Discovering the Black Gold Side of Texas

The sunrise over the lake was so pretty this morning  We sat outside and watched the sky change before we began to pack up.  On the road by 9:15 a.m.  We were in no hurry because we only had 250 miles to drive, couldn't check in our next site until 2:00 p.m. MDT.

We got back on I-20 and quickly discovered that this interstate went right through the heart of oil country.  We saw oil wells everywhere and every size.  Some were pumping and some weren't.  All the businesses along the interstate were oil industry related.

This picture was taken in Pecos.  Pecos must be a city in transition.  Painted cowboy boot were in front of several businesses like the cows Decatur used to use to encourage businesses.  In the background of the picture are all kinds of oil wells.  Pecos used to be and maybe still wants to be known as a cowboy town, but oil seems to be taking over.

The landscape we drove through on I-20 looked desolate, covered with scrub bushes and rocks.  We rarely saw a single-family house.  

 

Instead of single family homes, we saw these housing complexes.  They were very basic and we thought meant for the oil worker.  In the middle of one of these complexes was a building housing a cafe.

We also saw trailer parks with trailers under metal coverings.  I would not want to live in any of this housing but maybe transitional oil industry workers would.  We saw a six building complex set up like a motel.  The rooms seemed very small and basic.  Oil is big business down here.  At truck stops the majority of  18 wheelers were tanker trucks.  

We sure didn't drive this fast but legally, we could have.

This was at the exit ramp to Pecos.  We stopped at a Flying J for gas.  The price was $2.96 per gallon but by the time Carol got out of the motorhome to pump it, the price had risen to $3.03 a gallon.  We had noticed that gas had gone up since we had filled up yesterday.  Most stations were selling it for $3.11.  Who knows what the cost will be tomorrow.

This is where we are staying for two nights.  We have a good spot.

This row of electric chargers was at the  Flying J.  Look out gas autos,  electric cars are going to take over.  This shows only three but there were eight.  No one was using them but when we can no longer buy gas cars, we will be glad Flying J has electric chargers.

We drove out to Carlsbad Caverns National Park to see the "bat flight."

The landscape as we were driving up to the cave where the bat flight would take place.

This is the cave that thousands of bats would fly out of at sunset.  I was not able to get pictures because all cell phones and cameras had to be turned off .  We were told that bats had very sensitive hearing and could detect the sound of a picture being taken even by cell phone.  This might spook them.  It was an amazing sight to see thousands of bats come flying out of the cave.  We stayed for 15 minutes and when we left, the bats were still flying out of the cave.

As we were leaving Carlsbad Caverns, the quarter moon and one star was shining brightly in the western sky.  It was beautiful and this picture only shows how the moon and star was positioned to each other not the way the sky was totally dark except for the glowing of the moon and star.  Maybe the bottom picture shows it a little better.

After we left Carlsbad we stopped by Walmart for groceries and made it back to camp at 9:00 p.m.  This was a late night for us.  Tomorrow we head for Guadalupe National Park.  We have never been there and are looking forward to hiking there and seeing what the park is all about.  It got up to 95 today but a front is suppose to come through tonight and cool it off.  We are looking forward to that.