The snooze button on the old alarm must have been pressed a dozen or more times
this morning, so we didn't quite get the early start we intended. When we did get up, we motored about 7 miles down the road and entered a different world entirely. The Alamo Village, where John Wayne made his $12 million movie almost fifty years ago was like playground for 4 easily amused Irish dudes. We spent a good few hours wandering the village, and boy did we have a lot of fun doing so. Visiting such attractions as the Alamo Village in off season definitely has it's advantages. We pretty much had the run of the place and managed to do a bit of movie making of our own. (currently in post-production, so watch this
space). We're not much into studying the history books, so on our return to the RV park we made a point of sitting down to watch the movie. It was strange seeing Davy Crockett (John Wayne) walk out of the same Cantina that we ourselves had visited only hours earlier. According to the movie, and yes we know that it's no history book, but in 1824 Texas was part of Mexico and it seemed the US wanted it back. The village we were exploring was made to imitate San Antonio, and within walking distance was the old mission where the
famous battle of the Alamo took place. No more than 200 defenders were besieged in this mission by 4000 Mexican troops. Every single defender inside the walls of the mission was killed, including Davy Crockett himself. During the time we spent in Alamo village it was sometimes easy to forget that we were actually on a movie set and not the real Alamo. I have to say, the $12 million Mr Wayne invested in the movie was money very well spent. We also found time today to visit the Spring pool here in Fort Clark. Apparently originally made as a watering hole for horses, the pool has almost a million gallons of fresh spring water flowing through it every day. Tomorrow, we ride out once again and we're hopefully going to be staying in Big bend National Park. It's full of bears, snakes, scorpions and mountain lions, so it I'd say we'll have loads of fun there!!!
this morning, so we didn't quite get the early start we intended. When we did get up, we motored about 7 miles down the road and entered a different world entirely. The Alamo Village, where John Wayne made his $12 million movie almost fifty years ago was like playground for 4 easily amused Irish dudes. We spent a good few hours wandering the village, and boy did we have a lot of fun doing so. Visiting such attractions as the Alamo Village in off season definitely has it's advantages. We pretty much had the run of the place and managed to do a bit of movie making of our own. (currently in post-production, so watch this 
space). We're not much into studying the history books, so on our return to the RV park we made a point of sitting down to watch the movie. It was strange seeing Davy Crockett (John Wayne) walk out of the same Cantina that we ourselves had visited only hours earlier. According to the movie, and yes we know that it's no history book, but in 1824 Texas was part of Mexico and it seemed the US wanted it back. The village we were exploring was made to imitate San Antonio, and within walking distance was the old mission where the 
famous battle of the Alamo took place. No more than 200 defenders were besieged in this mission by 4000 Mexican troops. Every single defender inside the walls of the mission was killed, including Davy Crockett himself. During the time we spent in Alamo village it was sometimes easy to forget that we were actually on a movie set and not the real Alamo. I have to say, the $12 million Mr Wayne invested in the movie was money very well spent. We also found time today to visit the Spring pool here in Fort Clark. Apparently originally made as a watering hole for horses, the pool has almost a million gallons of fresh spring water flowing through it every day. Tomorrow, we ride out once again and we're hopefully going to be staying in Big bend National Park. It's full of bears, snakes, scorpions and mountain lions, so it I'd say we'll have loads of fun there!!!
1 comment:
Great entry today, lads. Text and photos top notch. Liam -- your namesake fought with Davy Crockett at the Alamo! Keep up the good work.
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