We both got up around my normal time and I had my normal breakfast. I did some computer work. We had been planning to stay in the RV this morning because the weather forecast was for rain, but it was only cloudy and J saw on the birding lists that the elegant trogon was still in Patagonia Lake State Park, so we decided to go look for it. We prepped the RV to move, and J left in the Jeep around 8:35. I finished getting the RV ready then left at 8:40.

I parked the RV at the City Park in Patagonia where J was waiting for me, then we left in the Jeep.

We went to Patagonia Lake State Park around 9:25 and hiked the birding trail. Shortly after we started hiking along the trail, we came across a very cooperative, and predictable, male vermillion flycatcher. We set up our camera near one of his favorite perches and waited for him to return (left). We didn't see the elegant trogon, but we did talk with some birders who had seen him yesterday. We left around 12:15.

We went to the Home Plate restaurant in the hotel in Patagonia for lunch around 12:35. They have baseball theme. I had a Grand Slam burger (American cheese and bacon) and J had Chicken Fried Steak, one of the specials. The burger was one of the best I've had in ages! We finished around 1:30.

We hooked up the Jeep to tow, and got underway at 1:45, heading north on AZ-82. We turned onto AZ-92 heading south.

We went to Sutherlands Home and Garden in Sierra Vista at 2:45 to get parts to make a flash bracket to attach a second flash to one of our light stands. J's not into hardware stores, so she stayed in the RV. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to make the flash bracket, so I looked around the store to see what they had and what I could make out of what they had. They had a fantastic supply of knobs and other specialty hardware, but no aluminum stock that would be appropriate to make a multi-piece adjustable arm. I ended up getting a 3-ft (90cm) length of 1/2-inch (1.3cm) PVC pipe to be drilled at 6-inch (15cm) intervals to adjust the distance from the light stand. I found what I think is a replacement washing machine leveling foot with a 1/4 20 bolt that will be a great way to attach a flash shoe, and I'll attach the PVC pipe to a 4-inch (10cm) clamp using a 2 1/2 inch (6.4cm) 1/4 20 bolt, large flange washer, and a 1/4 20 knob. The whole exercise reminded me of Junkyard Wars. We left at 4:02 and I was shocked that I had spent so much time in the store.

I dropped J off at a nearby Target to do some shopping while I went to the Fry's Food & Drug in the same strip mall. After I finished shopping, I went online and uploaded a blog entry. Then I set up a snipe for an 82mm lens adaptor ring for a Lee Foundation kit on eBay to use with my new Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5 L II tilt-shift lens.

We returned to Sutherlands Home and Garden so I could get parts to make a second flash bracket. We only need the one bracket, but having two will give lots more flexibility. It only took me a few minutes this time to pick up the parts I needed.

We went to a Gas City gas station just down the road. First we dumped while taking on fresh water, then we fueled up both vehicles at $2.789/gal, then we filled up our propane tank. It was a great place for RVers! We got underway at 5:50.

We reached a boondocking spot in the Coronado National Forest near Hereford around 6:15 and there was a nice Verizon Wireless Broadband Access signal. :)

We had dinner around 7:20 of DiGiorno thin crust supreme pizza, and neither of us liked it as much as their thick crust pizza.

After dinner, I drilled the holes in the PVC pipe for the flash brackets. Then we turned on the generator for about 20 minutes so I could run the vacuum cleaner to clean up the shavings from the PVC pipe. I also did a quick vacuum of the whole interior and J microwaved some water to make sugar water for our hummingbird feeders. I downloaded the images I took this morning then downselected them in iView then Capture One (C1). I processed an image for the blog then worked up a blog entry.