Leaving tomorrow - maybe...

Katie and I are still here at Imperial Dam LTVA in the Quail Hill campground.  We like it here, but it's time to head back to Quartzsite and do some VISITING!  There are lots of people I want to connect or re-connect with who are already there.  The Big Tent is halfway done and before we know it, people will start leaving that area, so we need to get there soon. 

Jeanne and Riley left here last Tuesday and are now at Quartzsite.  We tried to visit Judy of Travels with Emma at the Imperial Nat'l Wildlife Refuge.  Jeanne actually stayed here one extra day so we could do that, but unfortunately it rained a lot on Monday night, and left the roads questionable on the way into where Judy is.  We drove along muddy roads wondering if we should keep going.  Finally there was a BIG hole in the road filled with water, and it continued around the bend, so we didn't know how far the water hole went on.  Just then a truck came by and Jeanne waved him on so we could see him drive through the water and see how deep it was. He was high off the ground, but still looked kind of deep in the water, so we decided to turn around.  That was too bad, we were almost there, but it would have been a real bummer to get stuck in a huge mud puddle and have to be towed out. 

When we got back, we saw that the muddy roads kicked up a ton of mud into the wheel wells and under the car.  Geez, poor Jeanne - she has a brand new car and in a week we pushed it to the limit, dusty, bumpy roads, washboard roads, rocky roads, holey roads, muddy roads.  It's a great little car, though, and got us back to camp each time.  Dusty and Dirty but safe and sound.  We put the dogs in our rigs and grabbed our laundry to stow in the car.  Then we got paper towels and scraped all the mud off that we could get.  Soon, we had visitors.

They came over and stood right next to the car and wouldn't leave.  I couldn't get into the car, LOL.  Finally Jeanne got behind the wheel and slooooowly drove forward.  As the car went past the Mom, she put her head on the back of the car like she didn't want it leaving.

And so we headed to Yuma.  After the laundry was done Jeanne found a DIY car wash, where we sent streams of water into the wheel wells, under the car, and over every visible surface.  When we left, it was sparkling in the sun.  :)  Sorry we missed you, Judy, maybe next time around. 

I think it was later in the day after we had gotten back to camp and relaxed in our rigs for a while that Jeanne and Riley came over on their way to the dumpsters.  I grabbed Katie and our garbage bag and started walking with them.  There were two other burros nearby standing near a bush and when they saw us, the started out after us. I was worried because of all the stories I've heard about the burros not liking dogs around their babies - but this time they were pursuing us.  We walked faster and faster, and so did the burros.  I said to Jeanne, this is a classic case of "watch out what you wish for."  I had been wishing so hard for wild burros to come visit.   We made it a quick walk and went right back to our rigs.  I felt bad, but as much as I LOVE these guys, I'm still afraid of them if they are too close.  Petting the baby the other day is about as much closeness as I want.   I'll admire them from afar, thank you.

Now I'm just waiting for mail to be delivered.  I've filled the water tank, dumped the grey and black, filled the gas tank, gone to Wal-Mart one last time, and hopefully tomorrow my package will arrive at the mail service here and I can top off the propane at the Christian Center and be on my way.  My package was supposed to be here Saturday, so I could have picked it up today or tomorrow, but right now it's still in San Bernardino, CA, so - I'm at the mercy of the Postal Gods.  I'm going to hang out with the Lazy Daze group at La Posa West for a couple of weeks before heading on to Ehrenberg. 

I've saved all the bird photos from Quail Hill to post all at once.  There are a lot of birds here; some are here every day, and others are infrequent visitors.  Here they are:

Bufflehead:

Common Goldeneye:

American Coots:

Double-crested Cormorant - love those webbed feet:

The one on the left was singing:

Dove:

Ducks - there were large flocks flying along over the canal and bobbing in the water.  Lately I've heard gunfire in the area, and I learned it's duck hunting season, which will end soon.  Hopefully the ducks have moved to another area because I haven't seen many of them overhead lately.  I was happy to hear the duck hunters have to be a minimum number of yards from the campgrounds. 

Gambel's Quail:

Quail and Grackles - lots of Quail and Grackles:

Great-tailed Grackle:

Killdeer:

Loggerhead Shrike:

Red-winged Blackbird - there were flocks of these on the ground from time to time:

And finally, before the bee invasion, Verdin - they put on quite a show at the hummer feeder:

We also had hummingbirds, but the bees came in droves and I had to take the feeders down. 

I noticed these foot prints this afternoon near our site - I have no idea what they are from.  It looks like a hoof print with toes? Look at the print above my shoe - it's round with four "toes."

Below are burro hoof prints and deep toe prints that are larger than the hoof:

This one is a little better angle of the round print with toes.  Weird....

Here's Katie with her new squeaky duck.  She had one of these when I first got her.  Do you think she remembers that one?

From me and Katie, have a great week, everyone!  :)