Water Is Back, We Go For a Ride

There was no water for most folks on the refuge on Monday morning.

With several thousand feet of buried water pipe, buried in sand, it could have taken a while to find a leak, however it turned out to be a broken pipe fitting in a restroom at the Youth Education Center, two miles up the road at the very end of the water line. The center has been closed for about a year, so it hadn't been visited for quite a while, so the leak was not noticed until we had no water. Since the area wasn't in use, they left the area shut off and fixed the broken fitting as well. Water is back for the refuge, but it will be a week before the tank is back to normal.

We took a walk up to Heron Flats Trail for a morning bird walk. No new birds today. The Sora was still pecking around, always good to see. There was the usual selection of herons, ibis and egrets. There was also a good-sized alligator in the pond where we normally see the grebes.

We went to our first volunteer staff meeting on Monday afternoon. Since it is one of our off days, we didn't really know about them, but Felipe, the refuge manager who is responsible for volunteers, asked if we'd attend if we were around. It was an interesting meeting as we learned a few things that we were unaware of.

After the meeting, we got out the motorcycles for a short ride. Our friends Tom and Jean will be stopping by on their way to Big Bend this month and there are a couple of small campgrounds nearby. We wanted to check them out and it was a good excuse for a ride. One is in Austwell and is a section of there small city park with a few powered sites in a grass field. It is pretty plain.

The other is Hopper's Landing, about three miles from the refuge. It is primarily a fishing camp and has some cabins and two RV areas, one away from the shore with full-hookups and one right on the water with just electricity and water. They also have a bar with beer, soft drinks and cold snacks, showers and restrooms...and a Texas Hold'em game on Friday nights. It is not fancy, but they were quite friendly.

Some Photos