Off-beat San Antonio, Kia Niro, and Car Grill'n with Jeff!

Ever wondered what treasures hide beyond San Antonio's famous Alamo? Our latest automotive adventure uncovers the city's best-kept secrets that most tourists miss entirely.

Imagine 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerging at dusk in a spectacle so massive it appears on weather radar and can be seen from space. This natural wonder at Bracken Cave outshines Austin's famous bat bridge and represents just one of San Antonio's hidden gems. We also explore the eccentric burial site of Sandra West, interred in her beloved 1964 Ferrari, and the haunting Hot Wells of Bexar ruins where 19th-century celebrities once relaxed. For the truly curious, Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum showcases over 1,200 decorated commodes commemorating world events and abstract humor, while adventure seekers can descend 40 feet into a sinkhole to explore the Robber Baron Cave Preserve beneath a residential neighborhood.

Our automotive passion shines through our exploration of creative barbecue grills fashioned from car parts. From a Holden Monero GTS front end transformed into a cooking station to a mobile "RUB Chopper" powered by a 5.7-liter Hemi V8, these unique creations showcase automotive ingenuity beyond the roadway. We wrap up with a comprehensive review of the 2025 Kia Niro hybrid, which impressed us with its 53 MPG city driving, Volvo-inspired styling elements, and competitive $26,990 starting price. While not a corner-carver, this everyday urban commuter delivers exceptional value, user-friendly technology, and distinctive design that stands out in its class.

Ready to discover more automotive adventures and hidden destinations? Share your favorite off-the-beaten-path finds with us at info@inwheeltime.com and join our community of curious car enthusiasts who always look beyond the obvious.

The Lupe' Tortilla Restaurants
Lupe Tortilla in Katy, Texas

Gulf Coast Auto Shield
Paint protection, tint, and more!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

----  ----- 
Want more In Wheel Time car talk any time?
     
In Wheel Time is now available on Audacy!  

Just go to Audacy.com/InWheelTime where ever you are.
-----   -----
Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Podcast and check out our live multiplatform broadcast every Saturday, 10a - 12nCT simulcasting on Audacy, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.

In Wheel Time Podcast can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:

Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Podcast, iHeartRadio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox, YouTube Podcast and more on your mobile device.

Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/

https://www.youtube.com/inwheeltime

https://www.Facebook.com/InWheelTime

For more information about In Wheel Time Podcast, email us at 

info@inwheeltime.com

Transcript

San Antonio's Hidden Destinations

Speaker 1 0:03

All right, Mr Mars. Mr Mars has this week's driving destinations off the beaten path. You've got four minutes. Give me just a second yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 0:11

So if you go to San Antonio, we're going to talk about San Antonio. If you look around San Antonio, almost anything associated with Texas can be around there. One of the big sites you're going to see is the Alamo, but it's only one of several missions built along 14 miles of San Antonio River, which includes the Espada mission, which has the oldest working Spanish aqueduct in America. So the first thing we're going to look at is a bracken cave bat flight. Now you've heard of the one in Austin, where they come out from underneath the bridge, but this is outside San Antonio, part of the Natural Bridge Caverns property. 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge at dusk.

Speaker 1 0:48

Do they have an accent.

Speaker 2 0:51

Hmm, I'm sure they do. Just ask it See see, yeah, yeah, see see. So it lost my place here trying to Aye, aye, aye. Yeah, exactly, it's the largest gathering of the bats that kind of bats. You can go there, you can get tours and see them come out in the evening. It's truly awesome. They can see it on radar, they can see it from the outer space. They can actually see it up there. It's bigger than the one in Austin. Hmm, all right, this is still playing you.

Speaker 1 1:22

One in Austin. Hmm, all right, this is still playing you, still trying to find your place there, mr Ross.

Speaker 2 1:26

No, yeah, I've kind of found it. The other thing I wanted to talk about while this is finishing up, I cut my intro short. San Antonio is where the final resting place of Sandra West is. Who Glad you asked me that? Sandra West was a lady that had a 1964 ferrari, her prized possessions. When she died she was buried in a white, elegant night dress, reclining in the front seat of her ferrari and they buried her and the car and you can go visit that site.

