end of the season

Continuing where I left off so many weeks ago...

The last week at Bloomfield went well. On Aug 2nd, Pete's dad and stepmom came with us to Seedtick, which is one of our muddier sites. They were great sports--they went on not one, but 5 nets runs with us! It was fun to show them what we do (and nice to have company). That night we played Euchre--Sarah and I against Pete and Bob. They mopped the floor with us. But it was great fun.

So we finished the last week, took inventory, cleaned the place, etc. The last day after work Ken took Pete and I out for Dairy Queen. Then I went with Ken to check out some Eurasian Collared Doves that had taken up residence at a grannery in a nearby town. We were looking at them through our binoculars for 2 minutes when we were approached by two separate people from the place who wanted to know if we were taking photos. We assured them we were just using binoculars and did they want to see the collared dove through the scope? (No.) But they didn't force us to leave, which had seemed imminent. (We had already gotten some good views and thought it was prudent to leave right after anyway.) Apparently, since 9/11, they don't want anyone surveying/loitering around granneries--or any other major food supplies/water sources. Sheesh. A bit intense for a birding trip.

Pete had already left for MI when we got back to the trailer. :( So the summer was over! Ken had agreed to take me to Bloomington so I could catch the bus to Indianpolis on Sat. So I got to crash at his friend's place that night. (It was this nice big house in the outskirts of Bloomington. What luxury after the trailer!)

The next day my big journey began. In order to visit relatives in Elmira, NY, sometime after the 11th and see my cousin get married in CT on the 14th, I had decided to rent a car from Indianapolis from the 7th of Aug through the 20th. So for the next two weeks, I drove all over the northeast in a gold Oldsmobile Alero. (They have such random car models at rental places.) First I went to my uncle Martin's in Meadville (~6 hrs from Indianapolis) and visited a few days. Then I headed over to Elmira, NY ( another 4 hrs driving) to visit with my uncle Fred and Aunt Anne Marie for a day before driving down to New Haven, CT (~5 hrs driving) to see my cousin Adam get married & visit with family. Then I drove back to Elmira for a more extended visit. On the way back to Indianapolis, I crashed at my uncle's for one night and had dinner with family friends. Friday I had to drive all day through a giant rainstorm (as in the entire state of Ohio) to get to Indianapolis. I misjudged the length of time it would take because of the rain, but was able to return the the car to the rental company within the 1 hr grace period (whew!). I then flew to CA late on Friday night.

During the two weeks I found out I enjoyed driving all over the place and being on my own time schedule instead of trying to sink up with planes and buses. I didn't even mind driving for hours at a time by myself, which was a nice (and useful) discovery. This bodes well for future trips, which there will most likely be many. :)