THIS LAND IS OUR LAND

This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

TICK BITE WITH LYME DISEASE

GAMBEL'S QUAIL

April 28:  Last night I noticed a lovely bullseye red mark around the site of a tick bite I had gotten somewhere in Texas over a week ago.  We both looked at it and after a bilateral "Uh oh", we knew I had gotten Lyme Disease.  So this morning, after another fruitless visit to Fort Huachuca looking for that goddam non-existent Sinaloa wren, we went to a walk-in clinic where the doc confirmed our diagnosis (we are from Connecticut, after all) and sent me to the pharmacy for antibiotics.  We then drove west to the southern part of southeast AZ and visited the well-known hummingbird haven formerly owned and maintained by the Paton family.  Unfortunately, both Mr. and Mrs. Paton have died and the Tucson Audubon Society has taken over managing the place.  I really did not like what they have done, but, of course, they did not ask me.  This used to be a simple hummingbird feeding station.  Now there are seed feeders all over the place, water features, and construction of more grandiose accommodations for birds.  Too much, in my humble opinion.  Very few hummingbirds now, amidst the hubbub of house finches, Gambel's quail, goldfinches, woodpeckers, sparrows, doves and the like, all attracted by the seed.

We stayed at a nearby RV park in Patagonia.

April 29:  Gale took me out for a delightful birthday dinner last night at a very nice restaurant in Patagonia, AZ.  Patagonia, besides being a fantastic area for birding, is sort of a funky artists' colony where you get cowboys and craftsmen living cheek to jowl.

Woke up this morning at 5:30 AM.  Early worms catch the birds, right.  Well, folks, it was so freakin' cold (34˚) that those birds, those that were actually awake, were laughing at us.  To complicate matters, after we unhooked the RV water line from the spigot (which was very low to the ground), I accidentally kicked the valve, opening it at high volume and spraying ice cold water up my pants and all over me.  Good thing the humidity here hovers around 15%.  

THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD

NORTHERN BEARDLESS TYRANNULET

Our first stop was the world famous Patagonia Rest area.  You quickly ask, "How can a picnic area be world famous?"  Because many years ago, some birders found a rare bird here, leading other birders to come and search for it, who subsequently found more rare birds and so on and so on.  Dubbed the "Patagonia Picnic Area Effect", birders still flock here and find great stuff.  As did we.  Right off the bat, just as the rising sun finally peeked its warm glow over the mountain ridge behind us, a pair of thick-billed kingbirds started chattering atop the just lit tips of the tallest sycamores.  Next came a few northern beardless-tyrannulets, a small flycatcher unique in that it is named for something it does not possess - a "beard".  Or rictal bristles, as your local ornithologist would say.  A rare violet-crowned hummingbird fed low on some orange flowering plants, possibly lobelia.  

MADERA CANYON, SOUTHEAST ARIZONA

We drove north and explored Garden Canyon, an eight-mile long washboard of a dirt road that shook everything loose in the RV as well as a few of our fillings.  Nonetheless, the glowing yellow grassland, framed by the eastern flank of the Santa Rita Mountains, was extraordinarily lovely.  Next back road was a cut-off called Box Canyon.  First through some grassland and then a steady descent throughout 15 miles of dirt road that wound its way through the canyon.  Stunning views and the canyon kept getting narrower and steeper.  The  sidewall slope was broken by many geological sills and dikes, flowering ocotillo, agave and other yuccas.  Then we ascended into Madera Canyon on the western side of the Santa Ritas, where we would spend two nights at the lovely Santa Rita Lodge.  A real bed, real shower, real kitchen and many other amenities made our suite feel just like home.  I cooked a birthday dinner of Florida shrimp (which had come with us), rice and a salsa mix.  Scrumptious!  Followed by chocolate birthday cupcakes, chocolate/fudge/caramel gelato and a screening of Tombstone, the movie.  That was a lot of fun because we had just been there and could compare the story and the movie set with what it really looked like.  Bad ass Wyatt Earp!