Speaker 2 1:57

Moving right along here we're going to the hot wells of beja ruins now this is what you would consider a texas hot springs. Now, back in the 19th century, a lot of people, celebrities, everybody went here, just like they did to Arkansas, except they preferred this much nicer place. But it burned two or three times over the course of history and this is about all that's left. You can visit it and see where all the springs were.

Speaker 1 2:19

Is there water in it or?

Speaker 2 2:19

are there? Just burn marks down in the rocks. No they're just burn marks in the rocks, yeah, okay, but it's a historical place that's great for photographers or history buffs. Now we're going to the great place, barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum. Now, this is one of San Antonio's museums Got over 1,200 toilet seats.

Speaker 1 2:37

If I didn't know that was there, I would have gone.

Speaker 3 2:40

Oh man, you know what? The tour is pretty crappy.

Speaker 2 2:42

Former plumber, barney Smith, over decades, has put this together. It is a tribute to world events and abstract humor, and it's now at the Truckyard Beer Garden where it's fun, funky and totally unique, and you go there and see all the toilet lids that Barney has put together Now. Then we're on off to the Robber Baron Cave Preserve. Now, this is a mile of unmapped I mean a mile of mapped passages in the Robber Baron Cave Preserve. Now, this is a mile of unmapped I mean a mile of mapped passages in the Robber Baron Cave Preserve entrance. Now, to get into this you have to go down through a 40-foot deep sinkhole. This is in North San Antonio, in a residential neighborhood. Now, this was actually open to the public in 1923 to 1933, and then they closed it down and then it was just there. People would go in there and vandalize and do whatever kids do inside these uh, yeah, uh, caves, and in 1995 it was purchased by the texas cave management association.

Speaker 2 3:35

You can now go down in there and go through tours of this, but its houses are built all around this thing and all over the top of it in the north san antonio. Good, finally, going. You can go kayaking in the North San Antonio. Good, finally you can go kayaking in the San Antonio River. You go downtown, you take the boats and you get the little tour and you go around through parts of it.

Bracken Cave Bat Flight

Speaker 2 3:55

You can now actually go over to the King William District and actually kayak through several areas of the King William and the Museum District. It's pretty great for a novice kayaker because it's calm waters when you get there. But there's also times of the year that you can actually go the entire eight miles down through there, and when you leave the downtown area and you're going down the San Antonio River, it actually gets down to where it's like a little creek. I mean it's remarkable that this big river here turns into such a little thing and they actually built little chutes so that you can get your kayak down it and all that stuff. But they'll let you go with kids as young as two years old, as long as you've got your life jacket, and it comes with each rental. Things to do in San Antonio you might not know about Beautiful.

Speaker 1 4:36

Thank you very much, sir. In Real Time Car Talk show continues after this quick break. Just car culture Barbecue grills made for car parts here we go.

Speaker 3 4:50

Six standing grills made from recycled auto parts. Hey, do you have one at home? Are you working on one? So you're getting ready to go out there and grill something with your favorite snacks in the backyard. Why opt for the same old, traditional looking charcoal grill when you can gain access to a more innovative and stylish looking alternative? Here we go with six of my favorites. The first one is a Holden Monero GTS barbecue grill. The owner of this grill probably decided to put his broken down Holden Monero GTS to good use. The grill features the entire front engine of the car, which stands on a metal frame against the wall. The hood has been removed to keep it propped up over the engine, which has been removed for grilling purposes. Obviously, Although we like the design, we're a bit wary of how the car would respond to. The heat emanating from the front of the grill Might have it blocked off. You never know. The next one is a do-it-yourself. It's a rim barbecue.

Speaker 1 5:39

I see a lot of these tailgates and stuff like that yeah baby Enjoy some cocktails with a steel car rim Put some 22s on it.

Speaker 3 5:45

Yeah, put some dubs and if you notice.

