Tomorrow is scheduled for some rain, so we will do the necessaries then. A short trip today allowed us to get across the heavily flooded wetland of the Missouri River and explore those swamps for whatever was there. The cut that the Missouri River has made in many places , especially north and west of Sioux City Iowa, exposes many buttes and eroded banks along that stretch the river. There is then, a very high bank on either side of the river. We traversed the south side near Williston, after scoping out the flat lands near the river. These contained many waterfowl and some shore birds. The Buttes contain again, much wheat land and some flax that we saw. That was a surprise as the flax blossoms make the land look like it is covered with water from a distance. A beautiful blue color showed for acres and acres. Contrasted against the rape seed, (Canola) it makes a beautiful setting.
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| The flax fields are in full bloom right now and the rape seed is adjacent. |
Along with the fields of grain and seed , there were many birds that we have not seen in a while including the : BELTED KINGFISHER, RED TAILED HAWK, NORTHERN FLICKER, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, WHITE RUMPED SANDPIPER, ORCHARD ORIOLE, BALTIMORE ORIOLE, CEDAR WAXWING, CATBIRD, WHITE PELICAN, and the BLUE JAY again right here in the campground. We tallied 30 birds in all.
We found a tree on the south side of the gravel road, to stop for lunch using our brains to pick a shady spot on this land of few trees. Spotting those field sparrows and sorting them out still takes much of our study during the drive. The SAVANNAH, VESPER, CLAY COLORED, and GRASSHOPPER sparrows need to be examined carefully and they usually don't stay on a fence post that long. We keep learning. The bird feeders are up bythe trailer and we have attracted a few birds as the Purple Finch, Blue Jay, House Sparrow, and Common Grackle.
The day ended with a stop for groceries at Albertson's and a supper of Brats and some Tillamook "Mudslide"ice cream that we had in the freezer. I told Ruth (as we have never used the TV on the trip) that the TV space could easily be made into another freezer space. It's 2 feet by 2 1/2 feet, so I think we could find one that would fit. I did a small repair today on the side panels of the trailer that was beginning to wear. Here are a few more photos from "up on top"of the Butte and crossing the Missouri River.
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| Wild Minarda Bergamot Bee Balm. |
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| The Missouri River at Williston ND. Very high water and flooded. |
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| One of the thousands of wells in this area. (Note vertical pumpers as well as the traditional | .) |
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| A view from south of the Missouri across to Williston. |
Tomorrow will be laundry and oil change for the truck. I notice that we have 10,390 miles on the truck and 6,440 miles on the trailer for this trip to date.
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