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So Zeusy are going on our greatest adventure yet !

Starting in Montana and ending in Pennsylvania,  we will be traveling the Missouri, Mississippi,  and Ohio rivers. Canoe and sailboat will be the mode of travel.

I will be posting along the way as well as on a new website I made just for this journey.

         IntheMiddleOfSomewhere.com

So follow along !

Need your votes !

Zeusy and I are trying to win sponsorship thru Kurgo.

Would you please vote for us ?

It is easy ! Click on link, scroll to bottom and click the like button.

Zeusy salutes you !

http://liveyourkurgoadventure.com/project/navigate-the-waterways-of-the-usa/

Last of Winter

The last of Winter is what we found in Hawn State Park.  In the Ozarks of Missouri  and near the former French Colonial Town of Cape Girardeau.

Deciduous hardwood forests so typical of the Ozarks. Rocky soil and beautiful trees make the area unique and special.

Flowing creeks that may be dry by summer added to the beauty as well as lichen covered boulders and rock formations. This turned their grey to olive drab.

The temperature was 49° f  but a biting sustained wind kept it cold as the last of Winter tried to over power the coming Spring.

Very little fauna was seen or heard with the call of a Crow being loud enough to be heard above the muffling sound of the wind.

The woods seemed to be waiting as much as I was for the right tilt of our planet to make it explode into the growth and excitement of Spring.

East and West views from the top of the Gateway Arch.

When driving to it, the top of the Arch was shrouded in clouds. After climbing to the top in the trams the cloud cover broke and these pics were taken.

Altitude 630 ft

River Expedition

So a bunch of guys decided to canoe from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Folllow along on this amazing journey !

http://www.rediscoverna.com/

Winter colors

Summer, Fall, now Winter to see the life cycle of change that Nature gives to a special Wildlife Refuge at this latitude.

We missed all the water fowl that migrated further South only days before.  Every body of water has been sheathed in the Winter barrier.
No water means no life for the aquatic feathered , and no time is wasted in traveling to better places.

Dissapointed ? No never ! The Planet always provides wonders, We just had to look in the sky. Migrating Snow Geese provided the wonder by flying in large formations calling the calls in a language only the Snow Geese speak.

Harriers and Short Eared Owls provided the acrobatic thrills as they hunted the fields for their next meal. Making flight look simple, a talent I wish I possessed.

A hop, skip and a few steps put us in a great position to view another wonder. A nest of a Bald Eagle. Always unmistakable the mansions in the forest. A good place to raise a family, and keep  your innocent away from those that would harm them.

Empty now, but it is the time that love is in the air, literally . After mates decide who they want and the dance of ages begins. In a short time the family will be on their home making sure their special ones survive until they are ready to leave. Almost all species do it.... Parenting.

But the thing I found most interesting on a warm winter day is how freezing and then melting ice makes holes in the mud. Leaving only the holes as the water escapes. I know I am a dork, but if only I could give you what I feel when the wonder takes hold of my soul .

(See older post for more about Clarence Cannon  NWR )

Lil ' Fox update

Sorry I have no pictures but lil ' fox  grew into a beautiful  young lady ! She was released into the woods in SouthWest Missouri.  She is where she belongs , the Wild !

Shaw Nature Reserve

Frozen Bubbles in a creek bed
Meramec  river, solid and liquid form
Tepee poles and sod huts. Different people at a different time.
Prairie dressed in Winter  colors.

Big Muddy

  The Cora Island unit is the most Eastern unit of the Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge. Located up the Missouri river from where it flows into the Mississippi river.

  Inside the Mississippi flyway, a host to thousands of birds during migration time. Regardless if they are headed South to avoid the cold of Winter, or North to ensure the survival of their species, they pull over here at an all inclusive rest area.