Unique San Antonio Attractions

Speaker 3 5:49

This is on the back of a pickup truck, if you know that, because they say that you can do this. You need something like a restaurant table or a base, preferably of metal wire cooking grate, which you can buy at the home shopping club there. Simply prop it up, put it on a rim, turn it upside down and add charcoal to the rim cavity, place a wire on it and there you go. Throw some hot dogs and burgers on there. This one's called the Rub or R-U-B mobile barbecue. At first sight you would wonder whether it's actually a barbecue, but an Orange County chopper. You can actually see a mobile barbecue pit. There's a motorcycle attached to it, dubbed as the Rub chopper. The grill makes a mean look, with a sleek design, equally impressive performance. The icing on the cake is a 5.7 liter V8 Hemi engine that produces over 345 horsepower to haul this thing around.

Speaker 1 6:34

What if you could barbecue, doing 70 miles an hour down the freeway?

Speaker 3 6:39

Smoking people out behind you. Next one we have, Michael, is a Chevy V8. That's a Mike.

Speaker 1 6:45

Mars, that's Mike Mars, and the handle are the headers, the zoomies on it. What about a car engine?

Speaker 3 6:52

Could it play a role in traditional barbecuing or grill perfection? We think yes. Take a look at this one. The owner apparently wanted to do something different when he thought of this project. A lot of add-ons. He's also gone into making the engine a functional grill. A lot of add-ons. It's also gone into making the engine a functional grill. The owner of it took a Fourth of July barbecue in his neighbor and was glad to announce that it attracted more onlookers than the actual car in the area. So he took it to a friend and got a bunch of attention.

Speaker 1 7:16

He's even got spark plug wires on it.

Speaker 3 7:18

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Next one, michael, is a Hemi-powered grill. Oh my God. Here's another barbecue that will spellbind you forever, unraveled at the what Can you Hemi contest. This grill features a Hemi V8 engine that has been modified to fit on wheels from a mobile grill. It looks like it runs. Yeah, the Hemi engine is capable of producing enough power to cook over 240 hot dogs in just three minutes.

Speaker 1 7:42

Crafted out of a 330 you just dunk them down, the zoomy headers no no Square foot feet of tube steel, pure steel.

Speaker 3 7:50

The grill surely will be a hit at your garden parties, michael, when you have those in Neiderville especially when you have guests. Last one is a vintage Jaguar.

Speaker 1 7:58

But he would do his in the front yard. Yeah, exactly, there's a story behind that too.

Speaker 3 8:02

Vintage Jag Austin Healer is what this is called a barbecue grill. Well, we leave out the rest of the car design designing a grill. Why not use it all? That's what the designer of this grill probably had in mind when they came up with this idea and transformed a vintage Jaguar Austin Healer into this one. The entire car has been purposed for the same, with the trunk area used for cooking hot dogs and the front seats being removed to give space for a stove to cook the tortillas. Fancy barbecue grill made up of used parts. Take a look at these things online. There's a bunch more out there. Different shapes, different designs.

Speaker 2 8:36

The grill folds out front, I mean the hood folds out front to give you a little serving space, table space.

Speaker 3 8:40

Yeah, a little table space.

Speaker 1 8:44

Pull up your chair, have a hot dog. Pull up your chair, have a hot dog.

Speaker 3 8:46

Pull up a car seat. There you go, michael. That's what we got, brother. Thank you, man. That's great. I love that, all right.

Speaker 2 8:51

All right, Mr.

Speaker 1 8:56

Time now for this hour's car review. I had a pleasant opportunity to drive a 2025 Kia Niro N-I-R-O, not N-E-R-O and I was quite surprised and taken aback. I didn't go into it with any preconceived ideas or notions about the car. I didn't really know anything about it and then I got to drive it for a week and I was impressed. And I know you're going to go.

Speaker 3 9:23

Wow, kia Niro he's impressed with that.

Speaker 1 9:25

Yeah, I am For an everyday car that run around town. This is a good one. I think you may be the same impression. The final assembly location on this was Hwasong Korea.

Speaker 1 9:39

Oh, but you know we've just done a big deal with them with a 15% tariff and so we're going to have to pay some big tariff fee on that, and I've got a story about that in Canada coming up. Available trim levels on the Kia Niro LX, ex, ex Touring, sx and SX Touring. I had the top of the line SX Touring. Now the government calls this a small station wagon. Does that look like a typical station wagon to you? No, it does not. Seats five. It was completely redesigned in 2023.

