Life on the road

 The ever shifting circle of friends; never knowing who you’ll find where.  We meet fellow Sandpipers people, Jim and B in Spearfish, South Dakota. Spearfish is only an hour from here, but a long way from Sandpipers in South Texas!  Jim and B are here as work campers for the month of July at a City Park/Fish Hatchery/Campground.  They staff the tours and shops for the local attractions. They travel in a classy Airstream trailer. And got parked right up against a trout stream for this assignment. Big honkin trout in the fish hatchery pools. With an underwater viewing window. Loving this life on the road.  Traveling, just the three of us (counting Henry) (Actually four of us, counting Annie’s ashes), can be surprisingly social. We return to the tower at sunset. 

If I read more

 I’d know more. But there is so much I want to do each day.  By the time I’ve had coffee, worked, walked, recorded a bird list, taken a few pictures, written a trip report, rubbed feet and visited with Judy; my day is pretty much done.  I’d like to spend time reading for entertainment, but it seems like I’m already completely entertained.  I guess I’m stuck just knowing what I know so far. And some days we drive. 2017 summer trip map Now we’re in Wheatland, Wyoming to visit Bill and Marge. When Judy and I first moved to Colorado, without knowing a single person there, Judy took a job in Denver and met Marge.  Within days, Marge had us over to their farm outside of Broomfield to get to know them better.  We don’t have a picture of their farm there then, but pictures of their current farm outside Wheatland are a good representation.  I think they adopted us.  Their home became ours and our children’s too. 

Along the way

 There might be a better sculpture garden than the one in Loveland. But we haven’t run across it.                       Honest.  I only took pictures of a few of the pieces! (And we’re not really in Loveland now.  That was last week.)  

Speaking of critters

 We’ve seen a little muskrat. A Colorado Chipmunk. A wary prairie dog. Pronghorns. Some with little pronghorns. A snake skin.  A snapping turtle having a walk. And the super-weird paedomorphic tiger salamander!  (Paedomorphic (I had to look it up.) means adults that have retained some of the characteristics of juveniles.  In this case, the external gills.)