Category Archives: road trip

Count Them?

On our recent trip to North Carolina, we spent nearly every day at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Mild weather, expansive beaches, and lots of sea birds – what’s not to like? Here’s the scene we saw the first morning there:

Double-crested Cormorants and Brown Pelicans

The next morning we came upon this gaggle of cormorants on the beach, slowly sliding into the water as we approached.

As a pilot, I have always loved to watch pelicans fly, either in formation, or riding the “ground effect” of the waves.

I’ll leave you with one of the pretty sand dunes, with its streaks of dark sand and topping of beach grass.

Chilly but birdy

We left Vermont to escape the cold for a bit but I’m still birding with frozen fingers in Virginia. The ground is bare and there are a lot of birds about here in Charlottesville and it is parka and gloves weather. This morning, Ginger and I took a long walk and our first bird was an Eastern Bluebird.

This guy had some companions who were spooked by Ginger.

Here are a few of the other birds we saw:

A couple of geese ignored the dog but she was pretty interested.
A few Red-bellied Woodpeckers were noisy but stayed up high in the trees.
Dozens of Dark-eyed Juncos lined the walking path, exciting the dog to no end.
This Northern Mockingbird ignored us as we walked closely by.

Off to South Carolina in the morning.

Camping With Dane

Monday morning, Dane and I and our faithful Vizsla Penny launched for the long trip to Sequoia National Park.

Several months ago I went online to look for possibilities for campsites and wanted the mountains because I feared the temperatures elsewhere. I grabbed the only site available out of several hundred and as it turned out, it was probably the best campsite there.

The trip up was tough. We had to go through LA on I-5 (the five) and there were several serious backups. I’m not sure if it helps or not to have Google Maps tell you that “there’s a 25 minute delay ahead of you in five miles. You are on the fastest route.”

The temperatures were about 108 on the steep climbs north of LA and I watched the temperature gauge get higher and higher. Then I took a shortcut which looked good on the map but was as twisty and narrow a road I’ve seen. We entered King’s National Park and drove about an hour to our campground in Sequoia. Here’s Dane and Penny just below our site.

The campground was full with nearly every site having a campfire. The daytime temperature was in the low eighties -at 6700′ – and the nighttime temps were in the forties.

The first morning I was up early to walk the dog and met this young buck, whose antlers were in velvet, about 20 feet from the van. (I saw him and his brother/cousin each morning.)

One of the problems with National Parks is that they are not dog-friendly. You can not take them on any trails. I knew this but it’s still a pain. We took a drive down to the big redwoods Tuesday morning. Left Penny in the rig with hopes she’d not tear it up, and walked with dozens of others down to see the General Sherman tree – the largest tree by volume in the world. Going down was easy but still it was nice to rest.

Here is Dane in front of the tree and a shot of one of the many other stately trees.

The following day, we drove about a half hour over to the national forest where dogs are allowed. We cloned up an old logging trail where only elk and horse prints were visible, bushwhacked up to a mountaintop, and Dane tried, without success, to find a cell signal.

He took this photo of Penny and me before we headed back toward the van, with a slight pause for getting “unlost.”

The trip back Thursday was brutal. There was more traffic (getting a jump on the long weekend) and four or five major backups that went for five or ten miles at a time. Too many people for the 8 lane roads – and the thrill of having young Marines on motorcycles threading there way between the slow-moving cars and trucks, dodging wide mirrors, driving way too fast.

The outing was great. We got some exercise, ate well, slept well, and only got lost in the woods for about ten minutes. The Airstream worked well – I used the solar a few times to supplement the batteries, and Wednesday for lunch, we ordered pizza from the campground store. Now that is glamping.

Urban Camping

Leaving Wyoming, I drove into increasing temperatures and after a long trip, camped in a state park in Utah where it was hot and dusty and 103 degrees when I arrived. Fortunately, the power was sufficient to run the rig’s air conditioner but it took a long time to cool things off after baking all day. It’s the hottest I’ve ever camped – the nighttime low got all the way down to 90.

I had anticipated these issues and had made a reservation the next night at a dog-friendly La Quinta motel in Las Vegas. The trip there was brutal – temperatures kept rising as I headed west, 105, then 110, then even higher. It peaked at 118 in Arizona and I saw highway workers spreading asphalt by hand in those temperatures. I kept checking my van’s engine readings but they stayed ok. It was 116 degrees in the parking lot of the motel: it felt like the blast that you get when you open an oven door.

The pesky check engine light is on more than it is off. I am ignoring it.

The motel was chilly and after a good rest, we headed south toward Del Mar. The only Las Vegas things I saw, including a Trump hotel, was from I-15. The temperatures were still high, around 100, the whole trip until I got about five miles from Robb and Mary’s house where the sea breeze dropped things to about 78. We were met with this welcoming sign.

