Wild West Tour lll: Day 35

6-24-14

Day 35

The drought stricken Texas panhandle has us to thank for some much needed rain. It seems the rain has been following us for weeks.

Lucky for us we were spared a total soaking as our route followed the outside fringe of a large storm cell. Only a light rain fell for a couple hours barely getting us wet. The first town we came to after 40 miles of nothingness had the signs of fresh storm damage. We found out that the night before a storm cell similar to what we had be skirting hit the town with 90 mph winds!

The flat terrain of a few days ago has given way to rolling foothills of red rock and sage brush. The grazing cattle have been replace by dousing oil pumpers.

Today we rode by a huge oil field of pumpers and rusted storage tanks and piping. Most of the pumpers sat idle rusting and littering the landscape. Unlike the fresh smell of salt air we get at the shore the air smelled of oil. Everywhere you went mile after mile a whiff of oil could be detected. It is not a pleasant smell unless you’re on the receiving end of the cash I would imagine.

Ken asked one of the locals why there were so few pumpers working in this oil field. He was told that most of this field had gone dry. Some fracking had helped a few wells but most do not produce enough oil to pay to run them.

So there they all sit rusting and spoiling the view. Most look like mini hazardous waste sites with dark oil stained soil around them. Not one of the old storage tanks had a secondary containment area and all the piping looked terrible. I would not think any of this would fly in Connecticut.

Most of the oil lines were run on top of the ground and over gullies with no support. Power poles were strung everywhere to feed the electric motors each needed to operate. Some of the rigs had been stripped of needed parts and others were intact. Some of the power lines were cut and dangling from the poles others were working and energized. A real mess.

If the price of oil were to skyrocket some of the lesser producing wells could start up again but for most this will never happen. We were told it is cheaper to let them sit then haul them away and clean up the area. Why bother? The money was made.

Last night our hotel had some of the Halliburton Company‘s fracking crews staying there. The workers muddy shoes created a heavy red clay dirt trial. The mud trail started outside the hotel then covered the lobby tile and carpet on its way to the elevator. Once out of the elevator red clay footprints could be seen to every room the workers occupied.

The hotel staff could not clean it up faster than the workers tracked the red ooze in. It looked like they were hosting the US Mud Wrestling Championships in the lobby.

If you have never experienced this red dirt you’re in for a treat. It is nothing like the soil in Connecticut. This stuff once wet turns into a slippery glue that sticks to everything it makes contact with.

A local rancher in a red truck stopped to ask if we were lost. There would be no reason for three cyclist to be out in the middle of nowhere unless they were lost in his mind. A friendly guy who was amazed were headed to Las Vegas and even more amaze when we told him we started in Connecticut.

As everyone we have had contact with on this trip he was more than friendly and willing to offer help.

While riding along a jacked up Ford pickup truck pulled alongside Ken. A women passenger rolled down the window and asked if we needed any water or food. “You guys are out here in the boonies you need anything?”

Just more good people.