How to Make a Long Trip Longer

January 16, 2019

I started my six hour homeward bound trip from Laurel around noon after we had another wonderful sunrise walk on Botany Bay Beach. As I got just outside of town, I remembered I needed to fill my gas tank up.  This necessitated turning around and driving back a few miles. I got the car filled up and turned the car back on.  I reached for my ipad to turn the podcast I'd been listening on but found the iPad appeared to have suffered an electrical surge. It was flashing a black background with white lines and I could not force it to turn off. I shut it up, and checked it every few minutes to see if anything had happened. Finally I could stand it no longer, and pulled off and called Apple Support.  As I was talking to the lady who was helping me, I finally got it to turn off. But when I turned it back on, although I could see the screen, it was washed out and I could see flashing in the bottom, which would have made it impossible to read on it. We decided I needed to have it on wi-fi and she sent me a work order number to commence fixing it when I was on-line. I realized I could still listen to podcasts, so go underway again.

Then it seemed I had to stop more than usual to take breaks.  I decided to take another break at Savanah National Wildlife Refuge. I had visited my volunteer friends who had arrived there one day after the shutdown, the last time I'd come through there, but the day was rainy and I hadn't explored the driving loop. I remedied that, getting there just before the best light.

I got to see the first ducks I've seen, other than a couple  each day in South Carolina. Surprisingly, most of them were ring necked ducks. In Texas they are often the last to arrive and the first to leave.  I also saw a few northern shovelers too  far to photograph and possible other species, too far away to identify.

There were lots of coots about, but maybe only 100 total

I probably only saw a dozen of great egrets

I think this is a female ruddy duck.  I saw non I identified while there

Ring necked ducks were by far the most numerous - maybe fifty

I got the female grackle, but the male was right next to the car. 

I was excited to to see several pie billed grebes. Didn't find the in South Carolina

These were the only white ibis I saw

The last bird I saw was the only tri colored heron I'd seen there.  It was in the middle of the road.  I stopped about fifty feet away and quietly opened my door and shot it through the crack. 

Then I stepped out around the door and starting moving towards it, taking pictures. He stood up and gave me a cop glare. Guess he thought he was in charge of the road.

I approached even closer,  and this was his response.

When I got to about twelve feet away,  he just looked determined to hold his ground. I had to shoo him out of the road to continue the drive.

Then I drove another few hours before I detoured to find a Chinese buffet, which probably set me back another hour. The last two hours were miserable, but I finally arrived at ten o'clock, a mere ten hours after I had left Edisto. And I promised Laurel I'd come back if the shutdown continues another few weeks.  I'm going to have to figure a way to get there more efficiently before I attempt this trip again.