Just before retiring for the night, I had to go out to RV to get something and was stopped cold in my tracks when I heard elf, western screech and whiskered screech owls all calling at once!  Phenomenal!

YELLOW-EYED JUNCO

April 30:  Really dawdled this morning and made red pepper omelets with toast for breakfast before finally heading out for a hike up the Carrie Nation Trail in Madera Canyon.  Starting at 5400' elevation, parts of the trail were quite steep and rocky, so we picked out way along, pausing frequently to catch our breath.  We are from sea level Florida after all.  Not too many birds this morning, but we did see greater pewee (is that like jumbo shrimp?) and yellow-eyed junco.  The extremely white branches of the giant just leafing-out Arizona sycamores looked like bleached skeletons against the azure sky.  Wild turkeys made the most noise, gobbling from every little side canyon.  We learned that this subspecies had been extirpated from this area many years ago and have been very successfully reintroduced from Mexican stock of the same subspecies.

BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD

Back to the cabin for lunch, pay bills, write and relax.  The lodge has established a bird feeding area with hummer feeders, brush piles and water, plus very nice seating for viewing and photography.  The most colorful of the hummers is undoubtedly the broad-billed, sporting a bright red sword of a beak.  Undoubtedly, we'll spend a bit more time there this afternoon and see if we can find some of those owls tonight!

3000 MILES FROM HOME

440 horses drive the wheels of this chrome and steel
Like a freight train through the night,
My foot is lead and my eyes blood red,
And my knuckles showing white,
My hair is slicked with oil,
and my breathe flows gasoline.
Well I'm a smoking' flamin' death machine
And the lonely lights of another lonely town
Lonely highway I keep rushing down
And there's a 100 miles till I sleep tonight
Well I've got to put the hammer down.

- Johnny Cash

GREATER ROADRUNNER

SANTA ELENA CANYON, RIO GRANDE', BBNP

April 22:  Despite Gale’s protests, we got up before dawn even thought of cracking and drove the short distance from Cottonwood Campground in BBNP, TX, to Santa Elena Canyon, one of the three great canyons cut by the Rio Grande’ in BBNP (the others are Boquillas and Mariscal).  Only at first light does the sun shine directly into the canyon, illuminating its towering and majestic 1500 foot walls.  A roadrunner zooms past the short trail that climbs sharply up the canyon wall and allows entrance about 200 yards into the narrow canyon.  The descending liquid notes of a canyon wren cascade from high above as northern rough-winged swallows course silently over the river.  We were the only people present. Sometimes magic comes from magnificent scenery, sometimes from the song of a tiny bird.

RIO GRANDE'

BLACK JACK'S CROSSING RESORT, LAJITAS, TEXAS

GOLF IN THE DESERT

From Santa Elena, we drove to Lajitas, just outside BBNP, to play golf of all things.  After all the natural wonders we had been privileged to witness, it seemed VERY strange to see an upscale golf course and resort imposed upon this desert wilderness.  So we did our best to wear it out.  The course was actually a lot of fun and we saw a bunch of new “trip” birds while playing, most notably flocks of migrating American pipits.  Some of the elevated views of the Rio Grande’ were spectacular, especially with the artificial green of the course laid out amidst the otherwise xeric landscape.  Our night was spent in the less than elegant RV park across the street, where giant motorhomes were lined up like cruise ships at the dock.  But they did have big showers, big toilets, and WIFI, from where I made the last posts.

April 23:  We took the road less traveled and drove along the Rio Grande’ from Lajitas, Texas, to Presidio, TX, with a short stop at the Terlingua “ruins” where the world’s largest annual chili cook-off is held.  The serpentine road along the river climbed, twisted and turned through the desert, cutting through this geologically tortured landscape, revealing gray, brown, gold and red layers of sedimentary and igneous rock.  One of the few other vehicles we encountered along this road stopped at an overlook with us and said, “I’ve lived in Texas all my life and never been on this road.  This is amazing!”

