Blue Goose ~ Day 2

June 2 ~ Warren Dunes, Michigan to Morris, Illinois

Birds woke me up a little after 6:00 and I packed up, showered and drove to the south end of the park which is another Prairie Warbler venue. It is also the area where a Townsend's Solitaire hung out the past two winters near a trail that goes directly west into the dunes and dune blow-outs. DHC, remember this chase?

It was a morning with uncertain weather but I got an hour or so of blue skies and followed the trail up a small dune until I could see the lake. No one else was out this early and neither were many obvious birds, although I did see an Indigo Bunting, a Song Sparrow, Cedar Waxwings, an Eastern Kingbird and a Mourning Dove and got satisfying looks at a pair of Field Sparrows with their pinkish bills and understated chestnut heads who were working in the low open bushes close to me.

Half the birds I do see have stuff in their bills. The thought also occurred to me that June is probably the worst time to convince anyone to become a birder, at least in the upper midwest.

I thought I heard a Prairie Warbler and decided to just do an Hour Sit hoping it would pop out, but I only lasted less than 10 minutes. I never saw it and what I heard moved around and may not even have been a Prairie. Their song starts with a couple clear notes, does a tiny dip and then changes to a steadily rising buzz. I have no doubt they are nesting in these dunes though.

I stopped in Michigan City, Indiana, and headed south, going through the Tree Nursery at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife area which is where DHC and I went one spring (or fall?) to watch Sandhill Cranes - 1000s of them, along with 100s of people. There was not one person there today. I pulled into the parking lot and rearranged my van. Already. The sun was trying to come out by this time. The housekeeping done, I started for Mediwin National Tallgrass Praire which I never saw due partly to a lack of attention on my part regarding time and route, and partly because maps are often more general than specific. Roads sometimes have different names, no signage or there are detours, etc. The northern Indiana topography was very flat and agricultural unless there is a river with lush riparian habitat.

Into Illinois and along the Kankakee River where there were lovely older homes, often brick, with established yards, huge trees and generous screened porches. These were a nice contrast to the hundreds of new housing developments one sees in the countrysides, the Quail Runs or Wild Geese Commons or Partridge Crossings. At least twice I stopped to do my Sit, just observing my surroundings but decided against each particular spot until I found a boat launching site on the river where there were several families of Canada geese, each with half-grown goslings. The woods were "lovely, dark and deep" on the north side of the river with modest homes on the open south side, each with docks and assorted boats.

While I sat there watching grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds in the trees and grass, glancing too often at the timer to see how much time was left, one speedboat and two jet skis were launched. The jet ski kids rammed with unquenchable exuberance (a line I always remembered from some story in a high school English class) and the other boat took off downriver. There was a cooling breeze so no insects. I didn't exactly sit for an hour since I had to move the car as the speedboat guy honked at me to get out of his way, and then I moved backwards and forwards 20 feet, always hoping for better views for the birds that had to be here...somewhere. A pair of mayflies hung out for awhile on the right side mirror.

Where to sleep..... I should have checked out the campgrounds along the Kankakee River. They looked wonderful from the road as I drove by, and by then I had realized Mediwin would close at 4:30 and also then realized that these wild places don't have tons of access roads when I saw a sign saying I was "Leaving Mediwin NTP" and would have had to turn around and drive for 20 miles to get to the entrance. Well, I thought, I'll just go tomorrow and started checking truck stops (now often called travel stops) and found out that this could be a possibility for sleeping. I found one just off I55 and it creeped me out. It was a lot with a few 18-wheelers, lots of weeds, a tired restaurant, gas station and store and nothing else nearby. No way....so I did some more iPhone Internet surfing and decided to go north to I80, head west and soon came to Morris, Illinois, where I spent the night in a TA travel stop and it was totally fine.

It was a busy place with truckers sequestered in a back lot and all other customers out front. I was curious about the showers in these places and wandered down a hallway where a worker told me all about the showers and even showed my one which (I am not kidding) looked almost as nice as Bill and Steph's master bathroom. The deal is, one reserves these at the front desk and watches an overhead screen for the first vacancy. There is a key pad code and "you can take as long as you want" said this worker guy with pride. I kept looking at him for some sign of why he was working in a truck stop, cleaning bathrooms or whatever he was actually doing. He looked like a 40-something, slightly aging free spirit, telling me about a trip he took with his grandparents when he was young to "Yellowstone, Santa Rosa, Salt Lake City, Nevada...." and how great it was. He spoke well and wasn't spooky at all, although how does one ever really know? All the showers were currently occupied and I told him I wasn't interested at that moment but just wanted information, and as I was walking back down the hallway, I heard, "Ma'am...there is one I can show you...it's a handicapped one but the others are like this..See, it has plants and pictures on the walls and  two nice towels......." He was right...it was amazingly nice.  It cost $13 which is still a better deal that $100-$200 for a motel.

I wanted a glass of wine and the store didn't sell alcohol so I went to the attached restaurant and had a homemade chicken pot pie and salad bar and checked out the other travelers and read emails.

It was one of those blissfully balmy evenings. I walked a little and ate a King Dong Hostess cupcake, gave the second one in the package to a sheriff's deputy who pulled up next to me. He said he wasn't hungry "but she might want it" and gave it to a young chick in his back seat. I think he pulled her off the interstate as she seemed homeless and vulnerable. She had a few possessions and headed into the store, but I soon saw her walking out to the road again after the deputy left. There was also a man who seemed to be watching her in the parking lot near me but this could be my imagination. He left as soon as she got to the entrance and I then quit paying attention.

I crawled into my bed, read more of Hiroshima and had an unexpectedly good night's sleep. The two factors I thought would be disturbing were traffic and ambient light. The traffic, even though I80 is very busy, was only muted, certainly no louder than what I heard in the Warren Dunes campground the previous night. The light was better than expected and my bed so comfortable that I slept fine, except when I woke up with that burning acid reflux which came from quite a bit and eating late. I get this about once a year, and it wakes me up and is horrid. But, voila, I had milk next to my bed in the cooler and also had some Tums easily available and then just read another hour since I was wide awake. I had the windows all open some so it was cool enough. One thing I didn't do was put anything over the windows but that is an option, both for too much light and more privacy, and I will probably work that out eventually. Oh, just in case you wondered, the bathrooms were at least a 7/10...Claire would approve.