Speaker 1 10:15

Unique, attractive front fascia and daytime running lights on this vehicle. That really makes it stand apart from others in the same class. Volvo-esque rear taillights high up next to the hatch glass, matching wheel openings with attractive wheels that are unique to the different trim levels that they offer. Side sculpting is highlighted, or down lighted, or however you want to call it, by some black, just above the lower valance accents. It's an yeah, it's an accent is all. It is what I liked about it the uniqueness that I think will appeal to most people and what could use improvement. Nothing need more vehicles like this. Make it unique, but make it attractive at the same time.

Speaker 1 11:00

Interior highlights Rotary gear selector on the center console, near the starter button. I saw a picture of one that actually had a shift knob on it. So apparently they've got a couple, depending on the trim level you go. Easy to use and understand infotainment screen. Difficult to find lane keeping controls. You've got to drill down into the menu box to turn off the lane keeping controls. You got to drill down, oh boy, into the menu box, yeah, to turn off the lane keeping control. I don't want that. I don't want lane keeping control. I don't want start stop. Those are the two pet peeves of mine, and if you can't turn them off easily, as you know, uh, I ain't mine, that's just me. What I liked about it was really its simplicity on the interior. A nice Harman Kardon sound system, by the way, is also in it. Integrated dash design I like that too. What I like? Its simplicity in the use of the infotainment system and the knobs and buttons that were in it. You can find the stuff when you're looking for it. What could use improvement? Seats are comfortable but could use a little bit more design.

Speaker 1 12:09

Pizzazz, okay, it's kind of plain how it's powered. This is a 1.6 liter gasoline engine, but it is a hybrid, so it does have a battery and a charger in it. You don't have to plug this one in, although they do have a plug-in version and they have a full EV as well. This particular one was the hybrid 139 horsepower, which is not much 195 pound-feet of torque, but what makes the engine work? The six-speed automated manual, it's called, and it reacts pretty well, and so you really don't notice a real downplayed power output on the engine. Miles per gallon this is where it shines 53 city, 45 highway, for a combined of 49, I, don Armstrong, got 43.7 miles per gallon. That's what you need to bring all that crap over from Neederville over here and back and forth on Interstate 10. You need that.

Speaker 3 13:08

So is 53 in the city is less miles on the highway than it is the city.

Speaker 1 13:11

Yeah, because it's winding up the gasoline motor. I got you yeah, Well, around town it's using a lot of battery.

Speaker 2 13:17

Yeah, yeah, that's the great thing about them.

Speaker 1 13:20

So obviously what I liked about it was the fuel economy. What could use improvement? A little more power for acceleration, but I don't care. This basically is an around-town urban car Ride and handling. This car is built for city driving. What could use improvement? Handling is a little lackluster, but this is not a corner carver. Pricing base trim price $35,390. Price is tested Top of the line $37,600 with a couple of options. Base model price $26,990. Also available as an EV or plug-in hybrid, as I mentioned. Competitors to the vehicle in base size and price Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid starts at $28,495. Now remember this one starts at $26,990. Then the Toyota Prius starts at $28,350. And then throw in the Kia Sportage Hybrid for $28,790. So they're all right in that $2,000 mark price point. I think that's a winner. If you're looking for a car to putter around town in, it's a winner.

Speaker 3 14:22

Go for it. Now you mentioned the Volvo-esque taillights. I see that. I saw that in there. They're very similar, yep, and so far as the station wagon look, it is not a station wagon. Back in the 50s and 60s the station wagons had the roll-down back, yep, why can't they do that today? They've got room with these big fat fascia bumpers on the back. Well, I know.

Speaker 1 14:45

But remember that door back there is pretty big and it's all one piece. They could redesign it, you're telling me an Impala wagon's door is less heavy.

Speaker 2 14:55

Yeah, but you're not lifting it like you are on the new ones. Yeah, you know you're talking about and you're not pulling it over to the side, pulling it in would be easier.

Speaker 1 15:01

Well, I'll tell you what. I'll sign your petition. I got a pencil. I'm going to draw one this afternoon. Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email. The address info at inwheeltimecom. Back after this. You own it.