First wildlife outing in Wyoming - 8/15/20

Michael Ward August 15, 2020

Blog posts now coming to you same day of shooting.

This morning I woke up earlier than I expected for a Saturday. Especially considering that I was up late last night. Just after 2pm I got the final components for my new editing pc.

With all the parts laid out I set to work. Following videos and googling whenever I ran into a question I didn’t know the answer to. I had taken apart some old computers before but this was the first time I was building one from scratch.

The aftermath wasn’t pretty.

The end result I’m pretty happy with. It was 100% performance over aesthetics. Plus that gives me some projects to tinker with over time. For example when the case got delivered on Wednesday and I realized I should put more than just the included 2 fans I just picked some with somewhat decent reviews and RGB of course. The front fans you can’t see are only white… for now. I have more of the cheap-o RGB fans coming in. Just have to run some tests when they get here to make sure they cool properly. As it sits right now it’s pretty nice.
And this was just a quick and dirty picture with the phone to share with family and friends at the end of a 7 hour build. Once I get the desk looking better as well I’ll take a nicer picture with the DSLR.

Anyway, enough about the powerhouse that will be editing 4k video soon enough. I woke up early and decided it was perfect to start scouting this new area and find wildlife locations.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

A lake not too far away was the place I chose to visit this morning. Being there as the sun was rising let me take advantage of the golden hour.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/100 Sec - F7.1 - ISO 100

It was a nice peaceful morning.

Before too long I came across something I didn’t recognize, a plant I certainly had never seen back in GA.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/100 Sec - F10 - ISO 250

Onopordum acanthium - Otherwise known as the Scotch Cottonthistle.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/200 Sec - F7.1 - ISO 250

From some research they are considered a “Noxious weed” because they can quickly reproduce and take over areas while not being useful for grazing livestock.

They also bloom into some really pretty flowers that I’d like to go back with my macro lens and take more pictures of.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/500 Sec - F4 - ISO 125

As I was walking along the trail I spotted this big sparrow swoop in and land on the very top of the this tree branch. Some digging leads me to believe this is a Savannah Sparrow as they are common throughout the US and it’s actually hard to identify sometimes. Like when it’s the golden hour making it more yellow than usual and one of the ways to help narrow down the identification is a yellow patch.

These next two images aren’t great, but I cropped them in so you could see a bit of detail on what is a fantastic spotting for the day. A Black Billed Magpie, identified by the white on it’s wings and the extremely long tail.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/500 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Should have jumped to one of my other custom shooting settings where I have faster shutter speeds ready to go. But I’m not being too hard on myself, I haven’t gone out for wildlife photography in months.

Out on the lake I managed to see some waterfowl, and I can add a few new ones to the collections.

First was the Double-Crested Cormorant, which will dive under the water to seek out fish.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/800 Sec - F4 - ISO 125

Beautiful creature.

And as I kept watching over the lake there were others that came in for a landing. This big group of Common Merganser females, identified by red coloring on the head as the males have a dark green head. Also the body has more white than gray.

I had a bit of trouble getting focus on the group, for some reason the one making all the splashes was drawing my attention.

As they paddled along they did all group up at one point, and I managed to get a decent shot then. This was a much bigger lake than I had imagined and everything was staying pretty far away, I was shooting at quite the distance.

Now this next one, a few times over the last few weeks I would catch a slight glimpse of bright yellow looking out the window. I plan to put up a bird feeder for all the local birds but from the first part of this post you know where my money has been going.

Thankfully I finally managed to be quick enough with the camera to catch these next few shots of the mysterious yellow bird. Now identified as the Yellow Warbler. If I’m correct a female as the males have red streaks along their chest.

I like that I managed to catch her mid hop around on the branch.

Alongside this lake is the river that runs across much of the area. I knew that before hand and was hoping the trail would take my alongside it. Which it did. What I was not expecting was to see much of seabirds considering how landlocked we are. But I walked out from behind the trees along the trail and fumbled with my camera as I tried desperately to quickly get a shot of the biggest white pelican I’ve ever seen. It was massive! I couldn’t get a shot off as it saw me and took off. But it was just standing in the river evidently fishing. Can’t wait to go back out there and see if I can spot another.

As I stood at the river edge I did manage to get some shots of the other waterfowl about. Including what I believe to be a Yellowlegs of the Sandpiper family. Not sure if it’s greater or lesser though as I’ve never seen one before for comparison.

