Texas, and Still Not Many Butterflies

Click on any image to enlarge.



Heading south again, I came right back into another series of heavy winter storms off the Pacific. The third night out, after checking sedums for absent elfins in a patch of rare sunshine in the Siskiyous, I was quite literally “stuck in Lodi again.” (The first time was in ’69 or so, in a $2.50 hotel room replete with bedbugs.) Nor were there many butterflies in the sprayed-and-paved Central Valley, though I did scare up a few in rags of habitat in the San Joaquin; and a couple more in Death Valley, where the post-rain wild flowers were blinding – especially the Desert Gold, a bright yellow-rayed sunflower with orange discs.

Most of my transect of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas has been a matter of creosote bush and yucca, cold wind, dust and desiccation, with scarcely a drop of nectar. Tomorrow I’ll hit the Gulf and follow it to Florida, to warmth, moisture, blossom, and butterflies. Soon I’ll be swimming in them. I should treasure these weeks when every single butterfly matters immeasurably, when I may, as Robinson Jeffers writes in “November Surf,” rediscover the value of rarity.

In a couple of days I’ll skirt Mobile. Road-gods willing, I won’t get “stuck inside of Mobile” too, with the Memphis blues or not.



Shelter from the storm –
— had an almost-working 1954 jukebox, with “Peggy Sue” – my favorite!



There was a cardinal — CARDINAL — singing outside my room this morning (first bed in a week — $27 — in this dry weed of a Texas town*. That, the nearly flat Continental Divide, and the Central Time Zone — as well as my petrified posterior — tell me that we’ve covered considerable distance.

Through driving snow just above Las Vegas, snow on the Chiricahuas, snow in the Pinalenos. Finally, the sun, in Texas — and the wind, and the drought. Powdermilk and I press on.

* But actually quite charming in the middle — old limestone courthouse, library, with butterflies out front.

Comments

  1. Hey, Bob! Delighted to see you found the Zola Motel in Sonora! What tangled skeins of circumstance we weave through this tumult and riot and swagger of life! I used the Zola Motel briefly as a stopoff for my protagonist in one of my youth adventure novels!

    I don’t reckon it’s named after Emile, but am always reminded of my favorite quote when I pass and see the sign. Emile Zola said: “You ask what I, an artist, am come to do? I have come to live my life out loud!” Which pretty well hammers the nail on the head for me.

    Hope you’ll try to hit SW Texas at a better butterfly time, maybe swing through Devil’s River State Park and give me a hoot and a holler. I’ll come up and wander the park with you! It’s been transformed since we were there for the German film makers. Big rains right after their filming broke out all the springs and a river runs through it now.

  2. Hi Bob, We’re following you through thick and thin, storm and wind, creosote and yucca. Got permission from Xerces to pose some of your post cards and photos on Packrat Books’ website. I know you hate e-mail so I won’t expect a reply Just keep travellin’ in Powdrmilk.
    Martin

  3. Hey bob, Nice to see you again delightedly. The same thing is here with me. In winters and monsoons. Both usually remain very heavy. Total 6 months.
    Rahul D.

  4. Hi Bob, We’re following you through thick and thin, storm and wind, creosote and yucca. Got permission from Xerces to pose some of your post cards and photos on Packrat Books’ website. I know you hate e-mail so I won’t expect a reply Just keep travellin’ in Powdrmilk.
    Martin

  9. What they believe in is the complete knowledge of the university student wherein the candidate can actually place the theoretical knowledge collected in the classroom in the real-world situation. free netflix account

  12. The regular of training has improved a great deal through the years and India has become home to the best IT institutes, Company Management Colleges and Disciplines and Technology colleges.

  13. Flowers enhance the creativeness of character and produce a little bit of exquisiteness. The tenderness from the Flowers earn hearts of people and additionally serve because perfect gifts for just about any occasions whether it is birthdays as well as weddings

  14. Each of our Side Addicted Rugs are notable for their styles, dimensionally exact, fashionable search along with easy structure. Each of our solutions are viewed among the ideal solutions.

Commenting on this item is closed.