Friday, October 21

MINGO – 1

Day 375 – We slept in some this morning since for the first time in days, we didn’t have to leave by a certain time for a traveling day. It was 48 degrees and sunny when we got up. It’s quiet and peaceful here; we really like this campground.

After packing our lunches, we departed at 11 a.m., heading for Mingo National Wildlife Refuge. We spent the day driving the roads of the Auto Tour. We walked the Boardwalk Trail. We saw lots of wildlife, but not the migrating waterfowl we were looking for. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center and asked the woman behind the desk near the entrance where the birds were. She said she didn’t know, they weren’t here, and possibly we were early for the migration. We told her that last November we were here and the birds weren’t here then either. She said maybe we should try in December. Maybe we should – sometime – but as we drove through the Refuge, we did see that many of the areas that had water in them last year were dried up this year. So, this tells us that they haven’t even let the water in yet. We’re wondering if they don’t have the water to fill their ponds this year. That’s what had happened at one or two refuges we visited since leaving Canada. Bummers.

Anyway, we had a good time and still have much of the Refuge to visit the next two days. And, we really did see plenty of wildlife, just not what we were expecting to see. The high today was 78 degrees and it was a beautiful, sunny day.