A mix of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese. They seem to get along quite well together.

I don't really like driving east on I-10 early in the morning, but sometimes I'm willing to put up with the Sun blinding me so that I can be someplace that I'm really looking forward to spending some time. And that's how I always feel when heading for any place with a whole passel of Sandhill cranes, especially when I can boondock next to their lake.

Needless to say I made it to Whitewater Draw safely after about an hour and a half of driving. I prefer to get to the boondocking area at Whitewater Draw before lunch because there's only room for a few RVs and the RVs tend to start showing up after lunch.

It will be pretty chilly when I walk down to the lake a little before sunrise tomorrow. Nighttime temperatures will be in the high 20s low 30s, so it takes a lot to get me out of my warm bed at that time, and at those temperatures. But the thought of watching the Sandhill cranes leaving the lake by the thousands at the crack of dawn, backlit by the rising Sun to feed in nearby fields, is enough to make me forget about the cold.

And it's really the fact that I can boondock a couple of hundred yards from the lake where the Sandhill cranes live during the winter that makes this place so special to me. Of course, Bosque Del Apache is special, but the closest location to camp is three or four miles away, so it's less convenient than being able to walk to the Cranes at sunrise and sunset as I do at Whitewater Draw.

I found an article on the Internet by an RVer saying there is a boondocking area a mile from where I'm at now, which would be very useful to me since I can only stay where I'm at now for three days. It may not be true because boondocking spots tend to disappear regularly, but I'll check it out while I'm here.

Theboondork

One of the flight decks at Whitewater Draw that is used by photographers and birdwatchers.

It's rather extraordinary to see an Australian red legged mud sucker in Arizona... But here's the proof. Closely related to the Arctic Penguin these birds love the cold weather which is probably why they walked to Arizona to take advantage of the cold weather we've been having. And yes just like their relative the Penguin, there a flightless bird that walks everywhere it goes except when it's in Japan and then it takes the bullet train.

A pair of Sandhill cranes coming in for a landing.

I think this is the fanciest fifth wheel I've ever seen, and the truck isn't too shabby either. It belongs to somebody that has something to do with the barrel races this weekend.

This morning I decided I would go to Whitewater Draw tomorrow instead of today. Tomorrow looks like there's a better chance for cloudy weather and cloudy weather sort of helps my pictures, or at least does them no harm.

So today I put some water in my freshwater tank in the Lance, and then went into town to do a little Walmart shopping, and of course brought back some red beans and rice from Popeyes. So now I have nothing to do tomorrow except get in the truck and go.

It's about 100 miles from here to Whitewater Draw so I should be there in an hour and a half. It's mostly two-lane roads so I won't be going very fast, and the last 5 miles or so is dirt roads, which I hope aren't too washboarded.

I'm lucky I'm able to leave the Pima County fairgrounds tomorrow because starting Thursday is some big event called the Gem and Jam Music Festival which is supposed to bring in huge crowds and fill the place up. They have it every year, but I've never seen what goes on because I always make sure that I'm nowhere to be found.

I could be wrong but that five-day Gem and Jam Music Festival event sounds like something I would have no interest in, and dealing with the crowds is something I KNOW I would have no interest in. But after all of that is over, there's a horse show coming up, and an RV show at the same time, so I plan on being back at the fairgrounds in about two weeks.

Theboondork

 The barrel slowly topples over into the dirt, as do her chances of becoming a winner.

Somebody wants to get noticed! And it must've worked because I took her picture.

If you want fast times, you have to snuggle up to that barrel.

This is the last day of the Sherry Cervi Youth Championships, and I can honestly say I've seen enough barrel racing to last me for a while. Two days of barrel racing last weekend, and three days of barrel racing this weekend, is a lot of barrel racing. There was also barrel racing after dark this weekend, but trying to get a picture of a high-speed event like barrel racing with only the arena lighting was  hopeless for me. I can barely get a decent shot with the arena lighting and the skylights on a no-cloud day.

I prefer the rodeo kind of barrel racing; that way, I've got other events I can take a picture of, so my photos don't become so redundant. And  speaking of redundant pictures. I'll be heading for Whitewater Draw tomorrow or the next day to visit the Sandhill Cranes. I haven't decided yet about which day I will go because some of my decisions depend on the weather. But it doesn't much matter, I can be packed up and leave in five or ten minutes, and since I'm going to a boondocking area, I don't have to make any plans ahead of time.

I hope to have some cloudy days while there because it gives me a better chance of pretty sunrises and sunsets with the Sandhill cranes flying around. I'm not really sure why I like seeing the Sandhill cranes so much. Whether in Alamosa, Colorado, Bosque Del Apache, New Mexico, or Whitewater Draw, Arizona, I look forward to getting there and spending time with the Cranes. I think it may have something to do with being around wild nature.

I like watching barrel racing because horses are fun to watch, but the rider controls them, and the horses aren't living the way they want to live. But the Sandhill cranes are different. They're living the life they want to live, exactly how they want to live it, and the human beings around them, such as me, don't control them; we simply observe. And I find that more interesting and relaxing than watching an animal being forced to do what humans want it to do. Maybe that's why I value MY freedom so much; I know what it was like to be a well-trained horse and spending my life doing what I'm supposed to do, and not necessarily what I want to do.

Theboondork

See the woman on the right hand side of the picture? She's a REAL professional photographer. She can sit anywhere she wants inside the arena. She has a nice comfy chair to sit in, and two different cameras set up and ready to use for any situation. And she obviously has the skills and talent to produce photographs people want to buy or she wouldn't be sitting here.

My situation is different. I have to take pictures through the fence rails which are about shoulder high. And since I have to take pictures through the fence rails there's no place for me to sit because I have to be standing right next to the fence. And I can't just stand anywhere because I would block somebody's view from the bleachers, so it's sheer luck that I get a picture of anything. I have several cameras, but I refuse to be a pack mule caring around a bunch of cameras and extra lenses just to take snapshots for my hobby, so if it won't fit in my jeans pockets... I don't take it.

Another big difference between her and I is skills and talent, which for the sake of brevity I'll ignore and go straight to the big difference, which is for her this is a job, and for me it's fun. There's few things in the world that people will pay you to do that is actually fun year after year. Just look at famous actors and famous musicians. They've got a job so great and pays so much money that they have to be an alcoholic and, or, a drug addict to deal with it year after year. I am neither, because nobody pays me to live the way I do, I live my life the way I do simply because I enjoy it.