The Where I Live series aims to showcase our diverse city and region by spotlighting its many vibrant neighborhoods. Each week a local resident invites us over and lets us in on what makes their neighborhood special. Have we been to your neighborhood yet? Get in touch to share your story.
I live out in Bulverde, on three acres. My home is my sanctuary and I have learned over the years that I function best when I have that.
But the gym I built, own and run with my wife Janelle, just south of downtown San Antonio, is as much “home” to me as our place in Bulverde. The gym is where I give and receive energy.
In my life, there isn’t a work/private life separation. I don’t have weekends off and there isn’t a time I clock out. Since I do what I love, I don’t think of it as going to work. It’s just one aspect of my life, and my family is involved in all of it.
If I only had my sanctuary, I’d get stir-crazy. If all I had was the gym, I’d eventually get worn thin.
I wake up early, before 5 a.m., so it is dark out when I walk out to my truck. Walking to my truck makes me smile. I can hear the breeze through the trees and see the stars. There is almost always a raccoon or fox peeking out at me from behind a bush — although sometimes they can be more brazen, and they’ll be sitting in the driveway looking at me.
My drive to work is pleasant. Early in the morning, it takes me just under 30 minutes — and with the modern conveniences of podcasts and YouTube, I really enjoy my commute. As I drive, I watch the transition happen from a rural two-lane highway with live oak and cedar on each side to a massive elevated five-lane highway and a sea of civilization on each side.
The transition comes sooner with each day as San Antonio spreads out into the countryside.
Our gym, King William District CrossFit (yes, we used to be located in King William), sits along the railroad tracks between South Presa Street and Roosevelt Avenue. I get there early, open the garage doors, and here comes the first train of the day. It is a busy track, so trains come by frequently. The power, sound and ruggedness of a locomotive all fit with the gym environment, where work is getting done by moving iron.
The Union Pacific engines have the slogan “Building America” on their sides. That is exactly what we are doing in the gym, and that is what I see happening all around us in the surrounding neighborhood.
Before the first class of the day, I get the gym ready. I make sure the bathrooms are clean (as the owner I am also the janitor), turn the fans and music on, then write the day’s workout on the whiteboard. As the members start rolling in, we’ll chat about what’s going on that day, what they did the night before or pick up on a deeper conversation we started earlier.
CrossFit is hard. The way we work out routinely pushes limits. When you do this with other people, it makes you close. You may only see them in the gym 90% of the time but they become your friends. A CrossFit gym is a great way to get to know the people in your community and meet people you most likely would never meet otherwise.
The age range in our classes runs from teenagers to retirees in their 70s. Our membership includes every body type, cultural background and ethnicity. During class, we sweat and struggle together, and then after class, discuss life and our challenges outside of the gym. I love it. It is one of the major reasons I say this is where I live. The gym allows me to see people who attack life with the same zeal I do.
After class, I head out to train some in-home clients. By the time I get back, Janelle and our daughter Scarlet are there. Scarlet, who is 7, always runs over and gives me a big hug. I don’t take this for granted because it may not be like this as she gets older. Janelle is starting her own workout with some other coaches and members, and it’s time for Scarlet and me to figure out lunch.
We’ve got lots of options in Southtown. Cascabel has the best chilaquiles. Carnitas Lonjas has the best carnitas. If we have our own lunch, we’ll go to Roosevelt Park and eat along the river while we watch the ducks. It’s cool to be a part of a neighborhood I like so much.
My drive home is longer than the drive to the gym, but I don’t mind it. Once I turn off 281, it’s a long winding road uphill to my driveway. You cannot see my house from the road. When I get out of my truck, our rooster Foggy greets me with a full-throated crow to let me know he’s been on high alert for hawks while I’ve been gone.
Janelle, Scarlet and I tend to spend our evenings outside in the yard, playing with our dogs and watching the chickens peck around. There is always a breeze on our back porch, and having a glass of wine there in the evening is one of my favorite ways to finish the day. Once a week, we drive down the curving back road into downtown Bulverde and eat at Verde Bistro. It’s a tapas place that also has good pizza and a very refreshing Mezcal old-fashioned.
The area around us has been growing at a frenetic pace since we moved in ten years ago. I guess that means other people think it’s a great place to live too. For now, we can still walk the dogs around our little loop and often not see any cars. A red-shouldered hawk nests in a neighbor’s tree, so we see it often (much to Foggy’s chagrin). There are usually some vultures circling overhead checking to see where they can find their next meal.
I am sure I am biased, but Texas has the best skylines. Sunrises, sunsets or the big blue afternoon sky, I appreciate them all.
This is where I live. A little rural pocket on the north end of South Texas and a tight-knit community on the south end of the Hill Country. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
