Somebody stole our shoes during the night, or perhaps I
should say something. We habitually
leave our slip-on shoes outside the trailer door, which up til now has posed no
worse problem than to have our shoes be a bit wet in the morning. But this
morning, no shoes. I was quite distressed—I love my sandals!—and immediately
starting trying to figure out how to have replacements shipped to us…
somewhere. But the morning trip to the bathroom couldn’t wait, so I opened up
the van and found a different pair of shoes. When I started down the path to
the bathhouse, I spotted Frank’s bright orange Crocs in some shrubbery. Closer
inspection revealed that mine were there, too, along with somebody else’s
flipflop and a nice selection of other treasures, all heaped around this mound
of cacti and dirt and scrub that I can only assume is something’s den. There
are ringtails and squirrels here, which seem the most likely culprits. I can’t
quite picture a jackrabbit or a skunk hauling shoes around, but you never know.
With shoes recovered and breakfast in our bellies, we headed
down the highway to Carlsbad Caverns. Frank declared himself and his knees game
to do the hike down through the natural entrance, so that’s what we did. Fun!
Carlsbad is another happy place for us, so we were a couple of happy hikers.
And the caverns are just so cool. We’ve done a couple smaller caves over the
years that are maybe a bit prettier and more colorful, but nothing beats
Carlsbad for grandeur.
In and around our sightseeing while we’re in this area,
we’ll be taking care of some more money business. My former employer says I
can’t be in their 401k fund anymore, so from the road I’ll be setting up a new
retirement fund and getting the moneys transferred. Joy. Fortunately and
entirely coincidentally, we had already been talking to financial guy and
unschooling dad Rob Endres about doing this. But now there’s a deadline, which
is a real pain.
I don’t want to deal with real life. I just want to be a
happy hiker and enjoy our view of the thunderstorm that’s off in the distance
as we sit under clear skies and the light of the new moon.
