Woke up around 6:30 am and left to meet Bryan and Jesse of the Houston group at the local WalMart parking lot. We added "Who is Ron Paul?" to her car and then we all piled into her Focus and drove 180 miles to San Antonio. The trip was fun and while it rained on us a few times it eventually cleared up. When we got to San Antonio the sun was out and it shined bright for the rest of the day.

We arrived at about 10:00 am and went to the free parking garage that was included with the fundraiser tickets. I had knee surgery a little less than 3 weeks ago so we started a slow walk to the Cavalry Museum that was about 7 blocks away. The Cavalry Museum is across the street of the North Wall of the Alamo. We arrived and there were about 10 people setting up tents, speakers, and signs. There was also a huge Neopolitan Mastiff dog there that was named Astro he had a Ron Paul shirt on and probably weighed more than the three of us. Hopefully someone got a pic of him.

Going on throughout the day was a City Festival/Fair and the Buckhorn Museum was about 4 blocks down on Houston street. I returned here and hung out at the Will Call booth that was outside the Museum. The museum/saloon is a huge 30,000 sq foot building and the guy who owns the place is a big Ron Paul supporter. He also gave meals/drinks half off to Ron Paul volunteers, so a big thanks to whoever he is. Stop by if you are ever in town and check the place out.

http://www.BuckHornMuseum.com



A little after lunch people started arriving and they brought lots of signs. One Ron Paul supporter was harassed at the Alamo for having a Ron Paul badge on and told he could not be on the sidewalk at the Alamo under a shaded tree, he could only be in the street or across the street. That story didn't go over to well with a few of us. About 25 people decided to go down to the Alamo so we marched down with Ron Paul signs overhead and passed out a bit of literature and informed those that were interested that he would be speaking at the Buckhorn Museum.

There will probably be a bit of footage from that march. More and more people throughout the day started showing up and everyone started gathering around 4:30 at the Cavalry. A band played, the press conference was threatened to be shut down after the whole sign holding march went, the Alamo Daughters got a little upset that we were holding political signs and marching around the Alamo. Didn't those guys fight for people who live in Texas?


By about 5:15 there were around 200 at the Cavalry and Ron Paul showed up. The color guard was there, ABC news was there, and so were a lot of rabid RP fans. It was very electric and I got to shake his hand, he gave a brief speech and they then had a press conference in front of the Alamo.


(Pic taken outside Alamo at 5:30 Press Conference)


He actually has a security detail now. He talked to the reporters who were there and then everyone made their way to the 6:00 fundraiser at the Buckhorn Museum. The fundraiser ended up attracting probably around 400 to 500 people. I am bad with crowd sizes but it was a great turnout for a $100 per plate adult and $30 pp student event.

The dinner was held first and the food was excellent although they ran a little low on certain items towards the end. Two bands played while we ate and the second band was actually asked to lower the volume a bit and they refused so they packed up instead. It was a bit awkward but luckily nobody made a scene out of it.

After the bands played there were two auctions, a silent auction and a live auction. It was quite fun with Houston vs San Antonio and Aggies vs Longhorn gear being bidded on to see who had more pride. One of the most bid on silent auction items was the $10 Guy Fawkes (V for Vendetta) mask that went for like 100 bucks.

The two most active live auction items were a .22 Rifle and a framed copy of the Constitution. Both were signed by Congressman Paul. The bidding was a great interaction with the crowd, the Rifle went for I believe $2000 and the Constitution went for $3700. Afterwords everyone made their way downstairs, the National Anthem was sang and everyone in the place was singing it the whole way through, it was a really neat experience. Congressman Paul made his speech at the top of the stairs to everyone in the Saloon, which was on the dot like the rest of them.

Highlight of the speech was when he mentioned the coming August 5th ABC debate and it would be hosted by George Stephanopoulos. Every single Texan in the room booed and hissed at the announcement of his name.

Dr. Paul grinned and responded with "I'll be sure to pass on the message." which had everyone erupt in applause and cheers. Look for it on vid.

(George was the one that told Dr. Paul he isn't going to win and would be willing to bet every penny on it.)


(Pic taken inside Buckhorn Museum and Saloon before Congressman Paul's speech)


I took two pictures in this thread with my cameraphone so they aren't the best. There should be some good video footage sooner or later. After the event had died down and just about everyone had trickled out Bryan and I got to talk face to face with him for about 10 minutes. We got to talk about the forums and how active and awesome you guys are doing and he said that he had actually heard of them before when talking to other people. Who knows maybe he will stop by someday, don't keep your fingers crossed though.

Like I said there should be some good footage but wanted to give a little report and show what few pics I took. I'll try to document my coming Iowa trip a bit better come August 3rd. Keep on spreading that word, we are supporting the right guy! Get signed up for Call Iowa and Mail Iowa!

Operation San Antonio: Success.