A young Bald Eagle snatched a fish from the calm waters of the Chesapeake. With that enormous wingspan, stroke after stroke he powered his way high into the sky. We could clearly see his determined eyes and lethal beak as he flew right over our heads to take his prize to a perch somewhere back on the point. Eagles rule!
The unmistakable series of chirps cut through the air as an adult Eagle called to a juvenile as they lifted skyward in the thermals along the shore. They were playing now, or practicing flying. What a picture of grace.
From nowhere, a young Eagle swooped past us overhead. He was close enough to see that he was carrying his most recent catch; more precisely, part of his last catch. He must have been startled off his high perch and heading for a new locale to finish lunch.
Today’s hike took us out on a point between the Chesapeake Bay and the Elk River. It turns out that it was a great place for Eagle watching.

The bright sunny day brought out lots of cardinals and orioles too. As a bonus, there is a lighthouse out on the point. Elk Neck State Park in Maryland. It’s a good stop.

We parked the trailer for a couple months to simplify getting sites in some of the northeastern parks and to bum around some of the curlier scenic drives. So, I am driving separately for a while. No problem.
This first real driving day is from the Scranton area to just north of Baltimore. Well; there were steep grades, curly two lane mountain roads, deer, and lots of construction. I was exhausted after this 150 mile 4 ½ hour drive.
Thank you, thank you, Kent for being the one who usually does all this!

We were relaxing in camp in the late afternoon. There was a long series of these clicky-popping sounds. The turkeys are talking to each other! We had been seeing them in camp and throughout the park in pairs or small groups all week but I hadn’t ever heard them say anything. Today they decided to chat up a storm. I have no idea what prompted it but it was supper cool to listen to.

A young doe appeared across camp. She was casually making her way across the meadow, stopping to munch on select morsels as she moved. She even stood on her hind legs to retrieve some super tempting morsel from a tree. She moved toward us (we were out at the picnic table trying to be invisible). First to our left through the empty site next to us, on around behind the motorhome, out again to our right, she moved full circle around us. We were just an inconvenience that she had to walk around as she dined.

Doe 2 skirted the campground and made her way closer to our site and the territory that doe 1 had so recently asserted claim to. Baa. Baa. A very soft call floated across the air as Doe 2 approached. If it was a request for permission to approach, no way that was going to happen. In an instant, both doe rose up on hind legs and kicked at each other. Doe 2 was sent on her way. Must be really good eatings on this little patch of ground.

It has been raining ALL day. The filtered light on the fern covered forest floor in camp creates a wonderful spring green affect. The weather has made us slow down a tad and enjoy this pretty place. We hope it clears up tomorrow so we can get out and see a little more of the park. In the meantime, we did laundry today…..ack, but done.

We are at Hickory Run State Park. Turkeys seem quite content here. We have seen them strutting through camp at all times of day since we got here. They aren’t exactly a beautiful bird but are fun to watch as they peck seemingly aimlessly at the sky. They are actually after the nearly invisible grass seed floating on slender stalks. They look very odd.
They have bears here too. Perhaps we will see them when we get out on the trails. Well behaved ones of course.

RVing for the weekend here can be either in the infield-it is huge and surely can accommodate more than 1000 RVs-or outside the track in the family RV area or trackside/overview area. We stayed in the family RV area. It was right outside turn 3 so we heard all the practice and ARCA race as the sound spilled out over the wall. It was about the right amount of noise to keep us in the racing spirit. The area was grassy and pretty flat. Sites were very close together. They strongly recommend generator exhaust stand pipes so you don’t asphyxiate your neighbor! But, this race wasn’t sold out so we only had neighbors on one side….no problems.

Fan fair was right there so we could scope out all the merchandise without even going to the infield. I managed to limit my wardrobe additions to the tie dyed T-shirt but there was every manner of attire available. Miss Sprint Cup was there too. Nice gold jumpsuit!

400 miles was a good length for this track. I guess this was the first year that they shortened it from 500. Good decision.

It is definitely a nice option to spend the night before and after at the track. Traffic was pretty heavy from early in the morning and again until near dark after the race. A bummer to sit in I am sure but it wasn’t too bad from our perspective; relaxing in a lawn chair enjoying a glass of wine.

Oh, and I must mention Lizard Lick towing. They are a big NASCAR sponsor and the management are somewhat of celebrities I guess. They sponsored the free concerts and apparently dispensed free tattoos proudly saying “I go licked”. Classy, right? I passed on that one as well.

Kent looked quite the part when he got on that drivers suit, the helmet and his shades! With what must have been pretty good instruction, he even made climbing into the #3 car through the window look like something he did all the time. They buckled restraints and put on the Hans device — it looked like the real thing happening in there. The window mesh went up on both sides and the engine roared to life. In a flash they disappeared down pit road and before long around turn 1. I was in the pits so I could only hear the acceleration and deceleration, not see progress around most of the track. The next thing I saw was the nose of car #3 coming out of turn 3. They tore by and disappeared again leaving only the sounds of their progress. They flashed by again. Ride over, Kent smoothly climbed out and flashed a pretty happy smile. It looked like he’d had fun to me!