Well, not exactly. The earth shaking “boom” (just like in Jurassic Park) turned out to be the report of some really big artillery and rockets being tested by our neighbor, Yuma Proving Grounds. The alien search lights were a little more difficult to identify. Near as we can tell, it is night time aerial spraying of the truck farm fields around Yuma. At first we see flashing lights, they go through a hard bank turn which is followed by blinding spot lights for a few seconds then goes back to strobe lights. This pattern methodically makes it s way across the wide flat valley. Sort of creepy; and that is even before I think about what exactly they might be spraying! Maybe aliens would be safer?

We have been at Mittry Lake in what used to be flood plain of the wild Colorado River. The river is dammed and controlled by channels but the ground along the shore shook under passing traffic reminding us of its soggy bog-like history in stark contrast with the desert we see out our window. We had the boat in the water and did a little bird watching. It isn’t quite the right time of year so the numbers are not real high but we saw cranes and herons and egrets and coots plus the usual collection of ducks. We wet a hook too, but not a single bite. Just as the sun set we heard the yipping chorus of coyotes, a fun sign that we are at least a bit out from civilization. The dark night sky was pretty cool too. It was a nice quiet place to spend a couple days.