Eastward Ho!

How depressing.  For 2 days I haven't posted and not the whiff of the hint of a thunderous clamor for "WHERE ARE YOUR DAILY POSTS?!"  Bitter day, we were not missed.  Alas and alack!

We spent our last day in Tucson on Wednesday.  I had to take my iPhone back to the Apple store again, it was still locking up.  So, this time, time they just replaced it.  Hoo-ray.

We went to mid-week bible study at the church where Josh preaches on Wednesday night.  After that we were supposed to meet Chris (who had to work late) at "La Dolce Vita" - "The Sweet Life" afterward but she wasn't feeling well.  So instead she suggests a 5:30 AM Thursday (as in before the sun even has gotten up in the morning) breakfast at Brueggers Bagels as a means of atonement.  We are going to leave that morning and that was e-a-r-l-y to drag it out of bed, but for her - OK.  We hit the road and drove to El Paso yesterday.  We left Tucson @ about 9:30 AM (after a 1 hour nap) and got to El Paso by 3:30 PM.  It was a pretty easy drive - all Interstate 10.

We got up this morning and hit the road at about 10:30.  We made it to Midland at about 5 which was only 4 in Tucson. so it was a 5 1/2 hour drive today.  We will be in Midland until Thursday morning visiting with Joel, Brenda and Phoebe.

The portion of the interstate 10 from El Paso to Van Horn, Texas is called the "Texas Mountain Trail."  They aren't the Rockies, but they have a beauty to them.  Here are some pictures Irene took while I was driving.

 The next 6 pictures are of a mine.  If you look in between the ridges of the mountains in the picture below you see a white area.

In the pictures below you see a white dust in the air.

The cloud was around the building in the picture above.  As we drove by I could see the sign on the top of the building said "American Talc."  So, this is a Talc factory - a talc mine.  VERY interesting.

I'm a train buff.  I've owned trains since I was 3 years old - Lionel O gauge, HO gauge, N gauge, G gauge and now (in the RV) Z gauge.  My favorite railroad in the Union Pacific.  We saw a LOT of trains on this trip.  Here is a common sight 4 engines up front and about 150 cars and 1 or 2 engines in the rear (pushing) to get through the mountains here.

Below is a short video of one of the shortest trains we saw on the whole trip

Whether we like to admit it or not and regardless of our political bent it must be admitted that OIL is the "lifeblood" of the American Economy.  Virtually all goods come to market via the use of oil based derivatives whether by boat, plane, truck or train.  A large portion of the electrical grid is derived from petroleum being burnt in the production of electricity.  Plastics are typically petroleum based.  Midland is in the middle of the "Permian Basin" one of the larger Oil Fields in the continental US.  With the invention of "Fracking" the oil boom is on again in the basin.  Here are some pictures of the oil fields along I-20:

Here's a picture of the well being drilled and a "grasshopper" in the foreground:

And we close this post with 3 pictures of an Oil Refinery in Odessa, Texas

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A Horse with No Name!

o/`o/`
After 2 days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After 3 days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told
Of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
o/`o/`

America - "A Horse with No Name" - 1972 - Written By: Danny Bunnell

Today Josh, Chris, Irene and I went to Tohono Chul Botanical Garden.  It was beautiful but being in the desert and looking at its plant and animal live is always almost surreal.  I've got a lot of pictures below.  Enjoy!

I was a Geology Minor in college, so rocks fascinate me.  Here are some pictures of the notable rocks in the park:

The top 2 are the same stone taken from 2 different angles.  Both stones have Azurite and Malachite.  These are both copper ore sources.  You can see on these stones the same kind of "patina" that you get on a copper roof or pot.  It is cupric oxide - "rusted" copper.

The next picture is of a "petrified" piece of wood:

Petrification means to turn something to stone.  This is accomplished when a piece of wood is covered by sand and water runs through sand and then down through wood.  The primary element is wood is Carbon and the primary element in sand is Silicone.  Both Carbon and Silicone have 4 available electrons in their outer "shells" So as the water goes through the sand it picks up Silicone atoms which then percolate down through the wood and replace Carbon atoms on a one to one basis and the carbon atom is released into the ground.  "Petros" is the Greek word for "stone" - the wood become "Stoneified." 

The southwest was settled initially by neolithic peoples.  The picture below shows some of the "glyphs" (picture words) like Egyptian HeiroGLYPHics, but different!

The item above was quite possibly used as a grinding stone

For those that may be clamoring for pictures of Josh and Chris, here you go!:

One Picture of "yours truly"

And a picture of My Beloved and I:

Below are some of the pictures we got of Saguaro (Sahuaro) Cacti.  They grow in a VERY, narrow environ - just the right altitude, waterfall, heat etcetera are required, so even in the southwest and deserts they don't occur just anywhere naturally:

It looks like something REALLLY heavy sat on the one above

LOOK!  Identical Twin Saguaro Cacti above ^

Some say that this looks like a "Elephant Saguaro"

The picture below looks like a scene out of a 1950s western cowboy movie:

Here are some prickly pear cactus shots:

A picture of a cholla cactus is below:

And here are pictures of Barrel Cactus:

The two pictures below are Yucca plants.  One form of Yucca is called a "century plant" because some say it only grows one of these flowering stalks ONE TIME in about a century and then dies.

An interesting tree throughout Arizona is the Palo Verde tree.  That's Spanish Lingo for "Green Stick" tree.  Here's a couple pics of them:

The next picture is of a "Creosote Bush"

I took my iPhone to the "geniuses" at the Apple Store..... It isn't fixed.  Another appointment tomorrow at 10 AM.  Hopefully this time I get a new one.  It is still under warranty.  We will be getting ready to leave tomorrow.  We will have dinner with Chris and Josh either before or after Wednesday night Bible Class, depending on when Chris gets done work.

We also have a 3 PM appointment to meet with Dick Stockton's brother Scotty to get to know him and to try to move the ball of religious faith in his life.

We will be on the road Thursday morning heading back to Midland for 5 days (7th-11th) and then on to Camp Bee for the rest of February.