The San Antonio Travel Jinx

My younger son putts at a Universal City disc golf course.

Forgive me if I’m starting to get wary about driving to and from San Antonio to visit our older son. It’s just that we’ve had two nerve-wracking experiences that make me think that our travel jinx doesn’t just pertain to planes.

Cacti, cacti everywhere!

On our way home from spending time with #1 last Saturday, my younger son and the Mister wanted to stop at a disc golf course in Universal City that was new to them. Of course, the hour was growing late (around 5 p.m.), but they figured they had enough daylight left to play a few holes before we got back on the road to head home to Houston.

Teeing off on a long hole

We easily found the course and followed the signs from hole to hole. Dusk had descended, which normally isn’t a problem in wide-open spaces. Unfortunately, the course was in the woods, and it was an overcast day—a perfect recipe for disaster for a family that perpetually walks around with a “kick me” sign on our backs.

Red leaves add a glow to the darkening woods.

I think you can figure out the rest of this sad saga, right? As usual, my #2 son wanted to keep playing even though darkness was making it hard to see, and I had turboed into full-out nag mode. Even the Mister agreed with me that we needed to get back to the car ASAP. However, there was one gigantic problem: Where was the Honda Odyssey?

Escaping from danger from below the basket

We had no idea where we were in relation to the Mister’s car. There wasn’t a course map at the first hole letting us know where all the holes were. Yep, this was the almost-running-out-of-gas debacle all over again. Since we were at hole 13 (a bunch were skipped), #2 thought we just needed to walk through the rest of the course and hope hole 18 was near number one.

Why were the cacti needling us?

So that’s what we did, as I wondered what animals lived in the woods and how hungry they might be for a family-sized dinner. With my heart rate continuing to climb, we finally reached a trail that looked familiar. Sure enough, it led us right back to our car, which almost was obscured by the dark.

I’m sure we’ll be making that same Houston-San Antonio-Houston trek in the near future. Wonder what I should bring just in case trouble rears its ugly head again. Did I actually say “just in case?” Make that “when!”