A pair of Mallard Ducks watched from across the river.

And a Ring-Billed Gull made an appearance as it flew up away from the water and in front of some nearby buildings.

Last but not least was an old favorite that I spotted as I was heading back to the car. A Blue Jay.

For the first day out I’m very pleased with the results. I have to get back into the habit of shooting and relearning those skills I haven’t used in a bit. Also should give all my equipment a thorough cleaning after being all packed up.

I also have placed an order for a new car, well used but new to me. 4 wheel drive for the upcoming snow I know we’ll be getting out here. Once that gets delivered I’ll be able to go out further without stranding my girlfriend at home by taking her car.

Wyoming - From the car - 8/9/20

Michael Ward August 9, 2020

This past Wednesday after I clocked out from work we took a drive out along the interstate. See the area, familiarize ourselves with the area and roads my girlfriend would be taking for work. And most important to me, break out the DSLR and take some pictures for the family back home.

Just outside the city life still exists with hotels and restaurants. But look at the landscape!

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/400 Sec - F8 - ISO 200

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/160 Sec - F14 - ISO 200

I’ve never seen land like this before. Big open plains.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/1250 Sec - F4 - ISO 200

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/1600 Sec - F4- ISO 200

According to my dad, who lived up north and saw these kinds of fences in Vermont. They are there to create snow drifts and try and keep the roads open.

Makes sense, I had never seen an interstate with signs at every exit warning that it was closed when flashing and exit now. In the winter seems like it doesn’t become safe to drive with the snow.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/400 Sec - F11 - ISO 400

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/2000 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

The river just north of the city will likely be a place I visit often. That’s where the trees grow and that’s where birds will be.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/800 Sec - F7.1 - ISO 320

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/400 Sec - F7.1 - ISO 320

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/250 Sec - F.1 - ISO 320

Horses. Knew they would be somewhere.

Also out in Wyoming is oil. I’ve learned a lot of Wyoming money comes from oil mining. Or refining. Something to do with oil. I have a lot to learn about it. But hopefully they turn more green in the future. I did see wind turbines around. Haven’t managed to get a good picture of one yet.

And that was the little trip out. I didn’t expect us to get caught in a hail storm. But we did. There was a sign on the interstate about a thunderstorm warning ahead, hadn’t seen that before. But we didn’t hear any thunder or see lightning. It just turned from rain into hail that was fairly decently sized. Very unexpected.

So that brings us to current. Where I am in my basement that is mostly all set up now for remote work and for computer gaming. I have already been buying stuff like crazy to replace things in the house that we had to leave behind. And I made sure to set aside enough for computer components. I’ve got all the pieces coming in the mail over the next week. Assuming all goes well and it arrives safely I should be building a new pc next weekend capable of editing 4k footage. Which is great because I am itching to get out and see some nature before winter. We’re quarantining ourselves since we traveled from such a hotspot of Covid cases and had to stay in hotels the whole way here. Getting everything delivered that we can and avoiding going around other people.

I also will need to get myself a car once we can get licenses and whatnot transferred. Then I’ll really be set to head to the nearby places I’ve been looking at online. I really want to go back to some of the places along the highway and actually get out and take a better picture. All of that was just from the passenger seat in the car while we were doing highway speeds.

Soon.

The big move - 8/9/20

Michael Ward August 9, 2020

It has been a busy few weeks. Finally starting to settle down and ease back into the routines.

Leading up to the move was a lot of work. Deciding what we actually needed and didn’t. There were many a trip to donate things we just didn’t have a use for anymore. Or it would be easier to replace once we got here. And in the end there was stuff that just wouldn’t fit on the truck. It was absolutely crammed full to bursting.

Here’s some images of almost everything we own packed up ready to move. About a half hour before we went to get the moving truck.

I originally had scheduled movers for the following day and planned to just let them do most everything. But weather didn’t look like it would be on my side there. It was calling for thunderstorms all day Wednesday and Thursday. So I sucked it up and did what I said I would never do again and moved my own stuff. I’ve moved myself more than enough times, with a buddy or family usually. But I got it done. It was several hours of hot sweating sticky labor.

After 3 hours we had it majority done and it was time for a break and some lunch. Then the washer and dryer and some odds and ends to finish out the day. Besides taking some breaks it was an all day event. Towards the back half it was just cleaning. Cleaning the old apartment to make it look brand new again.

