Tuesday February 13th 2018

The weather this morning was cloudy and cool just like the last eight days. Spending as much time as I have in the southwestern desert climate, I haven’t seen more than a day and a half stretch of cloudy weather since mid June in Montana. When you know that the sun will return the next day, it’s easy to put things off on the cloudy days. I haven’t had that luxury the last few days. Traveling the last three days in the cloudy, windy and cold weather hasn’t been fun.

I saw my shadow for the first time in eight plus days.

I’ve managed to dodge the really heavy rains that have fallen in some of the areas I’ve been traveling through. This area of Baton Rouge got heavy rain the day before I got here and the area to the west, where I came from, got heavy rain today. The pattern of full day cloudiness was broken today. For a few minutes today the sun was out in full form. It even repeated its performance later in the day. The temperature managed to get up to seventy with a promise of better weather the next couple of days.

I spent a fairly lazy day today. Some of the setup tasks that I would normally complete on my arrival day didn’t get completed yesterday because of the cold. This morning I took the bicycle off the car and did a few other tasks associated with a multi-day camp. Most of my day was spent watching Mardi Gras parades on TV.

Standing water in the ditch from the recent rain.

It is nice to be back in the land of trees. Each of my last three travel days have brought me into contact with more trees. Here there are lots of tall trees some without leaves yet that have attracted birds. Chirping and singing birds have entertained me throughout the day. I enjoyed the desert southwest, but I’m glad to be back in a greener wetter area.