We have just showered and checked in at Goose Creek Cabins a few miles down the road from the A.T. Bathing is so-o wonderful when you haven't done it for a few days.

The hike continues very well. The weather has been good, for a rain forest. In fact most of our rain has been at night and the past three days have been beautiful. The nights have been cool with 35-45 degree mornings and 50-60 degree afternoons. A bit chilly when we are not walking, but great for the trail.

We are at slightly lower elevations now, but the trees are still just leafing out on the ridges. The wildflowers are varied and abundant. So too has been the poison ivy since we dropped down into Georgia. We have to watch that. "Berryman" Chuck has also been paying attention to all of the blackberries and blueberries in bloom. We will have to return to some of these trails in July and August.

After hiking 4.3 miles this morning we were picked up by Ron, the owner of the Hiawassee Inn, and brought to town for showers, laundry, and a real bed.
We've met many lovely people along the trail of all ages. Since we are hiking south we've met met prospective 'through-hikers'. It is late for them to start since it is a 5-6 month process, and most will probably 'flip', that is fly north to Maine and Mount Kahtadin and start hiking south. Some flip in Harpers Ferry and others at the Delaware Water Gap.
We are doing well. Anne has a few blisters on her feet, but that is expected. Chuck is busy looking at the foliage and birds. We teach interested hikers the common bird songs. Most of the birding is 'by ear' since the birds like to hide in the trees.

After a delightful visit to old friends in Lufkin, Texas we hustled eastward to prepare for our planned Appalachian Trail hike. We spent most of one night parked in a Louisiana rest stop and arrived at a Hiawassee, Georgia campground late the next afternoon. From there we spent a day making food drops at Wesser and Franklin, N.C. and Hiawassee and Neels Gap, Georgia. We then drove our rig to Amacolola Falls State Park where we checked in and parked our little Ford Focus. We then drove the motor home to Sylva where we spent the night at what will be our home the second half of this year.

We have rediscovered the color green. Eastern green that is. The green that comes when you mix water and earth to produce luxurient vegetation.

Our last day in Ft. Davis was exciting with the first significant rain in months and a hail storm that dinged our car a bit. Chuck ran out and grabed three stones. Two measured 1.5 inches and one was 1.0.

After the storm we took a final walk. The bunch moss and grass was already greening up. The Sabinal River, which had been almost dry turned into a modest brook. The birds, reptiles, and amphibians became more active. The barking frogs did indeed bark on our last evening. We enjoyed last looks at the small but handsome golden cheek warbler.

Sorry for the gap. We were largely beyond the reach of electronic and telephonic communications for some time. We are now out of the rebellious and remote borderlands and in the civilization of the county seat and largest City (population 600) of Jeff Davis County Texas.

Of historic note, the town is named for the fort named for the Secretary of War who established it to protect the ranchers who seemed to irritate the local population of Apaches with their intrusion.

We had a great time in Big Bend National Park, but cut short our stay by a few days to escape the heat that became somewhat oppressive near the end. We stayed at the Rio Grande Village. The campground is cooled somewhat by cottonwoods and mesquite, but the temperature reached 100 a couple of times and dropped only to 80 the morning before we left.

We are finishing up our week here. Laundry and oil change this morning. No English in either shop. The weather is overcast and warmer, probably 80 this afternoon.

We found most of our target birds here. Two days ago we paddled some five miles up the river from Salineno to the Falcon Dam. It was a crisp and clear morning, 38 degrees at dawn. The scenery was pleasing with patches of reed, cypress, thornscrub land, and cow and goat pasture.

There were lots of ducks, mostly American wigeon, gadwall, and blue-winged teal, still tarrying here. To our disappointment no Muscovy ducks showed up, but we enjoyed great views of gray hawks and kettles of red-shouldered hawks on migration. We also roused both ringed and green kingfishers. We witnessed only one illegal border crossing.

Birding sites can be in the most unusual settings. We have experienced this over the last several days as we continue to bird along the Rio Grande River and the international border.

This is the frontier and it shows. Two days ago we visited the town of San Ygnacio to find white-collared seedeaters and a wayward Yucatan jay. The first are found in los Estados Unitos only in a few reed patches near the river. Currently some of these patches have been cleared and others, if they exist, are not accessible. Along the water front in San Ygnacio, however, an enterprising gentleman has created a religous (Madonna) and birding shrine. A five dollar donation (per person) is requested. Currently on special is the Yucatan jay, a spectacular navy blue bodied bird with aquamarine blue wings and tail. It appears most mornings about seven a.m. at a feeding station. We arrived at 6:45 and saw the bird four times for a total of about twenty seconds at 6:56. Very nice. This bird has no business being here. It may be a vagrant. More likely it is an escaped cage bird from nearby in Mexico.

It is hot down here. Three-thirty finds us in the library, which is cool. We got up early this morning for a second visit to the Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge. Our target bird was the hook-billed kite. The refuge was quiet this warm morning except for the buzzing of mosquitoes that were the only ones pleased at the absence of wind.

We enjoyed walking on the somewhat dusty trails through Texas ebony and prickly pear past lagoons that collected ducks and waders. We found one new arrival, a brown-crested flycatcher sitting quietly in a tree. We had to study it carefully from different angles to confirm its identity. It seemed to be resting upon its return to Texas.