Weather

Monday, Feb 13…

Several of these dotted the Texas horizon.

Travel day. Straight east on 62/180 into Texas, then south on 87 to Big Spring, where we are comfortably camped at Walmart for the night. As we crossed into Texas, we noticed more oil rigs and oil-related industries. The flames in the pic to the right are coming out of a flare stack, a device used at oil production sites to burn off gas released due to temporary overpressuring of the equipment. (The flames we saw were way in the distance; I couldn’t even see them in the photos I took.)

We also saw farm fields instead of desert – yea! Very red dirt with what seemed to be streaks of white here and there. Another “who knew?” – Texas is the leading cotton producer in the U.S. (If you look really hard, you can see a whitish streak on the right side, not far below the horizon. That's cotton bits left from the last harvest.)

Cable, in transport.

Tomorrow we’re on to Waco - home to Chip & Joanna Gaines. (Don’t recognize those names? You’ve never watched HGTV! Their enterprise, Magnolia Homes at the Silos, is the #1 tourist attraction in Waco.)

BlogThoughts…  This morning I noticed a road sign that simply read Intrepid Potash, which made zero sense to me. I know potash is some kind of mineral, but when did minerals take on human characteristics and why would this fact be announced on a road sign.  Later research informed me that Intrepid Potash is a company -  the largest producer of potassium chloride (potash) in the U.S. We also came upon a train crossing on this road, and it’s a 4-lane divided highway w/ a 65mph speed limit. Last highway comment (from Greg): “You know you’re in Texas when the speed limit is 75 on a 2-lane road.”

Private "park" next to our rig at Walmart.
(that's a drainage channel, not a path)

P.S. It's almost 9pm (Central Time now - only my phone always has it right). We're in a full-blown thunderstorm, and the temp is only 37°.  (It was 39° in Carlsbad this morning - after 2 days in the high 80s.)