Social Distancing During the Pandemic

In the wake of corona virus news, we are trying to practice good "social distancing." In our attempt to find exercise and entertainment during a pandemic, we are glad to be in the little town of Marksville, Louisiana. At first glance we didn't find much to do here. The only museum in town is closed because of the corona virus, and any events are canceled. So we are glad that we are in the middle of public land that is still available to us. One morning we headed out to Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge, a few miles outside of town.

We were the only car in the parking lot as we unloaded our bikes. We can tell that the wildlife here aren't used to much traffic, as they are very timid around visitors. As we approached this curve, we heard two large splashes as the two alligators dove into the water.

Likewise, this large flock of white ibis took off as soon as we got close enough to see them.

It felt like we had wandered into another of God's wonders as hundreds of ibis filled the air above us.

It was only with a zoom lens that we could see the characteristic long curved beaks of the white ibis as they settled back into the trees far behind us now.

We biked over ten miles on ATV trails throughout the wildlife refuge. We saw plenty of wildlife (from a distance) until we hit this section of water with its red floating moss. It looks like wildlife doesn't like red water.

Our next stop was the Grand Cote administrative office, where we were once again the only car in the parking lot. We found that the doors to the office and the bathrooms were locked. It's easy to practice good "social distancing" as we took off on a very lonely trail.

As the trail got muddier, we were elevated to a board walk that took us to the water.

After seeing countless lizards that scampered away from us too quickly to photograph, we found this fellow lounging on a log beside the trail. He kept a tired eye on us, but didn't offer to move.

We also found this large red-eared slider that seemed too big to want to slide into the water.

As we went further on the wooden boardwalk, we couldn't help but notice that we were meeting up with large bees that seemed to hover in front of us like they were protecting their territory.

It's tough to get a focus on a hovering bee, but we kept trying. They were bigger than bumblebees, with round plump bodies. They were a little scary, as we felt like we were in a stand-off with them as we continued our hike on the board walk.

Since then, we have done some reading to find that these are carpenter bees. They ARE protecting their territory, which is the wood in the boardwalk we are invading. These large bees bore holes in wood where they live.

They can do serious damage to wooden structures, like the log cabins at the edge of our RV park. We saw that each cabin has a carpenter bee trap hanging on its front porch.

The trap includes a bee-sized one-way hole to enter into a tasty piece of wood. The attached jar holds the trapped carpenter bees that won't be able to harm the wooden cabins now.

As we biked some of the grassy trails through Grand Cote Wildlife Refuge, Denisa also found a snake. She screeched as her tire ran just an inch away along-side a black snake that was hidden in the grass. Some wildlife is not as much fun to find!

But we are discovering that even during a pandemic, we can find things to do, places to explore, and things to learn. We are cooking our own meals in the motor home, and only visiting with our camping neighbors from a distance. Even with all the viral craziness around us, we are finding that we can still wander God's wonders.