Day 79-81 Mon, Tues, & Wed Aug. 22-24 At Brigham City UT

Day 79-81  Mon, Tues, & Wed Aug. 22-24 At Brigham City UT

Female Black Chinned at our trailer feeder

Sunflower at roadside.

Bear River NWR At Brigham City IT

Some of the many White Faced Ibis we saw (see other picture)

THis field had 700 White Faced Ibis feeding on new cut hay.

JIm got lucky on this WhiteFaced Ibis flying

A Swainson's Hawk at Bear River NWR

Perhaps it might be best to summarize these three days in little bits. First I should tell you that where we are staying is an HISTORIC KOA PARK. That’s right . It is the longest continuous running park in the KOA system. When we drove in I said to Ruth, “this looks like a very old park, tall trees, wide sites,  and the old traditional office that was built in the 1960’s”. True it was. I\t was built in 1964 and will celebrate its’ 50 year in 2014. 

They have a pool and I did get onto that two times. That was a treat as I had not been on the water since MN I believe.  We set up our hummingbird feeder right away as we would be here four nights and what did you think? HUMMERS CAME  in the first hour we were there, and by Tuesday evening there were three of them fighting for drinking rights. We have one of the new multi facet ones that The Birdwatcher’s Marketplace sold us.

Monday we had some chores to do , (not the laundry), so I set up a week ago an appointment in Riverdale some 20 miles toward S L City, to get a new tire, and move the others around some. Also to check the brakes (some noise ) and see if we could get a new seat belt for Ruth’s the]at kept “tightening up” on her at the slightest bump.  They would have expedited one from San Francisco, but no guarantee it would get here by Wed., so we said no.  Later I “tied” the seat belt in position and that seemed to work. The first two (tire and brakes) went fine as there was no brake problem. I asked for a lube and oil change and we did receive a free car wash as well.  I felt better about the tire repair as that one we had the flat tire on was wearing. Tires and trailers need to have accurate air pressure. I do not know who is the authority on that? While the guys were putting the sealed air pressure in, they broke a seal so another 1 hour went by. That gave us time to get Ruth to the Chiropractor late in the afternoon so we did that in Brigham City. She was able to get on to a PAlmer Sch of Chiro. . DC.

While she was there I scoped out the Bear River NWR HQ and got ready for  Tuesday.

              Tuesday we did head for the Refuge and spent all day there , taking a lunch. While seeing  some 25 bird species  we did play “leap frog” in the cars with a family from the Netherlands. We talked to them a lot and they were very knowledgeable about birds and had been doing that for some time. We saw Swainson’s Hawk, White Pelican, Forester’s Tern, and more than 1,000 White Faced Ibis (see pics). Grebes, Gulls, no ducks), some sparrows,, pheasant (young ones too) swallows (3 types), kingbird (2 types) , killdeer and some others. After we were finished on the roads (the bridge was being repaired so the Auto tour was closed). This meant only 10 miles of road was available to drive on, but we did see much. The Refuge has dealt with flooding from the Great Salt Lake into which it empties. The visitor Center was awesome!

In the afternoon I got a long needed haircut in Brigham City at Wyatt’s Barber shop. Three generations work there.  Hey, and it was still just ten dollars (USA). We did buy fresh green beans (just picked), watched a neighbor cut hay and bale it, and got ready for Wed  and a trip into SLC (Salt Lake City). That evening the Netherlands family camped in our campground so we invited them to come and see the Hummers.(There are no Hummers in Europe!). They were delighted and took pictures as the hummers came. We will keep track of them to assist Ruth in finding relatives in the Netherlands.

                 Wednesday--Lots of construction in SLC so I think things here are going pretty well economically.  We had three objectives there . First, stop at an Apple store to get a gift card. That was right in the heart of town so that’s a “dDop Ruth off and pick her up ...HERE, later”. It worked. Then a visit to my cousin Shirley the genealogist in the family . That was a lunch date at their senior residence near the south end of town. We shared some good things as I had not seen her in about 10 years. Another short visit was with a teacher with two sets of twins that I toured Korea with on a Fulbright Fellowship in 1986. She was VERY busy with two of her twins getting ready to depart for a mission in Chili next month. The younger set of twins are sophomores in HS there.  Her husband died right after the second twins were born.

It was all good stiff and after gassing up at $3. 41/g (We beat Grand Rapids today!), we stopped at a I-Hop for some breakfast as Ruth needed some “comfort food”. She loves eggs in the evening.

So tomorrow e head south to Panguitch and then 5 days at Page AZ to see some canyons. We will send some heat your way...NO?