Field Days: Home again...for now

07 August

Still in Grand Teton National Park. We woke up this morning to the sound of a gentle but brief rain falling on the tent. I rolled over and went back to sleep for a bit and let the rain pass. About an hour later, I finally eased into the morning with bacon, eggs and yogurt for breakfast. Coffee, too, of course. This little guy wandered through our camp as we ate breakfast.

After breakfast, we packed up camp and went to see the Tetons. Sadly, there wasn't enough time for hiking this day. We did a brief car tour and hit the road across Wyoming.

Mules in Jackson Hole, WY

After a full day of driving, we stopped for the night in Medicine Bow National Forest. It was very windy and quite chilly. I gathered pine needles and the dry, lower branches of ponderosa pine to start an awesome fire. I was impressed with myself. =) We had bratwursts and baked potatoes for supper then I crawled into my cozy bag for the night. The next morning we packed up camp at dawn and hit the road for Iowa.

About a half hour after we crossed the Nebraska-Iowa border, I began to get antsy - I could smell home. Not unlike how a dog gets excited as it drinks up the familiar scent of home after a day out and about in the car. The sweet smell of cow manure and black, fertile soil lingered in the hot, humid air. Waves of corn rolled across the landscape to the horizon. I was finally home.

The Iowa State Fair was underway when I got back to Des Moines. Of course, I couldn't pass up the fair. My parents, sister and her new baby, and I wandered through the livestock barns. We found this particularly friendly (and cute!) pig. I rode down the super slide on a burlap sack with my little brother. We also rode on a Percheron! Way cool! Finally, as we were leaving the fair we stopped to see the Budweiser Clydesdales getting hitched for the parade.

I finally arrived back in Columbia, MO on Sunday, August 10. I unloaded my car to my living room floor and went to bed. I was exhausted and had to start work the following morning at 04:30. I basically hit the ground running and haven't really stopped since. I have had the luxury of having weekends off.

One of the first things I did with my free time was go birding at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area in McBaine, MO. I saw a snapping turtle, a couple of red-eared sliders and lots of birds. I also *finally* saw an American Bittern for the first time ever! I was super excited! I also found a cool, little fly drinking the black walnut sap off of my car.

Here's a list of birds I saw:
mourning dove
red-tailed hawk
northern harrier
turkey vulture
snowy egret
cattle egret
great egret
great blue heron
green heron
belted kingfisher
pied-billed grebe
mallard
wood duck
green-winged teal
northern shoveler
American bittern
least sandpiper
pectoral sandpiper
lesser yellowlegs
spotted sandpiper
killdeer
barn swallow
tree swallow
red-winged blackbird
brown-headed cowbird
american goldfinch
indigo bunting
song sparrow
northern cardinal
gray catbird
northern mockingbird
eastern wood-peewee
eastern phoebe

I also caught the Columbia Balloon Invitational.

I'm visiting my family in Iowa this Labor Day weekend. Today I went to the Iowa Hawks game in the IC with my parents, brother, niece and my brother's friend. It was HOT and had me missing Oregon a ton! We left after the 3rd quarter - Iowa beat Maine.

I've been riding my bike a lot lately even though I'm not happy with it. The frame is too large for me and I'm a little too stretched out on it. Not to mention it's heavy and not fast and I plain just don't like it...

After striking out at bike shops in Columbia, I decided to hit up all the wonderful bike shops in Des Moines. I found a 2003 Lemond Zurich that had barely been ridden by the wife of a bike shop owner. The guys at the shop fitted me to the bike and I rode it a few times. And...now it's mine! =D I absolutely LOVE it! Totally smitten...