Deb and I were up at our usual early hour. We ate a leisurely breakfast, sorted and packed our bags, cleaned out the car, and then drove to Desert Survivors where Nate took us on a tour. Jeanine was there and we got to talk to her again, too. Yes, I took more photos of cactus.
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| We were told that Jeanine, a rock climber, risked her neck climbing a dangerous cliff to get seeds from this cholla with different colored blooms |
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| Large agave; Everything in the nursery is grown from seed; Nate showed us drawers and drawers of packaged seeds in the nursey's seed bank |
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| Loved this basket-like cactus |
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| We saw many of these purple prickly pears along the road between the Desert Museum and Sonoran National Park West. |
After touring Desert Survivors, we ate lunch in a Thai Restaurant and then headed for the Tucson International Airport. First on the agenda: Return the rental car and give the people the damage report and estimate. Rude Man was not around at first and another employee and the shuttle driver handled the return. I called Jeff Millerd when they refused to take the damage estimate, saying that they did their own. Jeff said to go with the flow and that he would file a claim. But, I convinced the employee to make a copy of the estimate and the business card from the auto body shop. So far, nearly a week later as I am writing this blog, I have heard nothing. I will call State Farm on Friday if I do not hear from them before.
While I was taking care of the car return, Deb and the shuttle driver loaded our luggage on the shuttle bus. Fortunately, I checked the car a last time and discovered my briefcase with computer still in the back.
Though we boarded our Flight out of Tucson at 4:20 pm and expected to arrive in OKC at 10:30 pm, but our 8:00 flight out of Denver was delayed nearly four hours.With the time change, we did not arrive in OKC until 2:30 am! Jeff, who cannot drive at night anymore, got to the airport at 7:00 and then was trapped by darkness so waited seven and a half hours! We two had an interminably long, boring wait in Denver, too. Early-to-bed Deb had a hard time keeping her eyes open. Eventually, all the airport shops closed. I bought a Grisham book and got half way through it before we touched down in OKC, Probably would have finished it had it been as fast and fun as some of his previous ones, but this one dragged on about rare books, stolen manuscripts, author tours, and the world of writers and book collectors, which subjects Grisham, of course, knows cold but I am not terribly interested in.
No drunks on this flight but an entire sports team. I guessed that they were a baseball team because they were not big enough for football or tall enough for basketball. Every seat on the plane was filled and a big guy sat in the middle seat between us (I was not going to be trapped in the middle again) and he and I buried our noses in our books for the duration of the flight.
And so another exciting birding adventure comes to a close. I saw thirty-one bird species that I had never seen before. My next goal is getting to Costa Rica to bird. First I have to build my travel coffers back up.
