We are now settled in at Desert National Wildlife Refuge with a city address of Las Vegas. The edge of the city is about 20 miles away. I’m sure the opportunities will arise for us to try to lose our shirts in the city sometime during our tenure at the refuge.

We blew into the refuge mid-afternoon yesterday. Yesterday is turning out to have been a better travel day then today; so, we’re glad we came when we did. Right now it is raining and blowing. Pretty good for a desert environment. We are experiencing El Nino slop over from California. Temps are cooler than Yuma; highs this week are predicted in the 50’s and a morning of 30’s after the storm passes.

Our site is a short walk from the visitor center. There are two cement volunteer pads with 50 amp service. We have a nice view of a mountain range with snow and skiing to the west and mountains to the north and east. The other volunteer is a single guy who has been here a number of times and works maintenance/custodial. If we understand correctly, he is leaving in 20 days, and then it will be just us until first of April. However, we will attend the staff meeting tomorrow morning (I had hoped retirement got me out of staff meetings…) and have an orientation by the refuge manager to get the whole story, and everything will be totally clear at that point. VC is open only Fri. through Sun., and currently volunteers from town are staffing the VC. After our meeting/orientation Monday morning, we are not scheduled to work until Thursday.

More later even though what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.