We drove through Georgia on the idyllic back roads, which I highly recommend, and counted Mockingbirds on the telephone wires. After a long day of driving, we crossed into Alabama and pulled in to Tuskegee National Forest, the nation's smallest NF. The pine forest was bursting with Prairie and Yellow-throated Warbler songs.
That evening I stalked a toad, which, thanks to my Herpetology class this fall, I later identified as a Fowler's Toad, Bufo fowleri.
The next day we stopped by Splinter Hill Bog in southern Alabama and strolled through the carnivorous pitcher plants and towering pines. Keep your eye out for a post soon about why bogs are so fascinating.
We visited my dear friend James in New Orleans and were immersed in an up-close and personal view into the underground singer/songwriter scene in the Dirty Dirty, which was pretty incredible. We camped in Louisiana and met a campground armadillo, with whom we sat for a long while watching him or her while they snuffled around in the sand pit where our non-existent tent was supposed to go.
Stay tuned for Part III, which I promise will come much sooner than six months from now!
