reviews...not one negative report. San Antonio Rodeo, the Big Bend, the Hill Country, the Magnolia Silos and New Orleans Extravaganza are all on the slate. Plus of course, those all-time favorites in Mexico - the Copper Canyon, the Monarch Butterfly, San Miguel de Allende and perhaps a few more.

Now's the time to let me know what you are really hankering to do in 2021. We will do our best to add those favorites that you want included in our offerings for next season. February seems to be the biggest travel month so watch for the Big Bend during February as well as the Copper Canyon along with the Monarch Butterfly.

After almost a two-year absence from being able to guide any of the tours, I was able to venture out in February on a few one-day tours. Thank you for being patient with me as I hesitantly took those first steps using a walker to protect me from falling.

As time goes on, I will slowly add a few longer trips. It is so much fun to be with y'all. You bring pleasure into so many lives. Not only that but you make us shift gears sometimes and wonder at how things have changed and continue to change. As we look back over our own lives yes, times have changed, and times are going to continue to change.

Just a few days ago someone commented about how the famous walls of the world have turned into tourist attractions with people wanting to walk the length of the walls...for instance, the Great Wall of China. Some adventurous soul has even walked the length of our local wall. Wonder what he did when he got to the gaps? Fly over them?

Now let's just think about that for a minute. Some of us learned to read by a kerosene lamp. And then came electricity! Some of us may have had a hand crank phone on the wall. Look what we have today. We just can't live without our cell phones! So why couldn't a walker fly over the gaps?

By 1912, a world's record was set by a hang glider who, by using thermal updrafts, glided over 425 miles in a non-motorized hang glider from Zapata to Lorenzo, a small place near Lubbock. He set a world's record. Just think what he could have done if he had been motorized.

So, if cars are to be air borne in the very near future, why can't humans also be airborne?

Yep, the world is changing. It's moving a little fast for some of us. But who knows what the future will hold! Maybe Space X proposing to offer a tour to Mars is not such a pipe dream after all.