With a forcast of 104deg. for the 4th of July, I decided to go for an early
morning drive before the heat got unbearable. Happily my 12 year old
daughter wanted to go along and we left at about 7:30 in the morning. Only
a 60 mile loop, the route is almost all back roads with many twists and
small hills. She laughed and told me to "get on it, you're driving like an
old man". I obliged, she squealed.
We saw family after family of quail run past the front bumper, several times
I had to slow to keep from making quail butter. After mentioning that I
usually see wild turkeys in the area, a flock of them ran/flew in front of
us as we rounded a downhill curve. Good brakes were the flocks salvation,
or fresh turkey would have displaced ribs from the evening menu. To both
our surprise, there were three zebra grazing in a pasture on Pleasant's
Valley Road. ???? We stopped a few seconds to stare at them as they are
not your normal pasture animals around here. After apologizing that we
didn't see any deer, the very next curve in the road brought us to a scene
of two does grazing with their fawns (one still spotted) on a nearby
hillside. A large American truck had caught up to us while we were
rubbernecking the animals and I was obliged to drop them quickly in the
curvy stretch of road that followed. My daughter held on tight and loved
it. After passing a few groups of bike riders that smiled and waved at the
car, we were back in time for breakfast with wildlife stories to share.
Great ride, great memories for us both.
Regards,
Glen Byrns
'59 bugeye
'59 Morris Traveller (Winifred)
"I'd like to die peacfully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in
terror like his passengers."
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