It has been four months since surgery was performed on the broken bone in Michael's foot. During that time he has had limited mobility. After his best effort at being patient and several weeks of physical therapy, we went on a trial camping trip this week. The purpose was to see if he is ready to be released into the wild. We had a great trip, but he still needs more time to heal before we will be ready for a major road trip.

We spent two nights at South Llano River State Park in Junction, Texas about 100 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The park is one of our favorite nearby getaways. It was full of birders from around the country taking in the Spring migration. We were fortunate to see both Painted Buntings and an Indigo Bunting.

We hope you enjoy the photos.

 Nothing quite like getting up in the darkness and watching the sunrise.

 Mike with walking boot

 Dennis

 White Winged Dove (Please don't let him drive the bus.)

 Chipping Sparrow

 Indigo Bunting

  Painted Bunting

  Painted Bunting Bathing

 Hybrid Painted Bunting and a Female Cardinal

 Summer Tanager

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird

 Female Black-chinned Hummingbird

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 Black-throated Sparrow

 Lincoln's Sparrow

 Field Sparrow Bathing

 Orange Crowned Warbler

 Male Verdin

 Female Verdin

 Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

 Great Crested Flycatcher

 Mule Deer

 New Growth on a Prickly Pear Cactus

 Chinaberry Blooms

 South Llano River

We had intended to post a few more photos from Big Bend right after we got back home. It's been a busy week, but we've finally gotten back to the task. We were in Big Bend for 5 days. It was cold at night but beautiful every day. (Our only regret being that we left before they had 8 inches of snow this week.)



The most surprising sighting of the trip: A Lotus Evora in the desert.

 Mike trying to estimate how many bites he would have been for a T-Rex.

 White Winged Dove

 Our camper in campsite #15 - Chisos Basin Campgrounds

 Mules Ears.

 The most irredescent clouds we had ever seen.

 The last phone booth in America.

 Sunset view from our campsite.

 Us at the Mule Ears trail.

One of the benefits of retirement is that we can plan major trips or travel on impulse. Since the broken bone in Mike's foot has continued to heal, we decided to spend a few days camping in Chisos Basin in Big Bend National Park, in west Texas. The park is about a 9 hour drive from Austin. Several weeks out of the year the park gets terribly crowded, but the rest of the year we get to share it with only Mountain Lions and Javelina.

Hope you enjoy our photos.



Road Runner in a tree

 Dennis in Chisos Basin

 Dennis in Ocotillo stalks

 Mike at the Window

 Our Little 6 ft Pop-Up Trailer in Chisos Basin Campground

 Rainbow Cactus

 The mouth of Santa Elena Canyon from the Castalon Customs Station

 Casa Grande and moon

 Cactus Wren Nest in Cholla Cactus

 Hermit Thrush

 CactusWren

 Mexican Jay

 Robin

Mike in the desert

 Vermillion Flycatcher

 Mike in the Tuff and Basalt hills

 Cactus Wren

 Dennis in the cold winter morning (which lasted less than an hour)