He's been traveling for 3 years. Spends spring and
fall in Green Bay volunteering at a Nature Center. He
seems to be living pretty high off the hog as they
say. I asked him how he manages. He has a state
pension, state paid medical insurance and Social
Security.
We decided to try to paddle down the Rio Grande
through the Boquillas Canyon and paddle back, about 14
miles altogether. When we went to get a river permit
the ranger looked at us like we were crazy. Nobody,
apparently, tries to paddle back against the current.
We told him we were pretty experienced and he just
nodded. We got on the river, went about ¼ mile then
just for fun turned around to try to paddle upstream.
We almost didn't make it back to our starting point.
So we kayaked about ¼ mile upstream before we lost all
energy and floated back to the takeout.
So we wouldn't feel completely defeated (and not
willing to drop the river permit back off after only 2
hours) we hiked to the hot springs, about 6 miles out
and back. I've posted a picture of a view from on top
of a bluff but it just doesn't do it justice.
Saw a white tailed dove. Also saw a bird with the
brightest red head and orange chest sitting on a tree
on the Mexico side of the river. The Golden Field
guide has a Western Tanager that looks a little like
it. Doug, the divorced kayaker, had a Western Sibley
(a bird guide, for you nonavians) and the bird seems
to be a Flaming Tanager, uncommon in the southern US
and northern Mexico. Pretty cool.
The moon looks pretty close to full. It's about 65
degrees and a very pleasant breeze. My campsite is
surrounded by trees that grow to about 15 feet high
then go looking for each other. I'm under a canopy of
leafless branches and the moon is shining through
them. There's a lunar eclipse tomorrow and I'm headed
up to the high point of Big Bend where there is a
campground and a lodge which is suppose to make a
great breakfast.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
No comments:
Post a Comment