It was a travel day. We left Seminole Canyon SP fairly early to make the drive to Big Bend National Park. It was a very nice morning to travel and we were on secondary highways all the way through a sparsely populated part of the state. We wanted to get an early start and arrive at the Chisos Basin Campground as early as possible. We reservations for three nights starting tomorrow night, but not for tonight.
When we originally did the trip planning, we left two nights on the road between Victoria Palms and Big Bend. After we mentioned that we were going on to Big Bend to try to find the Colima Warbler, several of the group decided to go as well. They are staying at the Chisos Lodge and were planning to arrive today. As we wanted to be able to bird with them (better birders than us), we decided to try to get to Big Bend a day earlier.
We wanted to get to the campground early as there were no reservable sites available and the non-reservable ones fill up quickly. The earlier we arrived, the better our chances of getting a site for the night.
The drive was not without excitement. Speedy had a bit of a run in with a wild turkey. It flew out of the brush right next to the road and made immediate contact with Speedy's hood on the right side. We were doing about 70mph at the time. I noticed that it was a female turkey and we didn't slow down. Ellen quickly pointed out that we should stop at the next rest area because the entire right side of the windshield was covered in a thick yellow goo (and turkey feathers).
It was about 15 miles up the road before we found a place to stop and found that the goo had hardened and was quite difficult to remove. I mentioned that it had the consistency of dried egg yolks before realizing that it just that. It must have been a female turkey just getting ready to lay and its entire unlaid clutch of eggs ended up on our hood and windshield.
The other thing we noticed as we were cleaning up was the basketball-sized dent in the hood—ouch! Hitting a 15 pound bird at 70 is about the same as hitting bowling ball, only a bit softer. Fortunately, it was only at hood height and not windshield height when we hit.
The rest of the drive was uneventful, stopping only at Marathon for fuel, groceries and good coffee at the V6 cafe. We arrived at the campground around noon and there was a good selection of non-reservable sites still available (they would all be gone by mid-afternoon). The campground host was helpful and suggested several and also said that, if we liked a site, we could have our reserved sites released and stay in one place for the entire four nights, We found a really nice site at one corner of the campground with and unobstructed view of the mountains...and it it almost flat.
We stopped by the visitor center and camp store and also left a message for our friends at the lodge to come and join us when they arrived.
They came by around 5pm and after a few drinks and snacks, we had yet another club dinner at the lodge restaurant. Whenever we went out in the Rio Grande Valley, the restaurants were more than happy to split the check 11 ways, but here, with only six, they wouldn't do it. The limit was parties of five or less—no exceptions. At least the food was pretty good.
It is off to climb the Chisos Basin trails tomorrow in search of the Colima Warbler.
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