2021 - 2022 Trip To The Southwest, Day 40

 Monday, November 29, 2021 - Whitewater Draw, McNeal, AZ, 88.7Miles, 3,319.3 Miles for the Trip

Sandhill Cranes

A short drive to Whitewater Draw down AZ 80 / US Historic 80. I filled up in Douglas, AZ at the same price as gas in Deming (and Columbus). I arrived at Whitewater Draw around 11:30 AM. Two RVs & a tent camper parked in the circle. Both moved to positions where they would be able to leave in the morning (if the circle gets too full, you can't get out until the people in front of you move, and sometimes the people in front of you pull in well after you are set up & think you are in the clear). I moved from the dusty side of the circle to the area better suited for RVs. Since I am not leaving until Wednesday, and even then have a short drive to Tucson (109 miles to the Gilbert Ray Campground), I can live with a late start.

I had Lightroom crash my computer completely dead twice. Not sure why, but it sure made me nervous. The Applecare runs out December 8th, so it will probably wait until then to give up the ghost. 

Whitewater Draw is dry camping with a vault toilet in the middle of the circle. If this section (closest to the Sandhill Crane pond) is full, there is an overfill section about a quarter mile up the road.

After setting up I walked down to the pond to take a couple of photos. Noon is not the best time - the birds leave a little after sunrise & return jut before sunset. There are a couple of hundred that hang around all day so I took a few photos.

You might as well get used to lots of bird photos over the next two days - there isn't much else here...

While it was cool last night (31°F), I'm almost 1000' lower, and it is warm this afternoon - 73°F at 3:00, so hopefully tonight won't be as cold. My weather app says 41°F. 

I sat outside and read for the rest of the afternoon. 

As the sun was setting, I walked down to the pond for more photos. The mosquitos were ferocious, but I got a few with sunset colors. There are some blackbirds that fly as a flock. There are so many that their wing noise sounds like an explosion. Many more photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

By the way, here in the middle of nowhere, AT&T has the fastest internet of the trip - 147.4Mbps down and 34.5Mbps up. Fast, but erratic (or maybe Dreamweaver)  - it didn't load the first set of photos until I reloaded them a few at a time.

Dinner was a Saffron Road Chicken Biryani.

Until Tomorrow -