Moving On

We had a pretty slow and easy day yesterday. Most mornings start with some embroidery. Now I've filled my hoop again.

It's almost all done. Just the upper right-hand corner needs stitching.

So I've hooped that up, and I'm ready to start again. This one should be finished in the next day or two.

After that, I got out for a walk with Smitty.

You have to watch your step around here. The entire park is littered with bison dung. Here's a nice little pile right next to our fire ring.

Speaking of bison...

We decided to drive into town and to do a little more sight-seeing in the park. This one was moseying across the road as we passed by.

Can you stand a few more pictures of prairie dogs?

Interestingly, they are less perturbed by passing cars than they are by walking human beings.

We've worried about this little guy who can be seen sitting in the middle of the road most of the time.

We figured out that his hole is right there in the pavement.

Now...how do you suppose...?

There's actually quite a bit of wildlife in this park. Of course, we've seen the bison and the prairie dogs. Also three large white-tailed deer walked through our campsite while Mike was out barbecuing the other night. We could barely make out their bodies in the darkness, but their white tails shown as if someone was walking by carrying a lantern. The same evening, we heard a wolf howl relatively close by, and then another one answered far off in the distance. We've also been awakened by coyotes yipping in the night.

According to park literature, there are also bobcats and a few prong-horn antelope. Small mammals include the grey fox, raccoon and jackrabbits. Also, one can see a great diversity of reptiles with 14 species of lizards, including collared lizards and over 30 species of snakes, including prairie rattlesnakes. With the warm weather, we've been careful of rattlesnakes. In addition, there are some 175 species of birds. We've seen cardinals, woodpeckers, and what I call LBJ's (little brown jobs).

So, as I was saying, we decided to drive into town for a few things. Along the way we passed by Lake Theo. The level of the lake is down, but there is a boat ramp and fishing pier here. Signs tell you to swim at your own risk. Missing are any warnings about alligators. I guess we've moved outside their territory.

We followed a sign to a "Historic Site." When we arrived, we found this enclosure that allowed us in, but kept the bison from passing through. I'm not sure if they were to stay in or out.

It's a little maze-like, and too narrow for bison.

At the historic site, we read this sign. It seems sad to think of a "bison kill site," but this was actually somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 thousand years ago. Back then, bison would have been killed sparingly and used completely. This wouldn't have been the bison slaughter we became all too familiar with during westward expansion of the United States.

After that we drove into the small town of Quitaqua. It's mostly boarded up old storefronts, but there was a small cafe open. We had a bite of lunch and then visited the very small grocery store just across the parking lot to pick up a few essentials.

This morning we're headed out for our next stop at Palo Duro State Park in Texas, which is just about an hour up the road. Palo Duro is known as the "Grand Canyon of Texas." When we get there, I guess we'll see what we see. Just know that we two have seen the Grand Canyon of Arizona, and so when it comes to canyons, we're not easily impressed. No offense intended, Texas. We'll have three nights at Palo Duro and then move along to New Mexico. I've spent some time mapping out the route between here and our month-long stay in Hemet, California, and there's still some fun sight-seeing to do along the way. I'll say more about that as we go.