Waiting the Storm Out

Well, almost. We will likely be running into it tomorrow. Wind, rain, and snow showers are predicted for northern New Mexico tomorrow. We're planning to travel almost exactly 200 miles, from San Antonio to Las Vegas.

But today, well, we just have the wind. Relentless, dusty, gusty wind. It's been partly cloudy to fairly sunny.

We slept until around 8:00 this morning, which felt wonderful. I went for a walk with the dogs and visited with Jackie, the park's owner. After a slow morning with our coffee and breakfast, Jim unhooked the car and we drove over to the Bosque Del Apache NWR. We spent some time in the visitor's center.

I tried to get a sense of how hard the wind was blowing when the chili's hanging on the porch of the center were nearly horizontal.

This is a quilt hanging in the hallway of the visitor's center, showing some of the wildlife here.

We didn't think we'd see much, but decided to drive some of the auto tour anyway, thinking we might at least get a glimpse of some ducks. However, we got a nice surprise...

Here's a colorful Mallard:

Here's a White-faced Ibis in breeding plummage (Thanks, Grant!):

A great blue heron and an egret:

Egrets flying:

A Black-neck Stilt:

And Pelicans!

We didn't get out and do any walking the trails because of the wind. It was a wonderful surprise to see such a variety of birds and ducks, especially considering all the wind and dust.

Back home, I fixed turkey burritos which turned out to be very tasty. This afternoon we worked on more of our travel plans. We'll be getting to the RV-Dreams Rally in Branson a few days early. After the rally, we'll head to Amarillo for Jim's family reunion. While we're there, we'll get our vehicle inspections and update our drivers' licenses. In Texas, if you drive a vehicle over 26,000 lbs GVWR, you need a Class B license, which requires a written and driving test. Man, I hate tests.

We've enjoyed our time here, and I'd love to be here in the fall for the Sand Hill Cranes!