V I S I T I N G   C A R L S B A D   C A V E R N S

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

About the only interesting thing is all the flooding, it must have rained really hard last night while I was sleeping.

Out of Pecos, I put the hammer down. At this point there's nothing but desolute highway between me and Carlsbad, NM.

At first glance, as far as the eye can see, the vegetation looks to be predominately sagebrush.

However, closer inspection proves an entirely different reality. There's plenty of plant variety in these parts.

When I think of Texas I immediately think of oil. How about you? The second thing that comes to mind is cattle, longhorn cattle. Not surprisingly, the countryside is littered with oil pumping derricks. Cows? Sorry, no longhorn cows. Maybe they'll show up later.

Here's one in action via still photos. Here's a video (2.2 MB) of the same derrick pumping away. Funny, it sorta reminds me of the Drinking Bird Toy. Remember when those contraptions were popular? If you were born before the 1970s I suspect you probably do.