Day 11: Thirst

FRIDAY. A front moved through last night and cooled morning temperatures enough to consider a walk with Murphy around the Rio Grande Nature Center. We packed up our cameras, binoculars, and six pints of water, and drove down Candelaria Road to the Nature Center.
We were greeted in the parking lot by a roadrunner.
Fact: The Roadrunner is quick enough to catch and eat rattlesnakes. Using its wings like a matador's cape, it snaps up a coiled rattlesnake by the tail, cracks it like a whip and repeatedly slams its head against the ground till dead.
Fact: Roadrunners prefer walking or running and attain speeds of up to 17 mph. Beep beep!

Fact: The Roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico.

We saw a few interesting birds, including this hummingbird at an area near the front gate where feeders attracted many birds. I again regretted my decision to leave my favorite bird guides in Florida. There are so many birds in the Southwest I'm unable to identify without my books. My best effort is taking mental pictures of each bird for identification when I return to Florida.

Water is heavy. We had all our bottles crammed in a small waist pack and I had a bottle bulging in the pocket of my shorts. I thought six pints would be enough for a one hour walk for two adults and a thirsty dog. I was wrong. It was barely enough. Murphy found the pavement too hot and did the hot-foot jig for much of our hike. Our destination was the river, so Murphy could swim and cool down. He was less than enthusiastic for much of our very warm, dry walk. Part of the problem was not knowing how far the river was. Dogs are not permitted in the Nature Center, part of the State Park system, so we took a perimeter trail that paralleled a drainage canal. The trail bore no markers or signs. For a while, we weren't even sure we were on the right path. Eventually we gave up our search for the Rio Grande, turned around, and let Murphy swim in the drainage canal.


I was amazed at how thirst caught up with me, even though it wasn't nearly as hot as it's been all week. About a half mile into our walk, I worried that we didn't have enough water with us. Fortunately, Murphy quenched his thirst in the drainage canal, but only after drinking a pint of our spring water. I think this walk would be much more enjoyable in the cooler weather. I must admit, the drainage canal looked inviting even to us humans.


Rio Grande Cottonwood trees are going to seed and billowy cotton balls are blowing everywhere near the river.


I'm not sure we accomplished much today, but at least the new hubcaps are installed. The walk knocked the wind out of all of us, so we took it easy this afternoon. During an early evening food shopping excursion, we discovered this local microbrew. Now I've seen everything. Beam me up!