My next trip was toward the Okefenokee
Swamp on the Georgia-Florida border. It is simply a spot where the
Swanee River spreads out very, very wide, fifty miles or so, and is
still one of the true remaining wild places in the United States. It
was not successfully crossed by the white man until up in the 1930's.
Alligators abound, by the thousand, and it takes three days or so to
paddle across in a canoe. Raised platforms have been placed about a
day's travel apart, to avoid having to sleep right down in among the
gators. I had always wanted to paddle across it, but never could find
anyone to go with me, and one can't do it alone.
I headed out, again in my little
red truck. I got to Tallahassee the first day, It was raining hard,
and that little bit of mud to put a tent up on was only $10 less than
a cheap room, so I violated one of my rules that night. I arrived at
Mark Twain State Park, on a peninsula well out in the swamp. Tons of
wildlife to photograph. I rented a canoe the next day and paddled far
out into the swamp and got some really good gator shots. If I knew
then what I've since learned, I would not have gotten quite so close.
I have heard they can outrun a horse for 30 feet, but I really didn't
believe it until I saw one do it, going after a bird, at Aransas, on
the Texas Gulf Coast. They can really come up on those toes and fly!
I got one pic of a big mama gator sitting on her nest, and as I
snapped the shot, I saw movement above her. When I got the pic back,
there was a baby gator crawling over her head. I've been back to
Okefenokee several times since, because it's a really special place, worth backtracking. And, I always see lots of wildlife,
and called up lots of foxes.
On the way back, I found a pure
white squirrel, totally beautiful. I dropped down to the Florida gulf
coast to camp, and while I was cooking supper, sun still up, the
raccoons were already coming in for supper. I sat up a photo session
after dark, heated some leftover soup up in a skillet, and they
flogged me. I got eight of them in one photo. One particular coon
constantly kept stalking me, coming real close. Not sure exactly what
his intentions were, but I finally got up off the ground, and ran him
off.
For my next trip, I decided to drive
totally around the border of Texas, with Big Bend National Park my
main goal. I spent the first night, again, at the Witchita Mountains,
then drove down the western edge of Texas the next day. My old trucks
never seem to keep the A/C working, and this one was no exception. I
about burned up. West Texas is different. I passed the opening gate
to a ranch, with a dim trail going off across the desert out of sight.
The sign said, “so and so ranch, 38 miles.” Distances are very
great in west Texas. Telephone poles were about head high, consisting
of little scraps of limbs. Just work with what you've got. I topped
off my gasoline every time I passed a rare station. Distances were
the same in Big bend, 20 miles plus from the entrance to the
Visitor's Center. When I started in the building, a big roadrunner
was leaning up against the building, in a small bit of shade, tongue
hanging out. It WAS hot that day. I started to go back for my camera,
then I thought, I'll see lots more. I never saw another that close.
There is a campground on the far south side of Big Bend, right along
the Rio Grande, but it was deserted, and it didn't have a good feel
about it, right on the border. The major campground is up in the
mountains, so I chose it. Lots of desert wildlife around up in those
mountains.
The Javelina, or Collared Peccary,
were plentiful. Stalking a large group, I came upon a large male,
very close, and It made him mad. His hair went straight up, and I
snapped a photo, not totally sharp, as I was getting out of there.
Texans tell me, they will even attack a man on a horse, as well as on
foot, and those sharp tusks can cut a man or a dog up real good.
Heading east along the Mexican
border, I got to a large State Park just after they had closed down
for the day, and I left early the next morning, so I never saw
another human. The Jackrabbits were plentiful, though, and I got my
best close up Jackrabbit photos at sundown.
If anyone ever asks you, how far
it is around the Border of Texas, it's about 2200 miles, including a
few side trips.
I did several other other Pork and
Beans trips, mostly in the 1990' s. I always scheduled these when
Barbara was otherwise entertained, in some fashion. The most recent
of these involved her going with her sisters Sugar and Frances, along
with France's husband, Bill. They went on a cruise to Hawaii and on
to Fanning Island, during which Barbara completely lost half her
birthday. The ship anchored offshore on her birthday, the launch to
the island carried her across the International Date line into
another day, then came back to what was left of her birthday that
night. Or, maybe she gained a day. She may be older than I think. I went on a trip into the Grand Teton Range, and spent
several days mostly just looking at my favorite view in America. As
always, in my cute little red truck.
When the cruising crew returned,
the sisters told me right off, “Bill slept on top of Barbara every
night while we were at sea.” That caused a momentary wrinkling of
my brow, until Bill said, “I prefer to say, I slept ABOVE Barbara.
Bill had the top bunk.
Actually, I saved us a lot of
money with my trips. I never spent as much as I would have had I went
along on that cruise, nor did I gain as much weight. And, I was
happy, in the wilderness, plus Barbara was always happy to see me
when I got back, and likewise. A win-win situation. I finally
decided, I had photographed, in some fashion, about every Animal I
was likely to find in America. More trips would be backtracking, something I try to avoid. But if one of those long, super strong
digital lenses ever falls into my lap, I think I will start them all
over again, with Barbara's permission. My limited lens at that time
limited my photos, And, after all, I have always been only a “pretend
photographer.” I'm not like Barbara or Jane Dunn. But, I was out
there, doing what I love to do, in the wilderness. My Pork and Beans
Photo Album still lies on our coffee table. But, actually, I'm about
the only one to ever look at it. But every picture, even the bad
ones, bring about memories of a very special time in my life. I did
sell one, a picture of the white squirrel. So, I guess actually, I am
a professional Wildlife Photographer. That title and a dollar will
buy me a burger at McDonald's
.
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