Last night turned out to be a good location. The weather stayed good, and I was out of sight from the traffic. I was up early and on the road by 7am. It’s 70 miles from Riverside to Hobbs, so that’s 3 good days of walking. I’ll try to get 25 or so today and tomorrow, and leave a shorter day for Monday.
The landscape has now changed to pretty much the scrubby, high desert look, with very little of the grassy plains that existed prior to Artesia. But there was another thing that filled the landscape….wells. The landscape was full of the “bobbing parrot” well pumps. Most were operating, some were just sitting. I spotted a young guy sitting in his truck waiting to go to work, and stopped to ask him more about the oil fields. His name was Jerrold Chavarria, from Artesia, and he worked for Tandem Energy as a “pumper.“ His job is to see the oil (or whatever), is flowing to the storage facility.
Jerrold told me that oil, gas, and water are pumped in the area. From the wells it flows to the storage tanks, some which are right beside the well, others several miles away. It was interesting to learn about the fields from Jerrold. One last question I asked Jerrold, “why do all these people out this way drive Dodge pickup trucks?“ Since I came in Artesia, and now going east, it seems 85-90% of all trucks on the road are Dodge Ram. West of Artesia, in the ranching area, 90% would be Ford. Jerrold just grinned, and leaning back on his 2008 Ram pickup, said, “we love our Dodge trucks out here.“ Before I left Jerrold, he gave me 4 bottles of water for my trip.
The weather was beautiful, and although the landscape wasn’t as nice as other areas, it was a good day for walking. Before long it was time for a break, so I unpacked the cart, threw down a tarp, and laid down as far from the road as I could. In about 30 minutes or so I heard sirens coming from all areas. Guess where they were headed? Yep, a woman had called 911 and reported “man down and not moving at mile 124”, so four emergency vehicles headed out to save me…….2 from Artesia, 2 from Loco Hills. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but I wonder why…..if people are so concerned about me, why don‘t they just stop and ask if I‘m ok? Guess I‘ll need to make a sign saying, “Don‘t call 911, I‘m resting.”
Anyhow, it all turned out ok…the guy from Loco Hills EMS said he thought it might be me because he had seen me the day before in Artesia. I told them the rest of my route through NM, in case they got other calls. I do have to rest occasionally, and the fencing alongside all the roads prevents me from getting too far off the road. One of the guys questioned where I was headed, I told him, and he said the only place to buy something between here and Hobbs was a restaurant in Loco Hills…..8 miles from here, and it closes at 2 on Saturday. It was 1140, and that's a stretch for me in 2hrs and 20 min. I quickly packed the cart, shifted gears from “meander” to something a little faster, and headed out……with a nice wind at my back.
Just as I headed out, a large tanker truck pulled over to the other side of the road and signaled me to walk over there. I did, and the driver handed me 3 tamales for my trip. I didn’t even know what they were, but he explained it, and I thanked him. Before I left he asked if I had any water. Yep, 4 bottle at least. I decided to try the tamale, and unwrapping it from the “corn husk“ looking thing, took a big bite. I see why he asked if I had water. My mouth, and especially my lips, were on fire. I named these the ½ gallon tamale, because that‘s how much water it took to stop my lips from burning. They were good, but I‘m just not accustomed to this hot stuff. But, a very nice gesture from the driver.
At 5 minutes to 2, I walked into Kelly’s Cafe. The woman who waited on me, Kressy Carlile, said it was fine, so I ordered lunch. While she and I were talking, I told her about the walk, and she wanted to take pictures, and said my lunch was “on the house.“ Her husband Jodie, who was waiting for her to get off work, took the pictures and he and I talked for quite a while. In fact, the restaurant was still going strong when I left a little before 4pm. Jodie suggested a good place to camp, about 6 miles down the road, so I headed out for there.
As the sun was getting low, I found the spot, looked around, and settled on a place to put the tent. Soon had it up, and inside for the night. One interesting thing about the location……there is a pipe coming from one of the wells and it runs close to my tent. Unless the well stops pumping, think the stuff flowing through the pipe will lull me to sleep.
