Today was our first day by ourselves. It was great. After having a leisurely breakfast, we decided to drive to the wildlife refuge to check it out. We negotiated around a road full of cattle being driven somewhere else. When we got to the refuge, we went in and introduced ourselves to Carla who is the volunteer coordinator for the refuge. We sat in her office and talked for a few minutes. She told us about what to expect during our stay. We then got in her pickup and drove over to the area where our trailer will be parked. There are 5 paved spots and one gravel all with full hook-ups. In addition, there's a building with two full bathrooms with showers. Then there's another building with a large room that could be a livingroom, a laundry room, a kitchen, and a large screened porch. The Refuge realizes that it is a good idea to treat your volunteers well.
She then took us over to the sod house ranch where we will be working. It is not open to the public right now due to the fact that the cormorants and the blue herons are nesting in the cottonwoods on the site. If you look closely at the picture, the "clumps" in the trees are the nests which are used year after year. Anyway, she opened the gate and we drove the 1/2 mile into the ranch site. We walked around the site, staying away from the rookery area and listened to Carla tell us the story of the ranch and the surrounding area. It will be fun "boning up" on the history of the area. Future reading to do.
When we left Carla, we drove what's called the Center Patrol Road which sort of bisects the refuge north to south through the Blitzen Valley. 15 mph with frequent stops to watch the birds and other wildlife.
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