MINGO, Day 3.
Day 216 – It had stopped raining this morning when we got up. It was very cloudy, breezy, and 58 degrees. It still looked like it was going to rain any minute, but the forecast was saying there would be no rain. We decided to go back to Mingo NWR one more time and take our chances with the weather.
We were surprised at how much the Refuge had flooded & several large trees had come down. They’d closed the longer road that traveled through the hills, so we couldn’t do about half the Auto Tour. The rest of the Refuge was driveable except for a couple of loops which had to be closed due to the water over the roads. We saw one eagle & one hawk and all the usual water fowl, but didn’t get many pictures because there were so many bugs out. It’s been a long time since we had to deal with bugs. These were tons of black flies and everytime we rolled down the windows for taking pictures, they’d drive us crazy. Shades of things to come when the temperatures rise and summer approaches.
Red-Tailed Hawk, Mingo NWR, Puxico, MO
Red-Headed Woodpecker, Mingo NWR, Puxico, MO
On the way back to the campground, it rained hard for a little while. The high today was 65 degrees, but the temperature has been dropping since the rain. Supposed to be cold tonight. We have to leave tomorrow for several days of driving north. The cats won’t like it & we’ll only be staying for a night at each place we stop.