2S2G* - Homeward Bound - Day 14, Thur., June 26

*2S2G = Two Susans to Go

Left Santa Fe, NM at 7 a.m. Our plan was to take U.S. 285 south all the way to Texas.

Driving through Roswell, NM, we laughed over all the references to aliens, pictures of little green men on hotel signage, and alien souvenir shops. We just had to take a rest break at the McDonald's shaped like a flying saucer. Unfortunately, McDonald's hung all their advertising on the part of the building that cuts under to look like a spaceship. Oh well, you get the idea.

McDonald's in Roswell, New Mexico

On U.S. 285 north of Artesia, I saw a herd of antelope. What was interesting was a buck was separated from the rest of the herd and two large coyotes were facing off with the buck. We went by too fast to see what transpired, but nature was taking its course. There could have been other coyotes attacking the weaker parts of the herd, or maybe the buck was fighting off the only two coyotes around.

The town of Artesia, NM nixed our plans to go south to Ft. Stockton, Texas on U.S. 285. As we entered Artesia from the north heading south, Garmin insisted we make a U-turn and go on U.S. 62 toward Hobbs, NM. As if to emphasize that, U.S. 285 had a sign stating, "Road Closed Ahead." Upon doing a U-turn, I noticed that all the side streets said "Road Closed" as well. What the??? No explanation was given about why the roads were closed. Everyone was re-routed around Artesia.

We ended up on U.S. 62 east through Hobbs, NM to Seminole, TX, then south on U.S. 385 through Odessa and Crane, Texas, onto a Farm-to-Market Rd #305 to I-10. Our route took us through the oil-rich Permian Basin. Old-fashioned oil wells were everywhere! New fracking rigs were being erected as well. We saw man camps for the oil field workers, towns revived by oil money and the workers who use the services, as well as beautiful new homes in a number of the towns we passed through. I, for one, am happy the U.S. has tapped the massive reserves of oil in our country. It would be great if we could end our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Other alternative energy sources we saw on our trip were many wind farms in the barren expanses of Oregon, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. We thought with all the sun in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico that we would see more solar panels on homes and more solar farms, but we didn't see very many.

The drive from Santa Fe, NM to San Antonio, TX took us 12-1/2 hours. We arrived at Susan M.'s house about 8:30 p.m. Central Time. Bob picked me up. Susan and I said our good-byes and we headed back to the 5th wheel.

Mission accomplished. We had a great time doing Volksmarches in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon along with six state capital walks, and the 12K Silver Falls Trail of Ten Falls walk.

Life as we know it is back to normal. Travel Bug out.

Fields, Farms, Flowers -- Sat., Apr. 6

Disclaimer: Today's blog may not be exactly what you picture when you think of fields and farms.

At 9:00 a.m. we were at the Somerset, Texas, American Legion building, our start point for a 15K (9.3) mile Volksmarch. We could have done a 10K walk, but we decided to do all the optional add-ins.

The fields I'm talking about today are oil fields. Somerset has a long history of pumping oil as evidenced by this antique oil well, still pumping away. Don't you just love the fan belt?

Our scenery included regular fields too. This is our scenery on the Little DK Ranch. More wildflowers have bloomed since our big thunder/rainstorms on Wednesday and Thursday.

I think this is a cowpen daisy (verbesina encelioides).

Bob spotted this handsome, scissor-tailed flycatcher perched on a fence.

Scissor-tailed flycatcher

When we exited the ranch/oil company lease land, we walked along back roads and city streets. Many different wildflowers are in bloom.

Indian Blanket or Firewheel

Spiderwort

Common sunflower (Helianthus anuus)

We saw fields of firewheels.

Other unique sights on our walk in Somerset...

Bob was pointing up into a tree thinking he had found a bird nest. Oops, the whole thing was moving! Glad he didn't get his hand any closer.

Swarm of bees in a tree.

An interesting fence.

This planting is for the birds.

Solar energy farm...

Actually a very large solar energy farm, producing 10.6
megawatts of power per day, enough to power 1,600 homes.

What a weird sculpture!

St. Mary's Catholic Church (founded 1920)

Lawn ornamental sculpture

Beautiful sky (once it cleared up)

We also hiked around the perimeters of two different Little League parks. Games were in full swing, so to speak.

After we finished our walk, as we were heading to our next destination, we saw about 30-40 horses under some trees with a couple of support trailers nearby. The riders were taking a break, talking on their cell phones or running across the street to the convenience store. The sign on the trailers said something about Mexico to San Antonio. We did not stop to ask what the occasion was, but I did capture two photos.

We continued to Medina River Greenway and Natural Area which was on our way back to the RV park. We saw the park on the map and wanted to check it out. We will likely go back and hike all the trails, but today after walking 9.3 miles we opted to hike approximately 3/4 miles roundtrip to see the river. Both paved and unpaved trails are available in the park and there is a large pavilion for picnics and events. Here are photos of Medina River Greenway:

Lizards have claimed #97 as their spot.

Medina River

Susan at Medina River.

We had a great morning. In the afternoon we napped, then ate dinner. Laundry got done this evening.

Oil fields, solar energy farm and wildflowers. Quite a day.

Good night.