Tuesday February 9th 2021

It was foggy when I got up this morning. The official fog warning extended to 10AM, but it was still pretty dreary an hour after that. A five minute peak of brightness that allowed for a few shadows encouraged me to get outside and finish the campsite setup tasks. A few minutes into the tasks it started to drizzle. By the time I was finished a gentle rain was falling.

The weather segment on the noon news explained that this area was caught in the middle. Fifty miles to the north a line of thunderstorms was crossing the state west to east. Fifty miles to the south it was partly cloudy and warm near eighty. This area was forecast to remain cloudy the rest of the day with a decreasing chance of rain. Maybe they got it right. The rain stopped by the end of news broadcast.

I made my first visit to the observation tower overlooking Paynes Prairie. There weren’t many people in the area, so I was able to spend fifteen to twenty minutes sitting on the bench atop the tower watching the prairie. I could identify two wild horses well out on the prairie, but I didn’t see any of the buffalo herd. All of the birds were too far away to identify. I will probably visit the observation tower every day I’m here in search of interesting wildlife.

Later in the afternoon I walked over to the day use area on the lake. I sat at a picnic table and enjoyed today’s ration of sunshine. The sun broke through the clouds for about ten minutes. I was also able to see a few of the larger indigenous birds. A Great Blue Heron was standing in the trees beside me most of the time I was enjoying the sun.

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