June 26 - Heading Home

Early departure for Necedah NWR and a rapid tour of the facility. We surely could have spent more time here but in the short time we were able to revel in some fine looks at some special birds that included Whooping Cranes, Vesper Sparrow, and Golden-winged Warbler.

A call came from the pilots encouraging us to arrive early to get us in the window of weather that would allow us to get home that day. We gave our fond farewells to Roberta with great thanks for all that she did for our trip, promising to return before too long.

Off we were again in our "air yacht" with a stop, sidewinding through the clouds, in Ithaca, NY for fuel. We were a bit sceptical as to if we would make it all the way home but after a two hour stay, John and Doug identified a window between two lines of thunder storms that would let us home.

We cracked a couple of bottles of champagne, took some pictures of the group with the plane, and off we slipped between the storms and all the way home; many hugs and promises to keep in touch after we landed.

It truly was a trip of a lifetime! It would be hard to reproduce this experience unless we were able to get everyone back to try another adventure to equally as unique destinations. I hope we can!