Madison

This morning I drove the short distance out to Picnic Point . This is a nature reserve managed by U. of WI. Volunteers were out this morning doing - well - management activities.

Fall is definitely in the air. I had on long pants, a light down and light gloves. The temperature started out I the 50s and nevar got out of the mid-60s all day. The leaves are changing and falling. That made it easier to actually find the birds that I heard, and which were identified by sound by Dr. Merlin . For such a small area - it is a two mile loop around a narrow peninsula - it contains a remarkable density of wildlife. While the only mammal I saw was a dead mouse at the beginning of the trail and a few squirrels, I’m sure others were hidden.

I made a morning of it, then returned to my room to spend the afternoon taking care of tasks, errands and planning. While I purposely began my trip in the South in January, in the dead of winter, I’m still hitting the North in early winter. As I plan the last few states, I am having to work around winter closures. And even with planning, the weather will be unpredictable until I hit the West coast in December. November, in particular, spanning North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, will almost certainly be an adventure.

Tomorrow I drive North, back up to the Canadian border on Lake Superior.