Wednesday February20

Went this morning to do laundry and got talking to a
couple from Michigan, Tony and Pam, who were bemoaning
having brought their kayaks and not doing any
kayaking. We said goodbye and I went back to my
laundry. About ½ hour later they came back and Pam
offered to drop me and Tony 8 miles up the Rio Grande
so we could float back to the campground. Went
through groves of bamboo, two small canyons and
dragged our bottoms (of the kayaks) through very
shallow rapids, floated down long stretches of calm
water and saw lots of birds and turtles. What a
treat.

Caught up with the Big Bend bird guy, Ranger Mark, who
convinced me that I had not seen a Flame colored
tanager, as they have been sighted in Big Bend only 4
times in his memory. It was probably a vermillion
flycatcher that wasn't fully breeding plumaged. I
also saw some spotted sandpipers. They have no spots
in the winter. In Vermont we only see them with
spots. Also saw today, white-throated swift, black
phoebe, tricolored heron, canyon towhee, pink-sided
junco.

Drove to Chisos Basin in the middle of Big Bend. You
climb steeply for about 5 miles then drop into a basin
surrounded by high craggy mountains. It was the first
big tug for the Suby and trailer and it did fine,
slowly, but fine. There's a very fancy lodge and
restaurant here, a small store that carries Splenda (I
was running very short) and Folgers coffee (I bought
some of that too, I was desperate). The campground is
below the little village and out of sight. As I drove
in there was a small herd of eight or nine Javelinas
including two babies grazing on some grass. I stopped
the car to take a picture just as a person walking a
dog came around the corner. The dog started barking
and the Javelinas took off. It amazes me how many RVs
travel with a little shit dog. Many have two. There
are all kinds of signs confining dogs to paved areas
only. I want to drown every one of them.

My campsite is at the edge of a cliff and looks west.
The sunset through the sharply outlined peaks was very
fine. The moon came up full and I could just see the
beginning of the lunar eclipse. It was about ¾ in
shadow when clouds rolled in.

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