We left Manhattan around 9:30 after a breakfast of savory oatmeal, which was delicious. Of course, it was cold frozen under a new blanket of light snow. But no worries. We traveled the back roads of Kansas until we crossed the border into Nebraska. At York, we merged with I-80 where we met and were passed by about a thousand sixteen wheelers. But that wasn't the fun part. The fun part was seeing several thousand sandhill cranes. Some were flying in groups both large and small, but most were munching on corn stocks in the fields. According to Wikipedia, the sandal crane is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills, which is the most important stopper are for the cranes on their annual migration. About 450,000 birds travel through Nebraska annually. Some of the same species migrate through Washington state as well, but today we saw about ten times as many as we've seen near Othello, Washington. It made our day, and it made me think how wonderful God's creation is. I don't think the cranes have one political bone in their magnificent bodies, which are huge. Individual birds are nearly five feet tall. They also mate for life, which I think is another good lesson. They do have some enemies, namely raccoons, coyotes, and ravens, but at night they gather together in shallow water cooing and gurgling, thankfully safe in their large group. They're gray with black tipped wings and when they fly in great numbers, they blacken part of the sky. It's quite a sight for us ground walkers to see them take off in mass at dawn. Seeing them made me realize once again that life is good, especially today.
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