We should get down there in late March or so. I need someplace that’s pretty accessible to Ft. Sam Houston (primary concern), but I can get out where there’s no cars fairly easily (might be a pipe dream- school might just take up every waking minute).
Where are the nice places to live (will be renting for a year)?
Where to avoid?
How are the schools- where are the good ones (kiddo starts kindergarten next AUG)?
How’s the tri scene- sprint and OLY, no time to train for longer- these will be for stress relief…
What else do I need to know? (I’m already pretty fluent in Spanish, so no worries there)
bump for the night crew
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Several years ago when I went to school on FT Sam we lived in Schertz, out by Randolph. The drive to Ft Sam was about 30 min in traffic. The running was solid and the access to riding was not bad. However, I believe the area has been built up quite a bit since 2002/3.
Then again, I never really had all tht much tim eto ride 
Best of luck
There’s a sprint triathlon series that’s based out of Ft Sam during the summer than ends with an oly late summer/early fall. I think it’s called Heart of Texas or something similar but my only contact was volunteering at one of the races during OBC. I’ve been told that Government Canyon is the best place to trail run so I’m checking it out tomorrow. Didn’t bring a bike for this ADT as I would have had to unpack the tri bike box to get both shoes and pedals and was too lazy to do that in the 7 hours I spent at home between flying in from Ft Lewis and leaving to come done here. Commuting isn’t too bad around here so far, went to Big Willie for the first time today and then drove back over to BAMC mid-day and it was no problem. Getting back out to the airport area around 5 pm on Weds kind of stunk but it still wasn’t Honolulu or Seattle traffic. Good luck at Ft Sam and check out the Army Tri group on Yahoo if you’re not already a member.
san antonio is great!! i lived there for 8 months, met my fiancee, and will be moving back in around a year as soon as school is done. if i remember correctly (which its possible i might not, since i was never at Sam Houston), I believe ft. sam houston is NE of SA?? The closest nice area that I am aware of is a little town of Bulverde, you also have New Braunfels and San Marcos that are relatively close. In San Antonio specifically, you would be best looking towards the 78258 and 78259 area codes (which would put you around 45 minutes from where i think Sam Houston is located - both are San Antonio proper). Both are very new areas, NNE of SA, and within 10 minutes ride of almost anywhere in those area codes are open farm and market roads. really, anywhere north of loop 1604, the outer outerbelt of the city and you have great riding and running areas. i know this is pretty general, but finding a nice place at relatively low cost, but in a good area is very easy, cost of living is very low there. i’m in nashville now and did a calculator on cnn.com that compared what a certain salary in one city compared to that same salary in another. and i put in 50,000 salary in nashville, and it said to get the same standard of living i only needed 42,— in SA. Very nice place.
San Antonio is awesome, I live there now. FT Sam is in a decent location, pretty accessible by all the main highways. You want to look in the NW or Northside of San Antonio. I know it is a pretty big area, but trust me, west and south are, well… not so nice
Also, come join our multisport team for some group rides, races, training partners etc… http://www.peakfitnessracing.org
To echo the others, San Antonio is great. There’s a decent triathlon scene if you know where to look, and Austin is close by. I love up I35 in the Shertz/Cibolo area and work at Ft. Sam Houston. It’s an easy commute and getting around town is easy. Stay away from the south and east sides of town.
There’s a local Triathlon club as well as a few running clubs that have a whole lot of triathletes.
thanks for link to the Army Tri group- I’ll check it out. I’ll take a look at the sprint tri series as well. I’m going for IPAP, so 5 hours of training might be a stretch some weeks. Did you live on post during OBC, or were you off-post? I hear the wait list for on-post housing is 18 months or so. Where is Gov’t Canyon? sounds cool. Thanks again!
thanks- a preliminary map/rental search isindicating that the N end of town is where some decent rentals are. Sounds like the S side is not too good. Is it still decent around Randolph AFB? The AF usually has OK surroundings. It looks like there would be less congestion in that direction than up north.
I’ll try to get in on some rides-thanks for the invite!