Maeve and Dane were our welcoming committee. Maeve made the sign.

The backyard pool was inviting and it was not long before I was in it with the grandkids. Penny found some lizards in the bushes and kept busy stalking them.

Thursday we hit the beach for a while. Del Mar has a dog beach sectioned off so Penny enjoyed walking through the cool water. She has not had much oven time and doesn’t quite get the wave picture. The kids had a blast with their boogie boards.

I have the Interstate parked in the driveway with some ramps to level it a bit. It’s working out fine and is of course something I never could have done with the trailer. Dane and I launch for a camping trip in Sequoia National Park on Monday.

The birding here has been good and I have seen some new birds. Once I download the photos and see what I have, I’ll share it with you. Have a good weekend.

Heading to the Tetons

I spent a couple of days navigating the plains of North Dakota and then South Dakota, staying at a national park and then a state park. The days were hot and windy but the areas of grassland were quite impressive. Some random images: a Western Meadowlark pierced on the top spire of a conifer, singing away as I sat and watched the sunset; a pair of nighthawks swooping here and there hawking buds and giving a "permit" call; a momma pronghorn suckling a brand-new baby; depressing casinos owed by native tribes; countless miles of straight as an arrow plains driving.

It’s hard to find stopping points as you roll at 70 mph – the little access roads to rangeland are invisible until you pass them. We stopped at a cow camp for a roadside lunch and aside from a vehicle passing every few minutes, all I could here was the gentle wind and a few sparrows and meadowlarks.

Here’s a shot from my campsite at Boysen State Park in South Dakota where it was hot and dry and forecast to get worse.

Cooler mountain air sounded good so I decided to accept my niece Kim’s kind invitation to visit them in Jackson. I turned westward and soon the scenery got much more interesting.

Soon we were cruising along the Wind River which has some interesting fishing spots. We pulled off at a public access site and grabbed a snack and a little nap.

Soon we started climbing and were greeted by a "Bears in the Road Ahead" sign that I think that they just leave on all the time. The climb was steady but the diesel ate it up. At the top there was a turnout with a spectacular view of the Grand Tetons – which this photo can not really capture.

After a seven mile descent we soon came to the craziness of the Yellowstone Park traffic and then the pretty drive into Jackson Hole. Navigating through a town filled with tourists, I was glad to not have the trailer with me.

So we are parked in the yard of Kim and Lew and enjoying temperatures in the 70’s during the day and 40’s at night. No bugs, nice breeze, wifi. They have two delightful teenage daughters. Here is a dot from their driveway and one of our setup – the van is in the shade.

I suspect I’ll wait until Monday to leave and arrive in Del Mar on Wednesday.

Visiting Teddy Roosevelt Country

I had no idea how much water northern North Dakota had until driving mile after mile of ponds, ditches, even lakes. There were ducks everywhere but I was really surprised to see many cormorants and even more gulls.

We had awoken early due to a thunderstorm and more were forecast so we hit the road early on Sunday morning. Public radio is interesting here: they had a program, which is on routinely, where a professor, a Thomas Jefferson scholar, takes on the role. He was discussing design issues which he picked up from his time in France….. you get the point. Later, I tuned into a church service which sounded a lot like Episcopal – but of course was Lutheran. I tuned in after the sermon just as communion was starting so much of the broadcast was happy organ music while folks shuffled up to received the bread and wine. I sang along with one hymn but they could use a better organ. It was an interesting diversion and in a way, grounded me for the rest of the journey.

Before long, we came into fracking territory with open flares, pumps, and all the trappings of the Bakken shale oil boom – which has tailed off but still cranking. Thousands of white pickup trucks, big “man camps” with hundreds of small RV-style apartments, hastily thrown up motels and restaurants, and many miles of pipeline snaking across the green hills. It was ugly – much worse than the parts of west Texas we visited.

Fortunately, about 12 miles south of the worst of it, we came over this bill and the vista of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. So how to react? Pull off and take a stupid selfie.

The Juniper campground lies along the Little Missouri River and like most NPS sites, does not have hookups nor does it take reservations. We have a nice quiet site and just a short path through the trees brings us to this sight.

The geological features here are truly amazing. There’s a scenic drive that Penny and I took Sunday evening. Here are a few shots from the drive.

The birding here has been quite good and I will let you know why in my next post. There’s no signal here – have to drive five winding miles to get coverage. Trying to do this with a cell phone, transferring some photos from my camera to my laptop and then syncing to my iPhone, is challenging. It’s a little backwards but driving the Lewis and Clark trail at 70, with air conditioning, kept things in perspective. And then Monday morning, as I was leaving the park to get some groceries, two big bison were in the road, just doing their thing. Which, whatever it is, is on bison-time. I blew the puny van horn, they just stood there. Finally, I eased between them too close for comfort. I had visions of having to call Progressive with a wild bull story.

