The baby herons learn to fly!
I sit at my back window with a cup of coffee and watch their first efforts out of the nest. Mother heron flies over to a palo verde at the top of the cliff. One by one her offspring follow her. She makes small flying loops out over the river and back. In only about fifteen minutes I see five herons flying together! I don’t know if I’m seeing the mother and four youngsters or both parents and three youngsters. They’re all about the same size. What a beautiful sight to cap off our stay at Burro Creek Campground. Bridget, Spike and I enjoyed our time here from Friday until today, Tuesday.
This morning we move out of the river canyon to a BLM turn-out up the road from the campground.
I want to catch up on emailing, blog posting, and replying to comments. I haven’t had a news fix in five days!
On the way out of the campground, I stop at the dump station. There’s a hose for fresh water and a hose for cleaning out tanks. After dumping, I make sure the black water tank valve is closed.
This is a good time to flush the tank.
I open the bathroom window and push the tank-cleaning hose through it. Then I go inside and insert the hose into the toilet, letting the flush door at the bottom of the toilet bowl hold the hose in place (I hope!). I go back outside and around the BLT to the hose faucet, turn it on, and then run like a fool around the BLT and into the bathroom. Whew! The hose stayed in the toilet. This is definitely a two-person job, but I’ll get it done.
When the tank is about three-fourths full, I pull out the hose (that has no nozzle), throw it out the window splashing water around, run out and around the BLT, and turn off the faucet. Then I open the black tank valve and let the water flush out the tank!
After cleaning up, I move the BLT forward so I can fill the fresh water tank.
The fresh water intake is in the back next to the spare tire. I notice that when I try to put water from a hose into the fresh water tank, the water tends to go in and splash right back out. It’s particularly hard today to stop this from happening. I try different angles with the hose with no luck. It’s like there’s an air lock inside.
This baffles me because there’s an overflow vent where air can escape, and the hose does not completely block the intake opening. I even open up the interior faucets which doesn’t help. Oh well, maybe blog readers will know what causes this. (Note: Reader Bob Giddings suggested a “water tank filler.” See Resources page. Thanks, Bob!)
Five minutes after leaving Burro Creek Campground, we’re parked in our new site.
It’s a wide turn-out where other people have camped before. I jump out and look at the bubble levels on the BLT. Fantastic! Level on the first park in both directions! The road is far enough away that vehicles won’t be heard. There’s very little traffic on it, anyway. Our door opens to an expanse of desert spreading out to mountains, not a house, vehicle or person in sight. I need to cocoon with my book and laptop and this will work fine.
The crew needs to investigate their new yard.
We walk up the road, Bridget and Spike sniffing along while I take photos of the flowers along the edge of the blacktop. Some are growing out of the blacktop! I look back and smile at the PTV and BLT snuggled alongside the road against a desert and mountain backdrop. What a good feeling to always be home no matter where we go.
rvsue
rvsue and her canine crew 