We turned north at Presidio, steadily gaining altitude until we reached Van Horn and turned west toward Arizona.  We stopped in El Paso (“I’m just an asshole from El Paso” - Kinky Friedman) to resupply and then hugged the Mexican border all the way across New Mexico on Route 9.  Almost every vehicle we saw along this extremely flat desert route was from the US Border Patrol.  We had to stop at an inspection station and get sniffed by a German shephard (dog) to make sure we hadn’t just come from Oregon or other godless pot-smoking region.  We arrived in Portal, AZ too late too get a campsite, but the folks at the folksy Portal Store were kind enough to let us just park in their lot for the night.  We were beat after 12 hours on the road so that was just fine.

ROAD FROM LAJITAS TO PRESIDIO

ROAD FROM LAJITAS TO PRESIDIO

MOONRISE, ARIZONA

FLOOD WRECKAGE, CAVE CREEK CANYON

April 24:  An early start took us up the South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon, one of the most beautiful locations in the entire state.  The canyon walls glowed red, yellow and green in the early sunlight, surging a thousand feet above us.  These shear rock faces are pocked with deep caves, inspiring the canyon’s name.  For those who haven’t been here in some time, in 2014 a monster flood tore through the canyon, sending boulders, trees and and all sorts of debris hurtling down the canyon.  The old picnic/campground became inaccessible by vehicle and the formerly placid stream bed was a jumble of rocks, now dry.  Gale was shocked (as was I), when I correctly identified an unseen blue-throated hummingbird by the sound of its wings!  Our target species here (and for everyone else) was the elegant trogon, the only one of its family to breed in North America.  A number of people were there with the same goal and we were taunted by two male trogons frequently calling and flying up and down the canyon but remaining invisible to all.  Finally, one male, in all its crimson and green splendor, appeared and we had very satisfying looks at it.  There were quite a few other birds around as well - bridled titmouse, plumbeous, Cassin’s and Hutton’s vireos, Townsend’s, yellow-rumped (Audubon’s), orange-crowned, black-throated gray warblers and painted redstart.  If you don’t know what these gorgeous birds look like, go find out!  They’re stunning little jewels.

ELEGANT TROGON

We then drove a 25 mile loop through the high mountains, looking for high elevation species.  These roads are narrow, dirt, extremely winding and rough, so if you don’t have the heart for it, don’t do it, especially in an RV.  Plus it was extremely windy.  Unfortunately, in 2011 a fire swept through much of the area around Rustler Peak and Barfoot Park, wiping out much of the habitat for these birds.  All we saw was a flock of Gould’s subspecies of wild turkey, which were surprisingly black and white in color and VERY large.   

GOULD'S WILD TURKEY

Dinner was a delightful outdoor pleasure on the restaurant terrace of the Portal Store. On the return drive to the campground we saw a common poorwill in our headlights as it fluttered off the road into pitch darkness.  No moon and clear skies meant an insanely gorgeous star-filled sky.  We could even see what brand of pants Orion was wearing! 

April 25:  This was our desert birding day near the eastern flank of the Chiricahua Mountains, right along the New Mexico state line.  We started at the “Jasper Feeders”, a yard designed and maintained to attract birds and the owner welcomes the public, even providing seating.  There were swarms of lazuli bunting, green-tailed towhee, pyrrhuloxia, Gambel’s quail, broad-tailed and broad-billed hummingbirds, and in the parking area, a crissal thrasher perched up and sang for us!

LAZULI BUNTING

GAMBEL'S QUAIL

Unfortunately, the wind was howling by now and our attempts to bird the open desert were fruitless, despite trying.  We headed southwest to Douglas, AZ and found a laundromat so we could get the dust and dirt out of our clothes.  We decided to be tourists for the rest of the day and drove through Bisbee, AZ, home of one of the world’s largest open pit copper mines.  Then on to Tombstone, to walk the wooden sidewalks and check out a few of the saloons.  These days, you can get quiche, paninis, or a reuben with a very nice selection of wines if a steak and a beer isn’t what you had in mind.  We ate at Big Nose Kate’s, who reportedly was Doc Holiday’s gal.  All the employees dress up in costume, including a gun-totin’ dude who runs a mean digital cash register.  Much fun, even if a tad hokey.  Interesting to stand in the places where the shootout at the OK Corral really happened and where Wyatt Earp’s brother Virgil was gunned down in a billiard parlor.  I tell you, pool starts with a capital P and that rhymes with trouble, or something like that.

