HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUDY! HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!
ALSO, MINGO, Day 1.
Day 213 – It was refreshing this morning to get up and to find that it wasn’t so cold out. (The outdoor thermometer was permanently stuck so it’s been retired; we’re just going with how it feels until we get a new one.) It feels like this large Park is all our own since we don’t see a soul. So quiet & peaceful. The cats are loving it, too. But as the weekend approaches, there will be more folks here. We will survive, LOL.
We left for Mingo NWR at 10:30 this morning, partly sunny, 55 degrees. The Refuge was about ½ hour from the campground, all on winding roads through heavily wooded, rolling hills. We’d made egg salad this morning & packed a lunch of egg salad sandwiches, knowing we’d be gone all day. The girls were happily sleeping on the sunny dashboard when we departed.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We drove 35 miles of Refuge roads, which is a lot compared to most Wildlife Refuges. These roads meander through all kinds of territory – marshes, lake side, bayou, levees, hills in the Ozarks overlooking the huge Lake Wappapello & Monopoly Marsh, woods, farmlands & streams, creeks, rivers, & corn fields – some paved roads & the rest were gravel roads that were in good condition. When we were here a month ago, it was following several weeks of very heavy rains and some of the roads were closed due to floods & washed out bridges. Today we drove on all the roads except for a couple at the end of the Auto Tour. We encountered very few people, a couple of fishermen, and a canoeist. The high was 64 degrees and although hazy at times, for the most part there were very few clouds. We did not kayak, nor did we hike the Boardwalk Trail. We hope to be able to do both in the several days to come. We did see a couple off Bald Eagles, one on a nest. Many other birds and water fowl, and something neither of us had ever seen before except on a woman’s coat – a Mink!
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We got back to the RV at around 6 p.m. and cooked up a batch of fish tacos – YUM. Great day. We look forward to more of the same tomorrow.