We saw this ghostly sight as we drove along I-10 and it appeared to be a ship in the desert. It stood out like a sore thumb and as we got closer it became clear that it was a factory of some kind. But it did sure looked like a ghost ship.
The drive from Deming to Pecos, TX was 348 miles long and we had a great tailwind of 25 mph for the drive. It turned into a side wind for the last 40 miles when we pulled onto I-20. There isn't much to see along this section of the drive and we made good time driving through El Paso with very little traffic. I didn't even have to apply the brakes more than 3-4 time for the 35 miles through El Paso. Super great.
We pulled into the Escapee Park in Pecos and was surprised to see it was full of oil field workers. It seems that they join the Escapees and then stay there for the monthly rate. Some rigs looked like they had been there for quite a while. We were tired from the drive and called it an early night.
The oil wells were working in most places between Pecos and Midland, TX. We didn't see many "fracking" wells along the way so I assume they are pulling the oil out the old way.
West Texas is quite flat and it was surprising to see this mini-mountain along side of the road. As we drove closer we realized is was Mt. Trashmore with all the equipment to move the trash around.
Love's must buy their oil from Saudia Arabia since their price was higher than most. It seems to me that the oil that is extracted from the ground, processed in diesel or unleaded should be cheaper in the area. That wasn't the case with them.
This oil refinery was close to I-20 and was in full operation. We saw a couple more places like the one below. Maybe an oilman reader can explain what these towers are.
There isn't much of anything interesting to photograph out in West Texas and this dome shaped building stood out. We were moving too fast so see what it was used for.
We finally ran across some farm buildings near miles and miles of fields. There wasn't a lot of farming going on out there, though.
A little further down the road we did run across a very plowed field. Maybe they are going to plant cotton or hay there.
Boy, it is hard to write an interesting blog when there isn't that much interesting to write about. Hopefully, the scenery will be better soon.
We didn't see as many rv parks full of oil workers as we did a few years ago, but Odessa & Midland still had a lot of activity going around them.
We last filled the mh with diesel in Lordsburg, NM and drove over 700 miles before we filled up. I saw diesel for a reasonable price and pulled in. We averaged 9.3mpg for that segment of the drive with the benefit of a 20-25 mph tailwind. I think I will only drive with a tailwind in the future. We usually average close to 8.0mpg unless we are in the mountains.
We stopped for the 2nd night in Santo, TX at a nice rv park called Coffee Creek RV Resort. We've stayed there before and like it so it was a logical place to stop. The next day we drove on to Arlington, TX and pulled into Treetops RV Resort for a 4 night stay. More on this later.
That was our day, how was yours?
Been awhile since we've driven through west Texas but I do remember lots of nothing. And you made a great post out of nothing.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA...the ghost ship is a hoot.
ReplyDeletePecos, Odessa and Midland and in the middle of no where. Unless you are headed that way on purpose, avoid at all costs.
Texas is a HUGE country in itself. It just never ends.