WEST TEXAS AT IT'S BEST... who said it's nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles

Well how did your night go? I slept like a log. I hear the generator kicking right along, so Ima gonna assume you got a pot of coffee brewing. I cant see color until after Two cups of coffee.

Looks like we got about 10-15 neighbors over here at this parking spot. If you will turn on that vent fan, I will get out some Bacon and eggs and see how many of them we can get woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking :-)

OK we have a small change of plans today. I am going to turn east over at Sierra Blanca and show you a place I owned back in the 80"s and take you over to meet one of my old friends, Mayor May.. It aint like we have kept in real close touch since back in the late 80's. reckon the only time I have seen her since '87 was about '97 or 98. but I'll get to that story a tad later.

well ,ya got a full tummy and ready to roll?  When we pull up on that infernal interstate we will be at mile Marker 307. Something about a mile down the road I want to show you.. No you cant see it from here, you will just have to wait, but it will be worth the wait.

Blackie is warmed up and chomping at the bits to go, and so am I.  We are coming up on it now so ya better watch close ,it will be the only time you get to see it this trip. There she is Mile marker 308 :-)))... You may be walking in circles for a week or two after me pulling your leg like that.

 There is a lot to see out here but it is just so darn far away. I think those mountains are just gorgeous. They never look the same, some days they will have a purple hue to them, some days brown. With the light and clouds and mother Nature offering you a world of beauty if you just get your eyes off of that car/ truck right in front of you.

Were coming up on Bakersfield, pretty much of a ghost town. It was another one of those  boom and bust Texas oil towns.  I think a few people are still around but I suspect less than 30.

 Old cable tool rig. These were use to "bring in the well" or to drill shallow wells.

We are coming up on the flat land around Ft. Stockton. This was once prime farm land, see all those abandon irritation motors and pumps scattered all around. Well most of them are motors are from the 50's and a good many of them belong to my relatives, they Farmed and still Ranch around here. All those motors ran on Natural gas. The Gas company came in and raised the price of the gas and put the farmers right out of business. My great uncle and aunt died 30-40 years ago but I have a load of cousins that live here. I would stop and say hello but what would we talk about.... that snicker was totally unnecessary but I'll let it go this time. 

Pecos county court house, a little upgrade from judge Roy Beans court house.

We are going to be coming to what is known as the "split" here in about an hour. That is where  I-20 splits off I-10 and heads East and ends up in Florance SC. Just past the split about 25-30 miles is a Little place called Plateau. There is a really nice truck stop there now but back in the 70's it wasn't the nicest place in the world. you could get anything there from a common cold to leprosy. They kept 3-4 tigers in a cage out front. Dont know all the story but the people who ran it moved about 60 miles west ,just past Sierra Blanca. But that story is getting away past where we are.  From Plateau to Sierra Blanca is " Smokey territory" I think Culbertson County and Hudspeth County have a war going to see who can collect the most money from tickets.

That  My friend is the big employer around here a Talc mine out here in the middle of nowhere.

http://video.mining.com/videos/1314c0/talc_mining_and_geology.aspx

How is that for a surprise? and there is another surprise  hiding over there. Ole Smokey that I told you about and you can bet your Granddad's pocket knife there will be at least two more between here and Van Horn.

We will be up at Sierra Blanca shortly and it has it's own notoriety.Just west of town is a huge Border Patrol check point, right at the top of the hill. At the bottom of the hill, and I do mean HILL, is the Tiger truck stop I told you about.Just around the bend from the check point going east is where Ole smokey sets trying to get those folks that were slowed down by the hill and the check station and trying to make up a little time. Going west Ole smokey sets down just before the 99 mile marker to get those folks taking advantage of that good down hill run.  You say how do I know all that, well Bud it's one of those been there done that things and I have the receipts for the fines paid, all three of them.That ole hill used to really tire me out ,just grinding along back before we had these ole big engines .

This is where I would stop for some coffee and pie. Sure hate to see it in this shape, I have a lot of good memories from there.Turned out that several years latter the guy who owned it ,bought a place right next to me in New Mexico. small world huh. 

Time to make that detour I told you about  this morning. We are going to go East on Hudspeth County road 1111

Back in the 80's I owned a half section(320) acres about 16 miles out here ahd about 3 miles south. There was deer and antelope all over the place.

 

 I sold it in '91 when the county made a deal to spread New York's sewer all over the county.

http://www.txpeer.org/toxictour/merco.html

About 10 more miles to Cornudas and the home of Mayor May's famous Jackrabbit burger.

In '85-'86-'87  My co driver and I parked our rig just about where that one is parked every Saturday about 5 P.M.  and had a meal with a BIG piece of pie and sweet tea. Mayor May owed the town. A cafe,  gas station and Tow service. Her tow service got a ton of business from the Border patrol  station just about 8-10 miles away and her cafe got a ton of business from Truckers.

 

The Mayor made a super hamburger, chili burger and just general all around good food. She treated Truck Drivers like Kings. I walked in one Saturday and there were people at 3-4 tables.I said " Mayor I'll just have my regular Jackrabbit cheese burger with green chili"

A young man about 8-10 slid his plate back and said "is that Jackrabbit, I wont eat it" we had a heck of a time convincing him it wasn't Jackrabbit but he ate it, I told him as he and his family went out the door that we just called it Jackrabbit ,that it was really Coyote. His answer was "No way".

What do you think Bud was it worth the detour? My coconut pie was just to good to describe. I think after that meal my eyes are going to need a rest and your ears are sagging pretty bad, they may be scabbed over by morning. 250 or 300 miles is enough for today , How about we just call it good for today and get some real rest. Mayor opens at 7 A.M. and we'll get a real breakfast.

Tomorrow: more trucking west

I plan on having a great day, I hope you will join me

Rojo with Bud riding along.