Saying good-bye to Texas

August 10: We said good-bye to the Hill Country this morning to return to the USO in San Antonio to meet with another group of awesome scholarship recipients. This group included Robin Butcher who is close to achieving her life long dream to be a RN. She described how both the ThanksUSA scholarship and her two darling kids have helped her go back and complete her education with an active duty spouse.

We also met with Candice Corte and her mom. Candice is attending the University of North Texas and is active ROTC. She has a sister who starts college next fall, and the ThanksUSA scholarship is helping her family achieve their educational goals.

Finally, we met with Courtney Banayad -- a world traveler already -- who is finishing at the University of Texas at Austin. She was so appreciative of having financial assistance to help her make ends meet while finishing her education.

Before walking out of the USO we were approached by one of the volunteers who helps keep the USO looking clean and inviting for visiting military personnel. This volunteer had listened to the girls talk about why we started ThanksUSA. He described his own background and said he did not put an emphasis on education when he was younger, and learned the hard way about its importance. But rather than feeling discouraged, he is now back taking classes and tests to better himself. We wish him every success and than him for all he does to take care of the troops.

We then went to the famous San AntonioRiver Walk and had a TexMex lunch with Sonia Medina of the AT&T Foundation. The AT&T Foundation has been a generous supporter of ThanksUSA and we thanked Sonia for her instrumental role in helping military families everywhere.

Remember the Alamo? Well, now we know a little more about the imporant role played by the Mission in the Texas Revolution. The knarly trees and fortified walls of the Mission gave us an appreciation of how the battle might have gone for those freedom fighters who lost this battle, but not the war for independence.

Now we're on to Interstate 10 across Texas and into New Mexico to start our swing northwest.

Sorry, no photos today. Deanna has tried unsuccessfully to find a wireless network that would let her upload photos. Perhaps we'll have better luck at our next stop.