West Texas

November 11 and beyond, 2016

I decided to skip Roswell - I've never been that into aliens and I doubted the town could compare with some of the things I'd already seen.  Plus I really wanted to see oil wells.  And Texas is flat.  After a dull night at the Carlsbad City Walmart (it's much like a truck stop, loud and a bit grimy) we headed towards Hobbs, NM.  My app showed a rest stop there that looked reasonable and Seminole, TX was just a little farther if the rest stop didn't work out.  I've already discovered the value in having a backup plan since rest stops seem to randomly close for maintenance issues and I've gotten stuck driving longer than I've wanted to.

I have no idea where that last rest stop in NM is; somehow I went right by it without ever seeing a sign.  Seminole here we come.  And yeeha!  Oil wells!  Turns out they aren't all that exciting after all but every town you drive through smells like petroleum.

Once I got to Seminole I did see the sign, a really big one stating that they didn't allow trailer truck or rv parking.  Woops.  Plan C.

The next stop on the Walmart app was Lamesa.  Okay.  Not too far.  Except once I got close, Google told me to take a left and head out on a tiny road into a big field.  Umm.  No...  Plan D?

Plan D was a long way away but I knew truck stops didn't change so I headed south toward I20 into the setting sun.  I guess the drive was pretty enough while there was light but when it was finally dark I did see a natural gas tower burning off in the distance.  That was kind of cool.

Google did manage to route me down some un-maintained old road but it didn't last long and I finally got to stop driving and feed the poor, starving cats.  Looks like I20 will be the way to go.