2019-07-31 Colusa NWR

When I broke my Nacimiento-Ferguson camp, I knew I was in for a long drive north in the Samurai. The rest of the drive this day would be neither scenic nor fun. Freeways were my only option, and I was not looking forward to the grind in the Samurai. By the time I reached Williams California, I’d had it with the driving. There was still four hours of road before me to reach my family near Medford Oregon, so this would be my resting place for the night. The weather in the Central Valley was hot and miserable, and ruled out any thought I might have entertained about tent camping in a rest area. A stay in a motel was called for.

My night at the Williams Econo-Lodge was much needed. I was tired of the grind of the road. My lower back was tight and achy, but I found the energy and focus to groom the images I had been collecting, and I embedded metadata on each of the images. I found several of the images I captured during my brief visit to the Central California coast to be gratifying.

Three miles west of Interstate 5 near Williams California, is Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. It is one of six refuges in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex located in north-central California’s Sacramento Valley.

The next morning (Wednesday) I made myself a protein shake and hit the road without my standard eggs for breakfast. I wanted to visit the Colusa NWR, and a no-frills getaway gave me that option. I only photographed one bird, but it was a *good* one; an American Bittern. I’d have liked to have spent more time with the bird, but it and its previously unseen mate picked up and flew off from the small pond where I found them. I am glad to have captured what I did.