Following morning was still more work. Truck had to finish being packed and the realization that not everything was going to fit. So close though. I rented a 16 foot truck because I thought that would be enough, and I really didn’t want the next size up of a 26 foot truck. I think we would have had a lot more damaged with an extra 10 feet. I packed the 16’ to the ceiling and on the unload the movers complimented me asking if I had professionals done it. I’m happy to report nothing was damaged in the move.

So, truck packed. Noon on Thursday the 30th of July and we hit the road. Thankfully the weather didn’t get as bad as it was predicted until after we left. We did drive through thunderstorms leaving the state.

That truck SUCKED. I don’t have a ton of experience, but I’ve driven a truck every time I’ve moved. 12 times by my count. This truck was by far the worst driving experience. And it was pretty new, only 15k miles on it. It felt so wide I thought I was going to run into everyone passing me. I felt every bump in the road like there wasn’t suspension at all. I constantly was picking stuff up that was falling and flying all over the cab. Keeping my phone upright in the dash mount was a constant challenge. Which really isn’t what you want when you’re using it for directions.

Another gripe may have been my fault which I accept the blame for. I don’t know for sure but I suspect that by packing everything on the left side and leaving the right side for the furniture threw off the balance. Which means that every little gust of wind or a tractor trailer passing by blew me all over the road. It was going to be a long trip because I could never get comfortable driving. You know how you get used to being in a vehicle going highway speeds and you relax and just kind of go on autopilot. That never happened. It was a constant fight with the steering wheel. I had serious hand cramps every night we stopped and I feared it would lead to carpel tunnel flaring up again.

It did get easier as I got used to it on the less busy highways, but starting out in Atlanta was not fun. So glad to be away from that traffic.

Plan was to do the trip over 3 days. Roughly 500 miles a day. First day was heading to St Louis, MI. But actually just outside of it because neither of us wanted to be in a big city. So a hotel in Caseyville, IL.

The trip was thankfully fairly uneventful overall. I will say Kentucky had the worst roads by far. That was one where I was pretty much yelling in pain or fear while driving. It doesn’t help that the major highway was closed down to one lane in each direction that was separated by a concrete barrier with barely enough room for this big wide truck. That went on for a good 20-30 minutes of me running off the right side of the road because it felt way too close on the left side with cars coming from the opposite direction. Sorry for anybody who got stuck behind me as I did well under the construction speed limit because I straight couldn’t make myself go any faster for fear of hitting something or running off the road.

But that was by far the worst point of the trip. Roads all over are not great but seriously in Kentucky. Potholes so big I thought I would get my tire stuck. I was bouncing all over that truck cab.

We arrived at the hotel late that night, ready to hit a shower and pass out. For the ease of the trip and finding food I gave up on a meatless diet as I had been doing for months and we pretty much ate fast food the entire time. Oh also we had a very grumpy kitty who hated being in the harness, hated being in the crate but did okay just sitting atop some pillows for the drive.

Quick picture of the first hotel room with a nervous cat who did not like the smells of the new place.

Day two of driving was getting easier at least. It was supposed to be the shortest day so we took our time getting out in the morning. First picked up cracker barrel for breakfast and brought it back to the hotel room. Oh also I should mention, for looking back at this in the future, this entire trip is during a full blown pandemic. We had masks in two separate zip loc bags for clean and used when we had to be around people. Like stopping at rest areas or the hotels. Brought a bar of soap and hand sanitizer with us everywhere. It would have been a challenge enough just to move across the country during a time where there wasn’t a virus killing thousands a day.

Day two was from Caseyville, Illinois to Lincoln, Nebraska. Shorter because it would be just under the 500 miles. Making the next day longer and further but it was easier finding a hotel in a city like Lincoln.

I would have loved to been able to take pictures of anything during the trip, but like I mentioned it was entirely unsafe in that truck. I was actively driving the entire time. We stopped to eat because I straight up couldn’t do it while driving. Plus that’s dangerous anyway so better to be safe.

So I can tell you day two and three were brought to you by CORN. Cornfields as far as the eye could see. We saw a little bit on the first day, even stopped right next to a field when getting gas.

I will say, the coolest thing about the trip on day two was driving past a HUGE John Deere tractor pulling a massive water tank. Even with them all the way over to the right off the road they still came onto the highway and took up most of the right lane. Thankfully no one was around by this point and it was easy to just move over to the left and pass. I did not expect the tires on that thing to be BIGGER THAN THE CAB OF THE TRUCK. It was MASSIVE. Really cool to see that. While we were driving I thought a lot about the cornfields and the farmers that work them. I would love to learn more about that lifestyle.