BIG NOSE KATE'S BAR, TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA

GALE WITH OLDER MODEL RV, TOMBSTONE

BISBEE COPPER MINE

We had a little problem with a sticky closet door in the RV (herafter known as “Albie, short for Wandering Albatross).  Having been trained in the blacksmith school of carpentry  and cabinetry (this is where you learn to put in a reluctant screw with a hammer), I applied a little extra force, resulting in the whole door coming off in my hands and screws flying everywhere.  Next stop - Ace, the home of the friendly hardware man, for some new bigger screws.  We found him in the sprawling town of Sierra Vista, carried in the whole door for demonstration purposes and acquired some fatter screws that did the job.  Door rehung and now working fine.  We’re so proud of ourselves!

On to our campgrounds for the next three nights in Ramsey Canyon, just south of Sierra Vista.  I can’t believe the hideous sprawl of what was, 25 years ago, a tiny quiet town.  

Good night, all.

MULE DEER

April 26:  Dawn came early (5:38 AM), because AZ is the only state in the union that does not believe in daylight savings time.  At 5400 feet elevation, it was also very cold and we were extremely happy that our heating system worked.  Before breakfast, we walked a half mile up the canyon on the paved road, where it terminates at the Ramsey Canyon Preserve of the Nature Conservancy.  At the nearby B&B feeders, magnificent hummingbirds zipped back and forth, flashing their brilliant lavender and emerald iridescence.  We returned to our lovely campsite, where we overlooked the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains.  Mule deer placidly grazed below us and singing hepatic tanagers perched close by.  We had breakfast al fresco, enjoying the scenery and the wildlife.

HEPATIC TANAGER

Next stop was the Ash Canyon B&B in, you guessed it, Ash Canyon, about ten miles south of our temporary home.  Apple and Google maps are amazing - you punch in the name of a place and the directions take you right to it, no matter how far down a twisting dirt road in the middle of no place.  We visited to find the lucifer hummingbird, a tiny bird only found in the USA in the southwest.  After a bit of waiting, it showed up, flaring an amazing purple gorget that covers its throat and the sides of its neck.  

SPOTTED OWL

LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD

After a delightful lunch (I have discovered the elegant combination of peanut butter and banana on rye sandwiches), we proceeded

to Beatty’s B&B in Miller Canyon, another spot that for a small fee, invites the public in to observe at its feeders and walk the grounds.  We watched the hummer feeders for a bit, and then learned that there was a spotted owl less than a mile up the canyon.  We decided to go for it, got good directions as to where to find the owl and started the strenuous walk up the canyon.  Our legs were in better shape now, after our workouts in BBNP, but the elevation was over 6000 feet and our breathing was labored.  After a half hour, we started searching the pines for this one bird, hidden somewhere in the boughs.  I was sure the owl was watching us, but we just couldn’t find this elusive hooter.  Another half hour passed and FINALLY, I saw a head poking out of a nearby pine on the high side of the trail.  We couldn’t see the whole bird from the trail, plus we were looking almost straight up, so I scrambled up a ledge and up and over some boulders to get behind the owl and more at eye level.  Did this disturb the bird?  Apparently not, since it never even batted any eye from its daytime nap.  This owl is the same species that caused such a hubbub in the Pacific northwest, since it requires mature old growth forest for nesting and habitat.  Loggers didn’t like that.  The bird we were seeing is the Mexican subspecies and lives in the dry oak and pine filled canyons of our southwest and northern Mexico.  High fives and day over!

April 27:  We spent the entire day at Fort Huachuca looking for a very rare Sinaloa Wren.  No luck.  That’s life in the bird lane. Sometimes you rip; sometimes you dip.  

