Sun 9/25
As expected, we woke up to find we were in an astonishingly beautiful little state park. And not all that little--we were in the top portion and there was a whole lot more down to the south. But up there was the place where the camping was, and so we were.
It was pretty full but not at all crowded--maybe two-thirds to three-quarters.
I'd been perturbed on the previous night because google Maps kept showing the campsite out in the middle of the lake. But that was accurate--it's on a curvy sort of peninsula jutting way out into the water. Very, very beautiful--water on all sides, shallow but not swampy--big, tall old trees everywhere.
Herons, egrets, cormorants abound. Well...cormorants abound. For the others, one heron and one Great Egret is normal and par for the course. There were a lot of chimney swifts still around, but no swallows that I could see. One Summer Tanager and lots of little twittery birds. Red-headed woodpeckers; Pileated woodpeckers heard but not seen.
It wasn't very hot the day we arrived--91 degrees per the weather forecast. But when I took Molly for a walk/jog, I was so hot and bothered that it must have been much warmer. I jogged up the road to the boat ramp and then on down. Early on I hit the strangest thing--a fully equipped bike repair station! Right in the middle of a field beside the road.
We went on until we met a pair of motorcycles and a truck pulling a boat. The driver of the boat, a woman, slowed down to warn me about a couple of loose dogs running up the road. I decided to turn around. Finding a plastic bag on the road, I picked up a bag full of trash to take back.
Most of the walk so far had been in the sun, so when I returned to the turnoff drive into the campground and noticed that the walk was just going into deep shade, I kept on going. And off the to left was a "nature trail". So I promised Molly we'd go just a little ways on the trail.
It was a marvelous trail! Not wide but well marked and full of signs labeling the huge trees here and there. Great trees! The biggest white oak I've ever seen. Black walnut, Chestnut Oak, Tulip Poplar--haven't seen on the those in a while--Red Oak, sugar Maple. The signs were close enough together that I couldn't help going on and on, excited by the prospect of the next huge tree.
Clearly I was the first tall mammal who'd walked the trail that morning. Spiders abounded, and most of the webs ended up on my face. We found a lovely box turtle,
which I saw before Molly did and was able to prevent her from investigating. But then the aggravating dog reached under a bridge and pulled out this poor snake--
After a couple of "NO!!!!" said with feeling, she dropped it. It was able to crawl away, so I can only hope she didn't hurt it too badly.
I returned to find out Ed had broken the tire's valve stem with his tinkering, so I spent the next half-hour on the phone with Good Sam Roadside assistance. We're covered for any sort of tire or motorhome problem, but since it wasn't an emergency, and we were in a safe parking space, and it was a Sunday, the repair wouldn't be dispatched until the next day. Lovely.
Molly and I had another nice walk at around five o'clock.
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