The hotel in Lincoln was much nicer. As was Lincoln in general. Turns out I have some extended family there who just moved within the last 6 months or so. It seemed really nice when we were driving through. Everything was nice and spaced out but they still had every store I could think of. It reminded me of the small metro Atlanta town I grew up in back 20+ years ago before the population exploded.

It had some really nice artwork on the wall too.

Onward to day 3.

The longest day of driving was ahead of us. We hit the road just before 6am. Needed to do almost 600 miles on the last day. This was the longest but easiest day of driving though. Out here there are a lot less people. And the laws are actually followed. Left lane is just for passing. No one is riding bumpers or cutting each other off. Mostly 18 wheeled trucks. By this point it was more cruise control and just pass anyone going slower. Which wasn’t much considering the speed limit was up to 75 and soon to be 80 but I couldn’t get the truck above 70. Literally it had a governor cap keeping it at 75 max and cruise control at 70.

About 2 hours outside of Lincoln we stopped for gas.

Look at how flat it is.

Now up until Lincoln it was all normal highways to me. Gas at pretty much every exit, rest areas. Typical for the road trips I had been on. Once you get past that though, it turns into nothing. Literally nothing. I started paying attention to the gas tank and guessing about how many miles I was getting to see if I could make it to the next station. I was filling up more often because what could ruin a move across the country worse than running out of gas.

We stopped in a tiny little town with a population of a couple hundred. Found one gas station was closed and had to keep going. Eventually we did find one that had two pumps, which I want to say was a step above where you would have to pull a cord to start the motor. It wasn’t quite that bad but it was incredibly loud and slow pumping gas.

We also grabbed a slice of pizza to go which wasn’t bad.

As we were resting, eating pizza and letting the cat use the litterbox (since we had already had one accident in the crate we were making it a point to stop and give her time for a little stress pee)

I spotted this cool run down train… thing. There were railroad tracks around and you can see a yellow car (caboose?) in the background. But there was just this pile of old rusted machinery.

So back on the road and headed towards Wyoming.

This place was empty, so I did manage to take some pictures of the scenery with my phone from the dash mount.

Now it was towards this point in the trip where the stress really started setting in. I believe when I had started the trip it had mapped us going along I-80 to Cheyenne and then up to Casper. But I’m guessing there was traffic or an accident or something when we left Lincoln that morning and it redirected us around Cheyenne by using some completely empty dead highways. There were farms and probably thousands of acres of farmland. And it was like that for hours.

During which time I lost cell signal because of course I did. Why would there be service out where there are no people. Also why would there be gas stations? I got to wondering about how the farmers there get and have gas for their farm equipment and their cars when going to a gas station would be so very far away. I have to assume they have their own tanks they get filled up and then pump themselves. They also probably live off the land a lot more since a trip to a grocery store must be hours.

So for a stretch of about an hour I turned off the AC and rolled a window down a bit and just sweated it out to try and save as much gas as possible. I was looking at how many miles were left and knew I wouldn’t make it if there wasn’t another gas station. But thankfully it didn’t come to that. It wasn’t a great time there for me mentally trying to organize how we would deal with a truck out of gas. I guess just leave it and take the car to cell service again where I would hire a gas truck? Is that even a thing? Surely that happens considering the stretch of land. A couple gallons in a little container wasn’t going to do much for that big truck.

Eventually we got back to service and I looked up gas in the upcoming town of Chugwater. Which no, I didn’t see anything open. But we were back at a full interstate. I-25 which was taking us the rest of the way. I think I tried getting off two exits on I-25 hoping there would be gas and getting right back on because nope. Just an exit with nothing around or any signs.

But by that point with the internet back I saw plenty of civilization in the upcoming town of Wheatland. Signs for a taco fast food place, I knew it would be fine and there would be gas so the AC went back on and I relaxed a bit.

Then it was smooth sailing on to the city of Casper Wyoming. Where we promptly got a mattress out of the truck and passed the fuck out.

Followed by movers the next morning, and unpacking for about a week. Which brings me to now. But this has been long enough and I do have some cool pictures to share of the landscape around us.

Every image tells a story

But not the full story

First wildlife outing in Wyoming - 8/15/20

Wyoming - From the car - 8/9/20

The big move - 8/9/20

Search Posts

Featured Posts