New Mexico to Home

International Anglican Church in Colorado Springs is an interesting church. It was actually started by a church in Rwanda. It was also interesting to me because it was my first time at an Anglican Church. It was good even though it was a bit different. Afterwards the Sellers' and I ate at a reception for a missionary family moving back to South Africa. Later that afternoon I left for Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico.



These Sandhill Crane silhouette shots above were taken either just before sunrise or just after sunset.



The rest of the shots I got there were within a couple hours of sunrise or sunset since the light got pretty harsh around midday.



Cranes are the stars of the show down there, but Snow Geese are more common, at least when I was there.

I thought I would be there at a good time, and it wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't what I hoped for. I'm told that later on they start flooding more areas and there might be as many as 100 times more birds. When they're that thick they come much closer to where you can get good shots of them. They say it's quite a spectacle. I'll have to try again some other year.


Other areas of the refuge had Western Grebes.


Neotropic Cormorants like I had only seen in Texas before.


And ducks like these Pintails.



Along with the water birds I found Road Runners. I didn't expect to see them again this trip.




And these White-crowned Sparrows were very common.

After my last morning at the refuge I talked to one of the staff people there He told me about some nearby areas that had Harlequin Quail. I didn't expect to be in their territory again either. These guys are about as hard to find as Ptarmigan but I figured it was worth a little detour. I didn't find any of these dreaded birds whose name shall be used sparingly, but it was a nice drive. And, it's good to have birds to go back for.


The loop I drove brought me past some real live cowboys doing real live cowboy stuff. I don't think they minded me taking pictures since one guy stopped to wave. You might expect a cowboy to give some subtle nod or tip his hat or something, but this guy waved more like
he was on a float in a parade or something. It was sort of disappointing. I hope he doesn't read this. I wouldn't want him to feel self conscious.


This guy and his dog fit the stereotype much better. He didn't wave at all and he even spat once.


The road also had some appropriate signage.


After I finished the loop I decide to take some of the back roads toward home. I saw a sign for the Abo Ruins (I think that's what they're called) so I stopped in . They are what's left of a Spanish mission set up near an old Indian pueblo.


These photos show some of the old stone and what looks like mud with straw in it (adobe?) construction.


This much more recent "ruin" was further up the road.


Much further up the road I came upon some much more recent ruins in the town of Greensburg Kansas. Back in May of this year the town was almost removed from the map by a tornado.


I believe this area was once a neighborhood. You could see quite a few trailers and other temporary housing here and there. You can also see the trees trying to stay alive even without most of their limbs.


And you could see some new houses going up.


About the only older structures I saw were the grain silos which looked OK and some commercial buildings like this one and a couple other that looked even worse. You can imagine what the place looked like before all the cleanup. It must have been really devastating for the people who live here. I'm sure a lot of them just moved away.


I didn't stop much on Friday. I was close enough to home that I could make it there in one day so I pretty much just kept driving. I did spend an hour or so in Hannibal, Missouri. It was interesting with all the Mark Twain history. This is taken from a spot called Lover's Leap. You can see the Mississippi River off to the right. I stuck to the interstates from there, and I made it home by about 10:00 PM.


I was greeted by this reminder of the good friends I have back here in Michigan.


So here I am, back home in Byron Center, MI. It feels pretty weird but in some ways it feels like I never left. It actually feels weirder as time goes by and I start to get back into some of my old routines. That includes going to my old church again this morning. It's all good, but it just feels a little strange. It's like it's reinforcing the fact that the trip is over.

If all goes well I will be back to work next week. I'm sure that will have a weirdness all it's own. I will at least be glad to start making money again instead of just spending it. I spent much more on this trip than I first intended.

This week I need to work on getting my life back together. I Have to get my insurance, telephone, internet... back in order (I'm typing this from my parents' house). I have to get all my traveling gear cleaned up and put away. I guess that includes washing the New Mexico dust off the truck. And, I need to start digging into the thousands of photos I have on my hard drive.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with all those photos. For one thing I would like to do a slide show, but I'm not sure if I want to put together one big one or a bunch of smaller ones. If you would like to see whatever I come up with, email me, and we'll come up with a time and place. It was suggested to me today that we could reserve the chapel at church. Or Maybe you have a smaller group that you would like to get together some time. Just let me know. Whatever I come up with I wouldn't expect it until after the New Year.

Aside from all the work I have to do now, this adventurer is starting to learn to once again love his old enemy, comfort. It's great to sleep in a bed and have my own bathroom, heat, electricity, hot and cold running water... It's also good to not have to look for a place to sleep every night and I don't think I'll be taking any long drives for a while. Time will tell what adventures the future holds for me, but for now home is good.

