55 Over the Mountain!

Feb 23rd

     We were now going to retrace our path back to Artesia New Mexico and then continue East into Texas.    A little maintenance first, another can of tire inflator, lets try fixaflat this time!  Drive across Deming to spread the magic potion, inflate to proper pressure and away we go.

     We were looking forward to the trip back across the mountain.  It had been cold and dark when we came over it the first time.
     This would be our day for accident sightings.   Perhaps our tire delay was fortunate at least in 3 intersections this day we arrived within seconds of traffic collisions.   We started up the mountain enjoying the amazing views.  On the way up the mountain there was a traffic delay to bypass a broken down truck, it took a while as the mountain is close enough to touch on one side and drop off on the other.  It didn't leave room for pull-outs.

  

     We stopped to eat in Cloudcroft at the peak of the mountain.  Evidently there had been a little snow that morning.  We visited with some motorcyclists  who were calling it a day because of some glaze on the roads.  We were again thankful for the three wheels. 
     On the way down the other side we stopped to take a picture with the snow in the background and read this sign.   Looks like a bah humbug moment to me.  "no snow play devices" ?

 

     We also got to see the large herds of deer we had passed by in the darkness a few days earlier.  It looked like they were used to traffic.

     Just to the West of Artesia we had noticed what looked like a large man made dam, with no visible water flow it made us curious   Since we were not chasing the Sun today we took the time to investigate.   It looked like they had built a dam in the middle of the desert.  Turns out they built it in anticipation of the next 100 year flood and haven't had significant rainfall since. ( At least that's what the worker at the oil pump fitting location told us.)    We took a little time going through Artesia to admire the larger than life bronze statues in the city.  They remind me of the Frederick Remington bronzes.  At the edge of town was a very large refinery and from that point on the landscape was filled with oil drilling equipment of all sizes.   It was hard to imagine their was enough oil beneath the surface to warrant all this activity.  Old and new pumps, storage tanks, black transfer hoses running along the road.   The highway filled with oil drilling rigs, tankers and equipment trucks of all sizes.  We were definitely in oil country

.   I can't help myself but ever-time I see one of these oil pumps I think of the drinking bird that everyone had on their window sill when I was a child.  Have you seen them or was it a country thing?   Do they still have them?  What makes them work?
     We traveled as far as Hobbs and found a motel for the night.  This notice in the lobby gave our friends and relatives some concern.  However we had a good rest with no unexpected  drug sweeps or canine led search's.