A Couple of Tired Birds

As many of you know, I am a former Naval Aviator and have owned light planes off and on until two years ago. I don’t do air shows and very infrequently air museums but I love local displays of old military planes. So it was interesting to see a couple outside Grand Forks Air Force Base even though the only thing flying out of there these days are some Border Patrol unmanned aircraft (got to keep those Canadians out) and a couple of others from some other agency.

The first is a B-52 which flew out of here for years.

The second is a KC-135 which was the major refueled aircraft for decades.

B-1 bombers flew here for seven years or so. I guess they are not ready for static displays yet although it would save us a lot of taxpayer money.

Some Turtle River SP Remembrances

Penny and I had a nice time birding and walking trails while based at Turtle River. It’s a pretty park built by the CCC’s in the 1930’s and has some unique features. Here’s a shot of the river from a park trail.

There were several neat birds I saw at the nearby Kelly’s Slough NWR. The were a couple of American Avocets looking spiffy in breeding plumage – I see them in winter in Texas.

There were a dozen or more Yellow-headed Blackbirds. I had only seen one before.

This Northern Shoveler was one of several dozen hanging out.

Likewise, Western Meadowlark were everywhere. We are far enough west so that sorting them from Easterns is not required.

I mentioned the CCC buildings – here a local wedding was taking place on a lovely afternoon at the CCC pavilion by the river. And sure, the bridesmaids will have many chances to wear their outfits again.

And I couldn’t let this guy not make the blog. They are all over the park but Penny has yet to spot them and I don’t know what the are. May be a prairie dog. I’ll get back to you.

The Right Place at the Right Time

If you read my last post about searching for the Great Grey Owl, here’s “the rest of the story.”

I had a nice trip across mostly prairie – I did not realize Minnesota had such terrain, and crossing through Grand Forks, North Dakota, an interesting city in its own right, I came to Turtle River State Park, located on the river of the same name.

I had literally just turned off Route 2 and saw some white on the river and thought they were American White Pelicans, some of which I’d seen earlier I the day. There was a convenient pull off on the access road and I spotted three swans. The weren’t Mute Swans, which we see in the East, they were Trumpeter Swans. A life bird just floating, grooming, and feeding there. Here are some shots I took:

The swans were gone the following morning, likely heading northward. Nice payback for the wild owl chase but just proves that timing and luck can be as important as birding skills.

Now, just because I thought she was really pretty, I ending with a picture of a doe that watched me drive by Saturday morning on a camp road. Just a nice way to start the day and she stayed out and returned to feeding as I drove off. I hope your weekend is going well.

Dipping On The Great Grey

When I began thinking about this trip, I noticed that I was heading up to Minnesota and as I often do, I jumped on a state birding listserve for a while. I kept running into references to the Sax-Zim bog which I had known about as a hotspot in the winter for Great Gray Owls. I got on their Facebook page and found that they were seeing a few this summer. So, I put a little jog in my route and Wednesday morning were heading through Duluth for some big tract of land. Google maps was very confidant but they put me, after miles of dirt roads, in someone’s front yard. There was no one there, no 4g signal, and two guys in pickups I asked had no idea what I was looking for. I had plenty of fuel, plenty of afternoon, and water and food onboard.

Retracing my route to the main highway, I tried to call up a post that named two roads where he had seen Great Greys last week. I found it just as I found one of the roads so off we trucked, scanning trees and driving. Right away, there was a large bird in the road – sort of ![title]()grackle-looking. I stopped, got the binoculars on it and bingo: a Black-billed Magpie. I tried to get a shot through the bug-splattered windshield and then maneuvered the van so I could shoot out the window but it flew. I took this long-distance shot for the record. It was a lifer for me. That was easy!

Soon, a car approached from behind moving right along so I pulled way over and as he passed, a passenger gave a wave. “Looks like a birder,” I thought and tailed them from a distance on the dirt road. They pulled off in a grassy parking spot and were unloading when I came by and asked what’s up. In a nutshell, it was a guide from Duluth with two clients from Georgia who were after Black-backed Woodpeckers. Once I explained my ignorance of the area, he gave me his map, guidance on what roads to take, and to do it in the morning. I was so impressed with this guy, apologized to the Georgians for taking a bit of his time, and I was cautiously optimistic.

I drove the hour and fifteen minutes to the campground which is on the upper reaches of the Mississippi River. Here’s the lovely backwater for the dam.

As you can tell from the title, I drove back early Thursday morning and drove roads back and forth. I may have driven by one, who knows. It was a lovely day in some pretty special country – it reminds me of the Tug Hill Plateau in upper New York State. There were lots of birds out and I wasn’t really disappointed – how could you be on such a lovely day.

Meanwhile, flotillas of Canada Geese were on the river when I returned. Here is one gaggle. Off to North Dakota next.