COOPER'S HAWK

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we saw Cooper’s hawks in full breeding dress, with flank plumes Gypsy Rose Lee would die for.  Many other new birds for our journey, bringing our trip list to 268.  Perhaps the hawk scared all the birds away.

Now we will continue our Continental Drift with dinner at the campground where we will eat from tectonic plates and try and avoid Continental Divide.

A FEW MORE PHOTOS

ELF OWL

GREAT HORNED OWL

A few more photos

GRAY VIREO

GREATER EARLESS LIZARD DOING PUSHUPS

CASA GRANDE, WITH MOONRISE, BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK

BORN TO BE WILD (that would be us)

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way

 Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild

ELF OWL

BOQILLAS CANYON

VERMILION FLYCATCHER

April 18: Awoke to pouring rain, the remnants of the storm that washed away Houston.  Just what the Chihuahuan Desert ordered!  It rained for a bit as we headed south into BBNP, but in the desert the rain's all underground and all signs of moisture rapidly disappeared.  Our first stop was Rio Grande Village (RGV), to make sure we got a campsite.  Choosing a site is a very difficult decision - everything must be just right - or you pick the site that has a vermilion flycatcher perched on the signpost!  In fact, the entire campground was overrun with these little crimson jewels.  It also turned out that the tree right behind us, chiseled with multiple woodpecker holes, had not only an active golden-fronted woodpecker nest, but an elf owl hole right on the other side!  A visit to Boquillas Canyon was quite an adventure for the afternoon, as wind gusts up to 40-50 MPH blew through the canyon, sandblasting us as we struggled to stay upright.  The canyon is one of three that the Rio Grande has carved through the soft rock.  With walls towering 1500 feet above us as the river coursed by, it was quite and impressive sight.  Back at the RGV campground, just before dark, our little elf owl friend popped its head out for a view before going out hunting for the night.  

GREAT HORNED OWL

WESTERN SCREECH OWL

COMMON BLACK-HAWK

April 19: Near the RGV, common black-hawks have nested for many years along the Daniels Ranch Road, so watched the pair change places on the nest a couple of times.  To complement the show, a bobcat watched us for a bit and then disappeared into the underbrush.  Next was Dugout Wells, an old ranch watering hole in the desert, where scaled quail scampered among the cactus and creosote bushes.  About 50 miles west, we visited the Cottonwood campground.  The drive over there cases through some of the most interesting and stunning geological features anywhere.  BBNP is the site of multiple geologic zones smashing into each other and overlapping, creating a mosaic of volcanic rubble, tall peaks, tufa flows and multi-colored strata.  The campground hosts were a pair of great horned owls, with whom I had a lovely conversation.  Mrs. GHO seemed more inclined to speak with me than Mr. I think she liked my look.  We returned to our campsite for dinner and at about 9:30 PM, we walked around the campgrounds to see if we could find any western screech owls.  Stepping out of the RV, the diminutive elf owl (they are only about 6" tall) was perched right overhead, chattering away like a barking chihuahua dog.  I heard a screech owl doing its bouncing ball call.  As we walked toward it, more owls started calling until an amazing six were "ping-ponging" at the same time!  Most amazing owl experience ever.

CAMPSITE IN CHISOS BASIN

April 20: We got an early start and drove up into the Chisos Mountains Basin camping area.  This range reaches high out of the desert to have its own micro climate and environment.  The higher you get, the greenery and taller becomes the forest, with different birds all along the way.  After securing a very nice campsite, we hiked the Window Trail, a 4 mile round trip walk to the slot canyon where all the water that collects in the mountain basin pours out through a narrow chute into the desert 500 feet below.  Along the way, heard and then found a pair of gray vireos, a fairly rare and always hard to find species.  The area around the Window resembles a protracted Henry Moore sculpture, as eons of water pouring through have carved sluiceways through the sedimentary rocks.  The walk back to the campsite, ALL UPHILL, was hot and arduous for our less than ideally toned legs, but we made it.