(That's Kressy, Chere, and me in the pic, in front of Kelly's Cafe in Loco Hills.)
The landscape has now changed to pretty much the scrubby, high desert look, with very little of the grassy plains that existed prior to Artesia. But there was another thing that filled the landscape….wells. The landscape was full of the “bobbing parrot” well pumps. Most were operating, some were just sitting. I spotted a young guy sitting in his truck waiting to go to work, and stopped to ask him more about the oil fields. His name was Jerrold Chavarria, from Artesia, and he worked for Tandem Energy as a “pumper.“ His job is to see the oil (or whatever), is flowing to the storage facility.
Jerrold told me that oil, gas, and water are pumped in the area. From the wells it flows to the storage tanks, some which are right beside the well, others several miles away. It was interesting to learn about the fields from Jerrold. One last question I asked Jerrold, “why do all these people out this way drive Dodge pickup trucks?“ Since I came in Artesia, and now going east, it seems 85-90% of all trucks on the road are Dodge Ram. West of Artesia, in the ranching area, 90% would be Ford. Jerrold just grinned, and leaning back on his 2008 Ram pickup, said, “we love our Dodge trucks out here.“ Before I left Jerrold, he gave me 4 bottles of water for my trip.
The weather was beautiful, and although the landscape wasn’t as nice as other areas, it was a good day for walking. Before long it was time for a break, so I unpacked the cart, threw down a tarp, and laid down as far from the road as I could. In about 30 minutes or so I heard sirens coming from all areas. Guess where they were headed? Yep, a woman had called 911 and reported “man down and not moving at mile 124”, so four emergency vehicles headed out to save me…….2 from Artesia, 2 from Loco Hills. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but I wonder why…..if people are so concerned about me, why don‘t they just stop and ask if I‘m ok? Guess I‘ll need to make a sign saying, “Don‘t call 911, I‘m resting.”
Anyhow, it all turned out ok…the guy from Loco Hills EMS said he thought it might be me because he had seen me the day before in Artesia. I told them the rest of my route through NM, in case they got other calls. I do have to rest occasionally, and the fencing alongside all the roads prevents me from getting too far off the road. One of the guys questioned where I was headed, I told him, and he said the only place to buy something between here and Hobbs was a restaurant in Loco Hills…..8 miles from here, and it closes at 2 on Saturday. It was 1140, and that's a stretch for me in 2hrs and 20 min. I quickly packed the cart, shifted gears from “meander” to something a little faster, and headed out……with a nice wind at my back.
Just as I headed out, a large tanker truck pulled over to the other side of the road and signaled me to walk over there. I did, and the driver handed me 3 tamales for my trip. I didn’t even know what they were, but he explained it, and I thanked him. Before I left he asked if I had any water. Yep, 4 bottle at least. I decided to try the tamale, and unwrapping it from the “corn husk“ looking thing, took a big bite. I see why he asked if I had water. My mouth, and especially my lips, were on fire. I named these the ½ gallon tamale, because that‘s how much water it took to stop my lips from burning. They were good, but I‘m just not accustomed to this hot stuff. But, a very nice gesture from the driver.
At 5 minutes to 2, I walked into Kelly’s Cafe. The woman who waited on me, Kressy Carlile, said it was fine, so I ordered lunch. While she and I were talking, I told her about the walk, and she wanted to take pictures, and said my lunch was “on the house.“ Her husband Jodie, who was waiting for her to get off work, took the pictures and he and I talked for quite a while. In fact, the restaurant was still going strong when I left a little before 4pm. Jodie suggested a good place to camp, about 6 miles down the road, so I headed out for there.
As the sun was getting low, I found the spot, looked around, and settled on a place to put the tent. Soon had it up, and inside for the night. One interesting thing about the location……there is a pipe coming from one of the wells and it runs close to my tent. Unless the well stops pumping, think the stuff flowing through the pipe will lull me to sleep.
(That's Kressy, Chere, and me in the pic, in front of Kelly's Cafe in Loco Hills.)
We have been very busy learning here at Woodhill. It seems that you have been busy too! We love the pictures. You are still in our thoughts.
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