Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - Bottomless Lakes State Park, Roswell NM
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Thump, thump, thump
All day, all night, thump, thump, thump. Sounds like an old 2 cylinder John Deere tractor idling off in the distance. What could it be? Nobody runs those things full time. Certainly not out here in the desert. I'll find out - when I leave the park I'll head toward the thump and see if I can find the source. And find it I did, a couple of miles east of the park - a large two cylinder pumping engine; pumping what I'm going to guess is natural gas and I'm also going to guess it's running on the gas it's pumping. But then what's in those storage tanks? Crude?
Heading out
Farther west, eventually, but to get there I have to get around the mountins just west of Carlsbad. That means either a run around the south end through El Paso, TX or heading north to Artesia or Roswell, NM and from there head over the mountains to Alamogordo, NM. I'm choosing the later, mainly to stay avoid driving the interstates around El Paso. First stop: Bottomless Lakes State Park, Roswell, New Mexico, at least for the night.
Today's journey: US 285 north from Brantley Lake State Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico to Roswell, New Mexico then US 380 east to Bottomless Lakes State Park
Night camp
Bottomless Lakes State Park, Roswell NM
- Verizon cell phone service - Access is via Extended Network, roaming and the signal is weak
- No Verizon EVDO service - access is via the Extended Network and I've found service very slow.
- Go to Bottomless Lakes State Park website
- Locate to Bottomless Lakes State Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
We Are Clearly a Species Worth Saving
Our world is entering a time of profound and perhaps catastrophic change. My hope is that by getting people to care about and learn about what is in their backyard, they can be made to realize that while it seems like we are destroying the planet in out greed and excess, what we are really destroying is ourselves. The planet and life in general has dealt with catastrophe many times before. Cataclysm on Earth is a creative time and evolution can handle it. Culture is much more fragile and we as individuals are more fragile still. I think that it is time for people to come to terms with the fact that our own behaviors put humanity at risk. While people have always done atrocious things, I believe that we are a species capable of beautiful, amazing and important things as well and we are clearly a species worth saving.
Jon Piasecki