Full Time? No Way.: MAXWELL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, AND TRAVEL DAYS

Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge in Northern New Mexico was beautiful! We spent 2 nights (there is a 3 night limit) and saw many raptors, sand hill cranes, prairie dogs, rabbits, deer, antelope, snakes, and more!

I was walking along the lake and I came up upon this four-foot-long bull snake:

It stretched halfway across the road

I couldn't fit the whole snake in the closer-up photo, so here's the head

Here's the middle of it as it squiggled off into the brush

Here's the tail!

We saw this raptor swoop down and catch the rodent (you can see it in the bird's grasp) , then fly it up into this tree

Later, he flew out of the tree and moved to this brush pile. I wonder what he's thinking as he looks out across the refuge.

After Maxwell, we set out eastward. We stayed for one night each at several campgrounds. We had good experiences at every one! We saw some gorgeous sunsets and sunrises, and lots of trees turning colors! We were at the following: Hasty Lake in Hasty, Colorado, a Kansas state park lake just outside of Greensburg, Kansas (a fascinating town that was completely destroyed in 2007 by a category 5 - wind speeds up to 315 mph - tornado, and has been rebuilt as a "green" community, with wind power and all LEED certified buildings. Great cinnamon rolls at the local coffee house, too!), a city park in Yates Center, Kansas called South Owl Lake County park, and one night at the beautiful (we'll go back, for sure!) Bennett Spring State Park in Missouri. Now we've reached our destination of Shell Knob, Missouri, visiting family. Table Rock Lake is catching the sunlight and the air is crisp and chilly - just like Autumn ought to be! We'll be here for a couple weeks before moving on!