0064 - Fort Worth to Deming New Mexico

Woke up, showered, and came out into the house from my room ready for a cup of coffee before hitting the road, when Chuck said “How about breakfast at our favourite little café ?”  Is the Pope catholic ? A cooked breakfast ??    I was in the back seat of their car ready to go before they could change their mind !!  Down to this great little café where Chuck and Patti go all the time, and it was excellent.  Probably won’t need to eat for a week !!

Then back to the house, a few pics of us by the car, and I was off.  It was already very hot by now (10.30 am ish) and I was just getting into 5^th gear on the freeway when the phone rang.  It was Chuck.  “Do you want this back pack that you left on the chair?”.  “That” backpack contains all my leads, electrical connections, Kindle, and a lot more !!   Yes, I needed it !   Being the benevolent and kindly fellow he is, Chuck said he would catch me up to save me coming back, so I gave him the exit number I was on, and pulled off until he arrived.  With my back pack.  Thank you Chuck. Xx

 

Once more back on the road, and basically the road was straight and the sun was shining – Can’t add a lot more !  Texas is a big state, and I was heading west on Hwy 20 towards Abilene. There is an Air Force base in Fort Worth with lots of fighter planes zooming around – Got a photo of one as it circled me (was it watching me ?) that looked really weird – I’m sure someone out there will tell me what it was.

Then it was Wind turbines.  Hundreds of them - Maybe even thousands. These Texans don’t do things by halves !!  And of course the oil well pumps – Texas means oil, and oil means pumps.  Everywhere.  Evidently not enough oil though, or why would they have wind turbines ?  Ha ha.

Shortly after Abilene I got off the interstate and went on a smaller (and hopefully more interesting and less frantic) road out through Snyder, Seminole, Hobbs New Mexico, and on to Carlsbad, where the caverns are.  Interesting little towns – Usually with not a lot in them – As evidenced by the sign I saw that offered “Crap” for sale – But hey, at least it was high quality crap !! 

Basically it was just long straight hot driving all day, and I kept going till about 8 pm simply because sitting in the van in 100 degree heat was not too appealing. So as it started to cool a little, I found a shady spot under a tree, had a cold beer, cooked my supper, and, using my little fan to try to cool me, went to bed.
 

Got up at 6 am so I could get breakfasted and on the road before the heat came.  4-6 am is the only really cool bit. I took a few pics of the current stickers on the side of the car for the benefit of those of you who haven’t seen them recently – Starting to look like a mobile billboard, but they serve their purpose of encouraging people to come over and chat.   Once done and sorted, I set off up into the Caverns National Park to see what I could see.  Very pleasant drive

through some hills up to the caverns – So nice to have a few hills and corners.  It is only about 7 miles to the caverns, and I parked and went in and enjoyed the display – And put up with the enormous shop selling everything you can think of stamped with “Carlsbad Caverns” !!  I decided not to spend most of the day going down into the caverns on a tour – It would have been nice and cool, but I have been there before, albeit many years ago, and anyway, once you have been down Wookey Hole, what is left to see down below ground !!

Then it was back down through the park, and back out onto Hwy 62 towards El Paso. A couple of hours of boring, hot, flat driving, so I turned my music up and just enjoyed the day.  But in the distance, slowly appearing out of the heat haze, were some mountains !!!   Ah Bliss, Oh Rapture, as Mr Toad once said !  These are the Guadalupe Mountains, and it was wonderful slowly watching them get closer and clearer for the next hour or so.  Eventually I was right under the main one, which 8749 feet and the tallest (only ?) mountain in Texas.  Pulled over to admire the view, and had a long chat with some guys on BMW’s who were riding across Texas, and had just stopped for a while to cool down.  The view west from the Guadalupe Mountains was not so interesting – Flat plains disappearing into the heat haze in the distance.

S

ure enough before long it was white salt flats, and then just flat straight roads for the rest of the day.  Coming into Hueco. Just before El Paso, my earlier comments and photos of “aliens” and triffids that I had spotted along the road for several days now (and maybe even that spy plane that was checking on me yesterday as I left Fort Worth ??) were proved to be justified – There beside the road was a fair dinkum space ship !!  The sign beside it said “Private – No Parking”, so I presumed they were still asleep, and left them.

Spent a couple of hours wandering around El Paso in the heat, trying to find a book store to buy a book on central America – I realised I had no kind of guide book and was just heading south on a whim !  (This is where a second person comes in useful – They can check out what we are SUPPOSED to be looking at while I drive !!)  Eventually found a book store and got what I needed, and also found a phone store who sorted out a small phone problem I had, and hit the bank, so it wasn’t a totally wasted wander through El Paso !!  Bloody hot though.

Just outside El Paso I found an information centre and car park, so pulled over to make a sandwich, only to be confronted by signs saying “Beware of Rattlesnakes” !!  Jees – This country is full of dangerous animals, yet all they know about Australia is that it is teeming with poisonous spiders and snakes – Of which I have never seen one !!!   Anyway, I took my hearing aids out while I made my sandwich as I couldn’t think straight with all noise from the bushes, rattling like they were…….

Then it was on west on interstate 10, and I got to a little town called Deming before I needed to stop and rest.  Still VERY hot, and I almost stayed in a motel to escape the heat. I will even admit to pulling into the car park of a motel – But decided I needed to get used to it, so went down the road to a little camp site where there was some shade.  After a cold beer felt better, but it sure was hard getting to sleep !!  Anyway, now time to head towards Tucson – Being Sunday I can’t do much about getting my Mexican Insurance and Vehicle Import Permit, so today (6 am Sunday as I write this) will jst be another hot driving day.

 

Rest of the pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0066FortWorthToDeming?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz4y7Hp8-W4ugE#