It is Friday already!

FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2012

We're at the Beed's Lake State Park campground and until today, we were the only customer for about 70 sites.  Traffic is not too plentiful.  However, today we've seen a massive influx of customers, perhaps 5 or 6 other RVs.   We welcome the company and everyone seems to want their space, so no one is crowding in on us.

We came here so that Sandy could have lunch with a distant relative who finally  arrived yesterday afternoon. So today we met them at a local diner for a good meal and lots of conversation.  Marty is on her spring travels I  guess, as she was in Houston earlier and now Iowa, followed by Minnesota.   She puts on a number of miles each year, both with her car and with air travel.

While here at Beed's Lake SP, I've walked around the lake twice.   It is a two mile path and fairly level except when it crosses the outlet creek.   The outlet has a unique spillway that is about a 100 feet wide and perhaps 30 feet high.  The lake level is such that it spills over the dam across the entire 100 feet and then cascades down a stair step sandstone spillway.   Needless to say, it makes a lot of racket and today was even worse with yesterdays rain raising the lake level by an inch or more, not counting the inflow to the lake.

The trail crosses the upper end of the lake using a causeway which is really the original dam.  On this causeway, there were 3 pairs of nesting geese.  Needless to say, they let it be known that my presence was not welcome.  But they didn't attach me either.  One pair abandoned the nest for the water while a second nest was vigorously defended by a hissing mother goose who stood her ground at the nest.  I walked on the other side and I didn't waste anytime passing by.

Tomorrow we head for Williamsburg again.  I don't think they've had the rain that we've seen here in northern Iowa, so we should be able to park on the lawn in our regular spot.  And a week later, we join  Gene's mother for a celebration of her 101st birthday.  We have a while before we get even  close.

Gene