151/366 Guess who arrived?

It was my last day at ISTE12 conference in San Diego and guess who I should find in my room when I arrived home in the afternoon?   You’ll never guess!

After having travelled around America and Canada by himself for the last 7 months, Davo the Tasmanian Devil decided it was time to get back to Australia for a few months. He wants some colder weather for a while.

We had a long conversation that evening, and Davo has decided he wants to travel to Russia and Europe, so he is hoping some teachers will contact him on his blog and Miss W will make arrangements for him to be sent on during October.

Davo at the hotel

150/366 Yuma Proving Ground

I thought this might be a native Indian area with petroglyphs along side the river, but ….. instead I find myself on an army base in the middle of the desert. This is an area where theyhave tested a lot of weapons since WW II.

I continued past the army base to the Imperial Dam area where I saw many donkeys or burros just wandering over the road. Also more turkey vultures sitting on the wire above the canal and finally, I saw a road runner cross the road in front of me, but not enough time to get the camera out. Wiley Coyote was not nearby either.

149/366 Migratory route

Even though I have been in a desert area for the last few days – temp is now 102F or 39C – there are many green sections of land. These are kept to allow for migration of birds from North America through to South America. Noted these herons? in one of the green areas the other day.

148/366 Bill Williams River NWR

Staying at the motel today in the air conditioned room to catch up on my blogging. Travelling to Yuma tomorrow. Still have to add posts to the eschool blogs even though I am on holiday for two weeks.

Yesterday I headed north to Lake Havasu City and visited the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. Met a Florida couple who were volunteering at the office on site. Apparently they have toured many parts of USA volunteering at different places and living in their motor home. He is a dentist and closes his office over the summer holidays to allow his staff time with their children during their vacation time.

Saw some turkey vultures in a shade area who were scavenging from a dead fish, also saw many dragonflies on the bushes near another shade house.

147/366 Back in the USA

So that my parents know I am safe and alive still, I am going to publish every couple of days an image from my trip around southern California and Arizona. Over the last couple of days, I went through the Joshua Tree National Park. This includes part of the San Andreas fault so I found out this morning – wonder if that was earthquake tremors I felt last night??

The image shows the granite boulders and gneiss along the top of the ridge. This is typical of much of the Joshua Tree National Park.