Greetings from the heat wall of the Midwest! Finally getting settled back in after our long trip – had to harvest my yard for the second time yesterday and finally appears to be tamed..for the time being. Along with the catch-up work around the homestead, the body had been quite upset its relative “time-off” from training is over. Back on the road now including two-a-days whenever possible. Typically there is a slow(er) transition to the high heat and humidity typical of the area allowing the internal thermostats to readjust and condition for the mid-year training and races. Being gone for two months, this has been an abrupt introduction and basically getting sweat-spanked on the outings even with the early mornings and darkness sessions. This is a bit tricky for me as you recall from my previous race posts as my internal thermostat is damaged, so I have to be careful not to go over that fine knife edge between training and…well, ambulance. Imagine running with Linda’s voice in your head “Make good choices!“. To my credit, I did pass up this weekend’s big ultra-race (CMAR link here) as hard as it is to admit, just not ready for that distance with the heat or the ankle – next year, no question as I need redemption for that last DNF.
Speaking of Linda, Monday will be our 35th anniversary and just over 37 years since we met on our first day of our new careers – fingers crossed our bosses and HR do not find out we are in a relationship hehehe. Joking aside, we did keep it a secret for a VERY long time not knowing what that might do to our work situation. You can say or training class was really close…we and the 15 other individuals in the training program were all sworn to secrecy – many of which are still close friends today in retirement. In honor of that first day I laid eyes on Linda decades ago, I thought it would be fitting to go with a featured feathered friend that I will also never forget the first time I met and equally beautiful.
How is that for a stunner of a Hummer? Hit the jump to learn more about this new Hummingbird on the lifer list.
Howdy everyone! As noted in my last post, I am officially home from our excursion through the West. There have been moments of pure happiness throughout my life, beating our competitors in the solid modeling innovation realm, passing my 9 hour multi-discipline second degree black belt certifications, crossing the 50 mile finish line for the first time and more recently, getting a good nights sleep in my own bed after two months of living in a tin can – that was aided by a late night run I was able to get in before that to jump start the humidity conditioning. Unfortunately, now having to harvest my yard, get the woods beat back into submission and deal with every critter in the neighborhood that decided to take advantage of my absence sigh. While I deal with the homestead entropy, Brad is going to step in to keep you entertained with another of their adventures from the absolute opposite direction from our recent travels. This also gives my brother Ron some extra time to work on a video I think you are going to like. I would like to thank you folks for kindly dropping in, set a spell, take your shoes off, you all come back now (link here).
Take it away Brad…
This is the second time I have tried to write this story. The first time, as brilliant as it was, seemed to disappear when my PC restarted itself during a mandatory update and set my story back to a nearly blank document that was several days old, even after being saved multiple times in the meantime. I checked the backups and they only had the version from the prior days before I did very much writing. I have auto-save turned on, but there was some sort of kerfuffle between my PC and my backup software. Not sure Windows 11 is being my friend at the moment. I’ll try to recreate the facts as best as I can remember them. Trust me, the first version was a brilliant rendition of our visit, truly Pulitzer worthy. Hehehe
Jan and I were on one of our annual trips to escape a week of February weather in Illinois. We like the Hilton Head area in South Carolina that time of year. Temperatures along the Atlantic Ocean are just enough warmer that we don’t need parkas, but not so warm we need short sleeves and sunscreen all the time. There seems to be a sweet spot right before the Spring Break throngs descend on the area and precisely when the hotels are deeply discounted. Yet not so early that state parks and activities aren’t available. We still see gators all over, but they haven’t really warmed up for summer levels of activity, thankfully. And I think I’ve finally figured out most of the roads we use and which traffic lane to use in the round-abouts. This is certainly not meant to be an advertisement, but if someone from the Hilton Head Bureau of tourism wants to sponsor future trips . . . just sayin’.
One of our favorite gems to visit is Wigeon Point Preserve, about 30 minutes away from Hilton Head towards Port Royal. I think Ted Jennings may have guided us to this location in the past, thanks Ted. It can be tricky to find while driving as there is precious little signage, and no separate right turn lane. The preserve is on a bend in the road between bridges spanning two large marshy areas. At the risk of making the preserve much more popular, we are usually the only people there.
Remembering that the park entrance sneaks up quickly at highway speeds, I slowed down and signaled to make the turn into the parking lot. This time, there was just one other car in the lot, but they were already headed to the trails. The couple was walking a new puppy who was rather excited to be in the middle of nature. We could hear the puppy proclaiming its joy as it romped along the trails. When we couldn’t hear the puppy, we could track its progress by the clouds of birds flying up from the trees wherever it went. At this point, we realized there would be no birds to photograph unless we waited several minutes for them to return to their perches. Or took a different path through the preserve, which is precisely what we did. If the crowds go left, go to the right, or vice versa. This strategy has served us well at various Disney parks.
Imagine you just heard an extremely high pitched twill, the calling card of today’s featured feathered friend. “Wax on” the jump button to learn more about this rather dapper find.
Been a few, my fault, upmost apologies. Free time has been at a premium as of late since we started are final drive east for home. In fact, by the time you are reading this we will either be officially back or minimally less than a state away. I’ll likely provide a more thorough recap of our foray through the west, but some key summary (at at least very close) statistics:
In total – 13 states visited 6 new states lit up on my eBird account 140+1 new birds for the year 54 new lifers Current annual bird count – 440+4 (a new record) Hit #125 on top US birder list for 2026 Over 6500 miles driven
This has been quite a trip, the longest we have been away from home and have to admit, looking forward to a good night’s sleep in a large, stationary bedroom. Then up bright and early to get my ass back into hard training. Although I rucked several mountains, wedged in a few 10 miles runs, did my cardio/core routine 6/7 days a week and mostly kept myself to 2 if not 1 meal a day, the body took the holiday to heart and needs a quick reminder it has a big race later in the year. Oh, and the Halloween Haunted Trail work is waaaay behind schedule.
…but you are here for birds and we have another Arizona specialty for you to kick off this new month.
Pretty eh!?!, hit the jump to learn more about this beautiful creature.
Life Intrigued 