Javelinas On the Boulevard

I had planned the day so that in the early evening Jerry and I could drive to the island where I wanted to take sunset/lake pictures. Around 7:00, I gathered camera gear including my tripod; Jerry drove and I chose the route, saying, “Turn here. Stop. A bit further…etc.”

The days are long so that the sun was still too high for what I had in mind, I thought, so we pulled into the spectacular Refuge Golf Course, and I prowled around a bit there. Elusive birds fluttered in the trees, bunnies bumped along, their tall ears aflame with the lowering sun, and a black long-legged bug skittered in the parkway. I poked my camera his way. Jerry patiently waited in the car.

We had gone from the golf course and were driving down London Bridge Road, when ahead of us on the side of the road was a group of what appeared to be pigs. People had stopped on the other side of the street, their attention directed to the animals. “Turn around, Jerry. Turn around.” Obediently, Jerry made a u-turn and pulled in beside the people who were watching the animals from the opposite side of the street.. They smiled at us. “Never seen anything like this,” one lady said. “I’ve lived here in Lake Havasu for years, and I’ve never seen these animals come into town.”

I was enthralled, had my camera in hand, and being the adventurous soul I am started across the street. “Wonder if they’re friendly,” I had said when we first started talking, and the man said, “Yep. I walked up real close to them. Here I’ll walk with you.” Their lack of fear and seeming tameness was amazing. They would have crossed the Blvd. except for people shooing them back into the undergrowth. Between their weed and cactus munching a couple of the babies nudged into their mom and had a bit of milk to wash down the prickly stuff.

By the time we arrived at the island, the light had gone and I couldn’t take good pictures, but I was happy; I had met the Havalina, and had pictures to prove it.