Getting settled day

We ventured down to the office after breakfast and got signed in and then moved the rig to a regular full hook-up spot.  After getting things put away, we hopped in the car and drove the 22 miles south to the town of Carlsbad.  We did our grocery shopping at Albertson’s and then stopped by the Chamber of Commerce where we picked up LOTS of brochures about things to see and do around here.  We won’t be bored…

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry and putting on the tire and window covers.  At 4:00 we headed to the hall for Happy Hour.  Apparently nearly everyone comes; there were about 40-50 people there.  They take turns being the “emcee” and today’s was a young (for here…) guy who, with a friend, had just gotten in about 11 pm last night with a “new-to-them” rig they picked up in Arizona.  They had pulled in next to us in the boon-docking area and were pretty quiet – although I did hear the gravel crunching underfoot outside our window and wondered why someone was travelling so late.  Most RVers tend to get off the roads well before dark.  The other little interesting tid-bit had to do with snakes: we had been warned to watch out for them and apparently one was spotted last night here in the park – yikes!  This is a whole new area of wildlife that we don’t know much about…  Give me a moose or bear any day.  Any way, we are supposed to take a flashlight whenever we go out after dark – NOT!

We enjoyed our yummy dinner of chicken, baked potatoes & peas and spent the evening on the laptops listening to the wind.  It is very windy at times here and we finally pulled in the slide a short time ago – haven’t done that before, but the awning over it was flapping enough to bother us both, so…. 

John has spent the evening researching Carlsbad Caverns where we are planning to go tomorrow.  There are several guided tours, but we agreed that neither of us wants to crawl in tight places and climb up and down ladders, so 5 of the 6 are not on our to-do list.  Should be fun even if we just do the old-folks’ tours!