Glamping Days

Drove a little over 400 miles today from southeastern AZ, across a corner of NM, & into west Texas (near Balmorhea).  At a rest stop overlooking Las Cruces, NM, I found this fun roadrunner statue. All the picnic tables at the rest areas in NM are in a structure to give shade & a wind break.   My campground for the night is a very basic one attached to a truck stop. Unlike most of these, this one has some nice landscaping between the sites. 

Finally saw a doc this afternoon & got some antibiotics. By the time the script was filled, it was after 4:00, & a storm had blown in, so I'm spending another night near Wilcox, AZ, with the cranes. Need to be in San Antonio by Fri eve, so will have to make some tracks the next 2 days.  

Well, the bad news is that my doc never called in a prescription for my meds today. That means staying over here another night, which led to the good news. After seeing a crab apple in full bloom (they don't bloom until May at home)...                                         ...the sunset here this evening was probably the most amazing one I've ever seen. The cranes taking off to feed or wading in the ponds were an added bonus.                                          It went on & on...                                         ...& on & on.                                       ...

Last week's cold worked into a sinus infection over the weekend, so I moved 40 miles north to Wilcox, AZ, in search of meds.  Spending tonight at another area with ponds that attract many sandhill cranes for the winter. When they came back from feeding this afternoon, it reminded me of the Hitchcock film The Birds . Between the huge swirl of birds, & their continuous talking, it's an amazing experience each time. 

The Chiricahua Mountains south of the Monument in the Coronado National Forest are snow-covered now, & the road over the mountains is closed due to snow & ice. The main thing folks come here for is the cool geological formations. An 8-mile road & a number of trails wind through them. The neon green on the rocks in one pic is lichen.                                  Though the geology & scenery are usually the highlight here, the coolest part today was the wildlife. I saw a group of 4 Arizona white-tailed deer. They are smaller & lighter in color than those we have at home, which allows them to blend well with the dried grass here. Couldn't get a good pic of them.  Coatimundi, a member of the raccoon family, are described as elusive, but they weren't today. I saw a big group of at least 17 of them & later a smaller group of 7. Fantastic!         ...

I'm camping for several nights in southeastern AZ, between Cochise Stronghold Recreation Area & Chiricahua National Monument. It's on the desert floor surrounded on 3 sides by mountains, & the nearest houses are just barely visible; it's absolutely silent except for the occasional bird. There are 4 campsites, but it's a new place, & I seem to be the only one to have discovered it. Here's my view of the Chiricahua Mountains.    Approaching Cochise Stronghold (a valley where the Apaches stayed for safety) this morning... I was surprised to see several orchards along the way - maybe pecans?

This morning, I was treated to the full sandhill crane experience at Whitewater Draw. When I arrived  by the water's edge at 6:15, all of the birds were in the pond, where they stay overnight for protection. Soon, groups of them moved onto the shore. It was lovely watching the sunrise in the east as a full moon set in the west.  For more than an hour, wave after wave of them took off until only maybe a hundred of the 20,000 remained; it's hard to photograph them in the air as they fly away from the viewing area. These pics look quite serene, but they talk constantly, so the area is actually quite noisy. They spend the next few hours feeding out in the fields.  After breakfast & getting organized to move in the afternoon, I went back down to the pond. About 10:40, the flock of snow geese all came in at once, circled overhead a couple of times, & all landed together - fantastic! There wasn't one crane n the area.              ...

There are 2 parking lots here for RVs, one fairly close to the ponds & an overflow area about a mile north. The main RV lot was full yesterday afternoon, & I couldn't see any water while driving through. Due to the high winds, I couldn't hear any birds, & none were flying around: I concluded that the area was too dry, so the birds were elsewhere this year. I camped at the overflow lot a mile north, & was awakened by a weird noise about 6:30. A long wave of sandhill cranes was approaching, followed by another wave & another; this went on for more than an hour; they all leave the ponds in the morning to feed in nearby fields. Seems that the 20,000 sandhill cranes that usually winter here were just kept in the ponds yesterday afternoon by the wind. Today, I moved over to the main area, & watched off & on as groups came back to the ponds to overnight. My alarm is set for 5:30 to be sure I'll catch them all lifting off in the morning. Photos can't...