Otchipwe Road has been very good to me, over 30 years of driving to & from the cabin. You might say that today, this very familiar stretch of country driving had me both coming and going with magical moments to capture & share. Immediately after turning onto Otchipwe this morning, I noticed a motorcyclist straddling the yellow line, and apparently not moving...rather than continuing up thru the gears, I began to slow, then coast, running thru possible stop-to-help, Did you run out of gas? scenarios, only to see her/him inch away from what I discovered was an in-rigor deer carcass, with a bevy of winged beauties flipping & flapping over their treasure. Sparing you the close-up of four raised-to-the-sky hooves, you might instead enjoy this handful of vultures who didnt seem to mind my stopping & snapping...all the while another half-dozen of them circled overhead. Mere moments after I continued up the road, two wild turkeys crossed directly in front of me. Heres one, on the move. Later, during a break from cabin chores, Marty pointed out this immature loon, who had surfaced near the dock. As if those sightings werent enough, the late-afternoon return trip up Otchipwe revealed what turned out to be a quartet of hot air balloons. By the time I could stop & start snapping, one had dropped below the treeline & disappeared into the St. Croix River Valley, approximately one mile away. WhattaDay! Marty Barnum
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 05:09:45 +0000