Blue Goose ~ Day 187

November 30 2014 ~ Ehrenberg, AZ to Cattail Cove State Park, AZ

This morning while getting breakfast at the motel, I met a woman who was on the road with her husband who was also interested in birds. She told me her life list was "about 450 but not all in the US." They were headed to San Diego for a cruise but planning to stop by Salton Sea on the way. I also told her about Cibola, that it was a bit out of the way but worth it. She seemed interested, saying they would probably go with this recommendation. Her husband did not engage in any of this conversation. I speculate about encounters like this: if she wanted to see Cibola but he has much less or no interest in dusty roads and nature trails and looking through binoculars, would they go? While at the low end of the sociability spectrum, I do have daily encounters with people, most of them with their own interesting stories.

I am in the land of retired people and grand RVs. I have seen more (huge RVs) in the last week than on all the rest of the trip.Today I dove north on the lesser road to Parker, Arizona, and then on to Bill Williams NWR, seeing signs and pull-offs for the refuge but apparently driving right on by the entrance. I did see a field of white egrets in a green field along the way though, 40 or 50 Cattle and a few Great.

Another dozen miles up the road I turned into Cattail Cove State Park, intending to reconnoiter and figure out where Bill was. After waiting 10 minutes behind an RV at the campground check-in station, then asking directions and chatting with the friendly and helpful woman at the gate, I considered just stopping here. It was $26, whether a resident or out-of-state. She let me drive around first to check it out; I found a good spot, registered and stayed for the night. It was right on the Colorado surrounded by the Arizona rugged rocky hills and cliffs.

Mallard finding shade - Cattail Cove SP -AZ

There were a couple dozen other campers, almost all in the aforementioned large RVs. Gambel's Quail were constantly and frenetically running about; Great-tailed Grackles carried on vocally; Coots and Pied-billed Grebe were on the river. I settled in a chair with wine and cheese and crackers and read for two hours (and watched my neighbors). The air was perfectly still with enough trees for shade, although as soon as the sun went down, it cooled. I walked half a mile just before dark, up the entrance road in perfect silence and felt the immensity of my surroundings under a gathering night sky.

There was a large congenial group sitting / eating potluck outside; many had campfires, and the air had a nice smoky scent, mingled with the subtle sweet fragrance of desert trees and shrubs. Some longer-term campers put a row of tiny colored lights on the fences or trees in their site or just on the ground.

Colorado River near Cattail Cove SP - AZ

Camping at Cattail Cove - AZ

I ate a Starbucks salad I had in the car, which is always filling and tasty. The couple across the road were playing a Bob Dylan CD. A lady across the road the other way came up to me within 15 minutes of my arrival, saying she noticed I was taking pictures and wanted me to know the quail were "coming down the hill" as she pointed behind her camping spot. All was mellow.

I read a long time finishing Lords of the Plains and relished the nearly complete absence of ambient light until I suddenly woke up, having no idea what time it was, because someone was moving around with a light, close by. I looked at the time; it was 23:23, not anywhere near early morning, as I had hoped. At first I had a minute of apprehension. Although I was close to other campers, all their lights were out. After watching for a couple more minutes, the startled-awake feeling subsided and I saw the outline of a tent. It was just late-arriving campers who were quiet but stayed up an hour and kept moving their light and fixing a meal and smoking something. But eventually, they crawled into the tent and it was peaceful, dark and quiet again.