MEXICAN JAY

April 21:  Today was the BIG HIKE to Laguna Meadows, a six mile roundtrip jaunt that is all uphill to the forested slopes of the Chisos Mountains.  It was another beautiful clear day and we paced ourselves carefully, taking sufficient water and munchies for the trek.  We encountered Hutton's vireos, dusky flycatcher, spotted towhee, black-tailed gnatcatcher, rufous-crowned sparrow and throngs of highly gregarious Mexican jays.  These jays should really be called Mexican scrub-jays, since they are very similar to the other scrub-jays in both their appearance, behavior and "wink, wink" vocalizations.  Completely beat, we repaired to the Basin Lodge Restaurant for some cold drinks and a big lunch.  We'll drive back to Cottonwood Campground for the night.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN....

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again

-Willie Nelson

Day 4:  Got a good night’s sleep at where else? Walmart! in Sealy, Texas.  Today was a day of learning on the RV curve.  #1: Learned we could fill our water tank at any gas station with a spigot and a hose.  #2: Learned that if we went to a state park with a campground and paid our day use fee, we could dump our tanks AND take nice hot showers in their roomy shower facilities.  

TEXAS BLUEBONNETS

GUADELUPE RIVER STATE PARK

Itinerary for today: West toward San Antonio, then Route 46 northwest looping around the city.  Along the way we decided to stop for a while at a park to get in some walking and birding.  Guadalupe River State Park was exceptionally beautiful.  This year’s rains have made all of Texas very green, grassy and blanketed with a profusion of colorful wildflowers.  There are bluebonnets (lupine), orange paintbrush, all sorts of purple, yellow and white cone flowers, red and yellow blanket flowers and multitudes of others which must remain nameless due to our botanical illiteracy.  The emerald green Guadalupe River runs through the park (of course), cutting a sheer wall 50 feet tall through the soft limestone that dominates the geology of this area.  Live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and sharp-spined mesquites make up most of the trees, but along the river, giant bald cypress trees, some with trunks six feet in diameter, line the banks, having somehow survived many floods that would have gone right over their topmost branches.  Birding was excellent as well, despite it being a sunny mid-day.  Bright red summer tanagers singing, black-crested titmouse, and golden-cheeked warbler (an endangered specialty of the area).  Here’s what I like best about this mid-continent area for birding - canyon wren of the west singing on one side and northern parula warbler of the east singing on the other.  Many species just make it to the edge of their ranges here, with some overlap.  

We ended up in Kerrville, TX, early enough that we could do a quick laundry before heading out for some Texas BBQ! 

We resupplied and set up the Albatross for the night.  Gale cleaned out hundreds of dead little mosquito bodies and wiped the blood (ours) off all surfaces upon which the slaughter had occurred.  

The quest for the elusive black-capped vireo photo is tomorrow!  I may not have admitted the story to you, but two years ago, we went to Lost Maples State Park in Texas and one of the priorities was for me to photograph a BCVI.  I did AND THEN ACCIDENTALLY DELETED ALL MY SHOTS!  So tomorrow is my chance for redemption.  Wish me luck!

, 

BLACK-CAPPED VIREO

Day 5:  After a delightful night in another Walmart parking lot (we got the deluxe spot), we arose an hour before the sun to drive to Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA), THE spot for black-capped vireos.  It was a cold and windy morning (as opposed to a dark and stormy night), the exact opposite of what vireos like before becoming active for the day.  Vireos are like butterflies - they like it hot, sunny and calm, so they can sing all day.  First BCVI we found was in an oak/juniper thicket so dense we couldn’t find the bird, despite it singing loudly over and over again not 20 feet away!  As the day warmed, we tried several other spots, but to no avail.  My mood was darkening.  We decided to wander further back from the road to see if we could hear one singing somewhere.  After a half hour stumbling around, we found a singing male.  Chasing it around from shrubbery to shrubbery, tree to tree, defying any attempts at even a glimpse, let alone a photo.  Every time we did get a peek at it, it was a pop-up and disappear experience.  The, FINALLY, it sat still for a nano-moment in a semi-open oak and I fired off a barrage before it once more disappeared.  VICTORY!!!!

WESTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKE

SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER

DEVIL'S SINKHOLE

We carried on west and paid a visit to The Devil’s Sinkhole, a massive 150 foot deep cylindrical hole with about a 60 foot diameter.  Forty years ago, when I was last here, this was the only place to see cave swallows, but now they nest under numerous bridges in west Texas.  There is also a colony of about 10,000 Mexican free-tailed bats that make the cave their home every summer.  Driving out of the park, a western diamondback rattlesnake was sunning itself in the middle of the road, flicking its tongue but not rattling its five segments.

No traveling south, we camped for the night at Kickapoo Caverns State Park, a lovely spot filled with vermilion flycatchers and more Bell’s vireos than you can count.  

Gale made an incredible dinner of chicken breasts crusted with cumin and pepper, covered with salsa verde, over a bed of rice and complemented by a fresh salad, mine with a delicious avocado.

Problem discovered: I can’t find my card reader to upload photos from my cameras to my computer and thence to this noteworthy journal.  

Day 6: We got up to find the whole place socked in with fog and mist.  Not deterred, after our usual breakfast of our usual fare of bran flakes and either raisins or dried cranberries, we went for a walk along the park road and off on a side trail.  There were many beautiful flowers and bloom laden prickly pear cacti. We found a singing Scott’s oriole, much to our delight.  For the entire drive south from Rocksprings to Brackettville, a distance of 58 miles, we saw no less than two other cars the entire way.  That’s a real back road!  We cruised west to Del Rio to resupply.  i bought a new card reader - it doesn’t work - incompatible with my computer.  Screwed.

PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS

Continued west and crossed gigantic Lake Amistad on the US/Mexico border.  There were three places I wanted to visit - two were now inaccessible and the third was dead.  Onward to Seminole Canyon State Park, where it is VERY hot and windy - the desert scirocco!

CACTUS WREN

Interesting place, with the oldest pictographs in North America drawn on several canyon walls where early people camped up to 8000 years ago.  Hopefully, it will be cooler in the morning and we can go for a hike and some birding before it heats up.

Sat out by our picnic table, being entertained by a cactus wren and an ash-throated flycatcher, each of which wanted to sit on my head!

FOUND MY CARD READER - I’M BACK IN BUSINESS AGAIN!

Day 7:  Last night, from nowhere, the wind got gusty and it felt like we were in a rocking boat.  Then it dies off and the monsoon started.  Totally pouring.  It would have been better if we had thought to close the exhaust fan hood and thereby prevent the wet floor in the morning, but we’re still learning.

BLACK-TAILED JACKRABBIT

SEMINOLE CANYON STATE PARK

OCOTILLO BLOSSOMS

We got a semi-early start and walked the several mile Canyon Rim Trail, which tracked the very edge of the canyon (“Sam, don’t get any closer to the edge!”) and gave us spectacular views of the winding bathtub shaped gorge.  Birds were good, too, blue grosbeak, pyrrhuloxia, scaled quail, turkey, verdin, black-throated sparrow, lark bunting and most amazing, so many singing, skylarking Cassin’s sparrows that we couldn’t believe their density.  We also saw a western ribbon snake slide across the path, too quick for a pic.  A black-tailed jackrabbit was far more entertaining.  The ocotillo, or coachwhip, were mostly in flower and I’m sure all the rain will only increase the desert bloom.

Back on the westering route 90, more and more into wide open Chihuahuan Desert, we pushed on, stopping only at an overlook at the Pecos River.  We were now in Judge Roy Bean’s jurisdiction.  

GAGE HOTEL, MARATHON, TEXAS

By late afternoon, we reached our destination for the night, the Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas.  Once a cattle baron’s retreat, where millions of head of cattle were sold to be shipped out on the nearby railroad, the Gage is now an upscale luxurious lodge in the middle of nowhere.  After a refreshing swim in the large pool, we dined elegantly on (is this an oxymoron?) chicken-fried steak in the hotel’s fancy restaurant.

Tomorrow we depart for Big Bend National Park for 4-5 days, where we will once again be out of range for reporting.