Along the way

Monarch Butterflies. They’re on their way south; passing through South Carolina right now. They summer in the U.S. and Canada. They winter as far south as the northern part of South America. Most Monarchs don’t live very long, not nearly long enough to migrate thousands of miles, so they do it over successive generations. It takes three or four generations to migrate north, then a longer lived version migrates all the way back south in one generation. Imagine that; an animal that not only migrates great distances, but does it as a cooperative effort between generations.

Cypress Swamp

The cypress swamp. Tannins from the trees turn the water dark (blackwater). A cool thing about cypress swamps (even though they’re hot and sweaty) is that these chemicals from the trees discourage mosquitoes as well. There are plenty of bugs, but not many mosquitoes.

Paddling the blackwater.

A little batch of Water Skaters.

A red-shouldered hawk calling in the background.

And deep in the swamp.

Saturday

South Carolina. Hilton Head Island Motorcoach Resort. Outdoor Resorts. Quite a switch from the State Park in the cypress swamp. Nice to have full hookups for a few days.

85 degrees (it’s 20 in Denver today). An afternoon thundershower (I was out for a walk). It’s all good (a little wet, but good).
Altitude: sea level.
Miles: 7,420.

Staying on task

  A neighbor asked to borrow a corkscrew.  Judy stayed and talked while I went into the house to get it.  I walked into the motorhome and promptly forgot why I was there.  Not willing to go back outside, I stood in one spot until it came to me: I had gone inside to record the birds I had seen today.  It didn’t seem to be that urgent, writing down birds, so I chose to do something more pressing: clean the inside of the windshield with Windex before it got dark.  I was doing a pretty good job too until Judy asked if I was having trouble finding the corkscrew.   It’s so hard to get anything done with these constant interruptions.