Last night on the road April 17th 2012 Geneseo, Illinois (Day 48)

Today, the six week trip to west Texas and the Texas Coast with stops in OK, Ks, MO, and IL on the way home is coming to an end.  Many thanks to those of you who took the time to check in from time to time and to at least look at The posted pictures and maybe read a snippet or two from the blog. You might be interested that we had almost 2,000 “hits” on the blog  and  we thank you for that interest. Our trip with the truck (not trailer) covered  6,000 miles

The trip to Illinois was an easy one as we stayed on the Freeway in order to expedite the distance from NW Missouri to Western Illinois. It was almost 300 miles but went very smoothly even with some one lane traffic for bridge work on the highway.

The plaque about Herbert Hoover

A "quote fromMeredith Wilson in cast iron

Part of the Mormon story when
they stopped here

The front of the rest area with the pen "nubbin".

One of the Iowa rest stops was most interesting and I have displayed some of those pictures in this blog. The state of Iowa (which we went through from the south end to the east end) has done a marvelous job in dedicating that rest area to writers of the state of Iowa.  There are large cast iron relief placards on 7 “lean to’s” where there are picnic benches. Inside the rest area there are writings of authors and poets  and large letters cutout from native woods that decorate the hallways. Outside also there are large memorials to three different thoughts  that occurred in Iowa, One on President Hoover (Iowa native) , one on the Mormon travelers to Utah, and another one on the history of Iowa City (university of Iowa is located there)

Later in the afternoon, we overshot our intended destination as Ruth and I were both distracted listening to a good mystery story on the CD player. So, we continued to another stop, not on Iowa but in Illinois across the Mississippi River.  (That was  shocker to get gasoline at $4.09/gallon as in Missouri we had gotten it at $3.58/gallon.) In two days we crossed the two great United States rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi. I wonder how long it took Lewis and Clark and all the other pioneers to cross those two rivers and how many died trying before bridges and float barges were used to  cross them?

There were no pretty sunsets tonight as the sun went down in a clear blue sky with no fanfare.

So the trip was a good one with lots of birds, and the final tally was 191 BIRD SPECIES SEEN. There were a few new ones to us and I will check the list when I get home. Certainly seeing a MERLIN, three GREAT HORNED OWLS on the same day, both the BALD and the GOLDEN EAGLE, MISSISSIPPI KITE,  FERRUGENOUS HAWK, COMMON MOORHEN, AMERICAN BITTERN, and the FULVOUS WHISTLING DUCK, were among the best sightings for us. We have to remember that we did this before the migrant songbirds started their journey north, or we could believe the count would have been much higher.

‘Til the next time , again, thanks for “tuning in” as the radio shows used to say. We will let you know when the next trip and postings occur.

Bless you all,

Jim and Ruth

Less than two weeks to go.

Jim and Ruth are making those last minute plans for the trip to Europe. This will be the blog that we use for the trip and we hope you  enjoy the pictures and narrative that accompanies the trip.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of each entry or sign in as a member.

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See you soon (April 8 the take off day).

Jim and Ruth

Day 18 at Rockport Big Birding day

March 18th, DAY 18  Big birding day!

The first day on the Gulf Coast turned out to be a great day for us to locate and identify birds. It was the best day thus far.  IT was a “sort of” triangular ride through brush country, some city ponds and finally the backwaters of the Mission River and the flats of Copano and Aransas Bay.

It was slightly windy and interestingly for you weather buffs, the temperatures are setting records for maximum lows each night . We have been at 75 F the last few nights and not over 80 during the day. Galveston set four maximum low records in the last five nights.  Seems like the wind off the Gulf is constant all day long.

Today too, was the EXODUS of the Spring Break travelers, so the road going north to Refugio was crowded. There were many people moving away from the Gulf resorts back to Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Every time I pulled off the road to observe the birds I made sure there was space behind me. Remember that TEXAS has a speed limit of 75 MPH. So they really move fast even on two lane highways. This is at least 10 MPH faster than most states.

To allow you to get an idea of the birds we saw today,  here is a partial list of the 49 species seen today with some emphasis on those not seen often. 

Mew and Franklin Gulls,  *Black Bellied Whistling Duck, Belted Kingfisher, Great Egret, Kestrel, Gray Hawk, *Caracara,

 Western Meadow Lark, Loggerhead Shrike, Reddish Egret,  The *Great and Little Blue Heron, Baird’s Sandpiper, *Ruddy Turnstone, Black Necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, Scissor Tailed Flycatcher, White and Brown Pelican, Purple Martin, Golden Fronted Woodpecker, Bank Swallow, Red Tailed Hawk,  Swainson’s Hawk,  Snowy Egret, American Oystercatcher, Redhead (duck) Widgeon, Ruddy Duck, Pied Billed Grebe, Blue Winged Teal and the Osprey. We saw the Osprey only because it dove into the water to catch a fish at some distance away.

I left out the common ones such as the blackbirds, grackles and doves.

I will attempt to download the pictures of those with an asterisk * if the internet is fast enough tonight. It has been sluggish at night but better in the AM.

One stretch of road from Refugio to the coastal areas was filled with many hawks and Caracaras perching on the telephone poles along the way . Ruth counted 15 hawks  that we could not identify, but were probably Swainson’s or Red Tailed immature .

A side trip included Goose Bay State Park near Fulton, where there is a 1000 year old *Live Oak tree that has been preserved and established as a memorial to the live oak trees in southern USA. We had seen it before but it is a good one to remind us of the world we live in that was much simpler in years gone by and that we need to continue to honor and preserve  those wonderful plants and animals .

We ended the day at the  RV Park by grilling hamburgers and that is Ruth’s job. She is the expert and I stay out of the way there.  They were excellent. Tonight is again warm at 78 F at 8:00 PM. It will probably be that all night. 

HEADING OVERSEAS

Hi there fans!

Jim and Ruth are getting ready to head "on the road" one more time. This time it s not with the trailer and it is not going to be in the USA.

We are planning a European trip that will take us to the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland and return to the USA.

Jim came down with an intestinal disorder  so that has slowed hom down and he is "recovery mode". If all goes well the two of us will meet the April 8 departure date, flying Detroit to Paris to Amsterdam.

So hang on , and check in once in a while after that date to see if we are truly "Across the Pond".

More later ,

Jim
Here is a look at one of the polders in the Netherlands so you can have a "sneak peek".