Thanks for being faithful readers and commenters. This blog has been a lot of work, but I'm sure glad I did it. It really help me to feel like I wasn't all alone out there. Thanks again and take care.

Steve

Colorado

I'm afraid this has not been a very productive week for me photographically. I spent a lot of time looking for birds I couldn't find, visiting friends and relatives, and a little recovering.

I'm still not 100% sure if it was a bout with IBS or a bug I caught. I didn't eat very carefully last weekend. When I stay at other people's homes I usually just eat what they put in front of me. Most of the time I come out of it without too much trouble. However, Monday night at my cousin's house in Boulder (I did finally get in touch with him and we had a nice visit) I spent an hour or so in the bathroom. I managed to keep it all flowing the correct direction but it was close. I felt OK in the morning so I thought it was most likely due to what I'd been eating, but as the day progressed I felt more and more tired and achy with very little apatite. I've never had that with IBS before. I just hope my cousin didn't get it. (You OK Dave?) The good news is that after one good night's sleep I felt almost back to normal on Wednesday. Other than sea sickness that was the only illness I've had to deal with on this trip. Thank you Lord.

I was at Rocky Mountain National Park Tuesday and Wednesday. I got pretty frustrated there though. the main scenic road in the park was closed for the season. That didn't leave me with much to shoot in the way of landscapes. There were a lot of elk though and I got a few shot of them.

Black-billed Magpies are common pretty much all over the west. They seemed to be pretty tame here so I though it was high time to get some decent shots of them. These qualify as decent but I hope to get some better ones. I guess I'll have to do that soon or I'll have to wait till next trip.

As I came into Colorado I e-mailed some area birders for some bird finding information. I got lots of suggestions but they all said I was looking at a bad time of year. I did a lot of looking but no finding. Finally I decided I probably had a few more years left in my life and I could afford to wait until I can come back when the birds are easier to find. Much less frustrating that way.

When I'm tired I tend to make bad decisions. I've been pretty tired in general lately and looking back I could have planned the last month or so much better. I've done a lot of zig-zagging around the state of Colorado. Not very efficent. Thursday was not exception. I got tired of RMNP and I knew I could find some good photos at The Great Sand Dunes NP so I just drove down there. It was further than I thought. Oh well. I did have a good time down there.

Since I didn't get photos of a lot of places I thought I would just show you a lot of photos of the places I did photograph. Last time I was there the setting sun lit the dunes up beautifully. Somehow it wasn't quite as dramatic this time around. I did however, climb to the top of the dunes before sunrise the next morning and I got some really nice shots.

While I wasn't photographing the dunes in the evening I spent some time on the Mule Deer. I was amazed at the number of trophy sized bucks around there! They were all fairly tame too.

A group of Pronghorns also gave me some photos.

Friday morning I needed to head back up north to my old friend Char's place near Colorado Springs. I took a scenic route through Phantom Canyon. It was a very pretty drive with a lot of places to camp along the way. I wish now that I had taken advantage of one of them because the campground I was heading for turned out to be closed, and I got there well after dark. I did finally find a campsite but it wasn't easy in the dark.


Saturday morning I drove up Pikes Peak. Do you see the dark line of "clouds". I think that must be smoke from the fires in California.

Pikes Peak didn't take long so I also stopped at The Garden of The Gods. You can hardly go to Colorado Springs without a stop there. I grabbed a couple shots and headed on to Char's.

Some of you might remember Char Carter. The last time I was in Colorado was for her wedding. She married Mark Sellers and they now have two boys, Ryan who just turned one and Carter who is two. The boys really keep their parents hopping.

It's Sunday morning now and I plan to go to church with the Sellers'. They go to an Anglican church that they really like. It should be good. I'm looking forward to it.

From here I plan to head for New Mexico. The original plan had me ending my trip at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and I think I can still do that. I figure I could be down there by Tuesday and on my way back to Michigan by the end of the week. It's hard to believe this trip is that close to over. In fact, my next blog update should come from home.

One movie quote that keeps coming to mind is from Blade Runner. The main bad guy feels like he's about to die and he starts talking about his life. He says "I've seen thing that you can only imagine". Not that I want to rub it in or anything, but I have seen a lot that other people can only imagine. I've got all these memories in me that I can never fully share with anyone. I can show you pictures and tell you stories but it's not like being there. It's been a good trip. Pray that I can end it on a high note and that I can make it home safely. Until next time, the last time, take care.

Steve