Oil Wells

Okay, so here is a funny text I sent to some people:

“OH…. guess what I realized the other day!?! This Saturday we will travel from mountain time zone to central time zone and lose an hour. Then the NEXT day, time changes to daylight saving time and we lose another hour! HAHA”

I thought that was hilarious! 3 time zones in less than 19 hours! And not flying anywhere. 🤣 We went to bed last night at 10:00 p.m. but it would be 9:00 p.m. today and got up at 6:00 a.m. which later today would be 7:00 a.m. This is fun to think through. Anyway, the wind was pretty strong on this Travel Day from Anthony to Midland, Texas, and Kevin said if we had a bumper pull, he would pull over and not travel today. Thankfully the 5th wheel and our truck do so well and I didn’t even feel the wind much. 

Kevin pointed out some power poles with no lines. “Wireless” he said and it made me laugh. Down a ways we saw the truck that is adding the wires. We also went through a check point. The border patrol asked if we were both US citizens and then we were allowed to continued on. What did I do this whole day of 350 miles? I read out loud the book called The Day Kennedy Was Shot, a minute to minute account by Jim Bishop. We can’t even “put it down!” Some of the best writing. 

Look How Tall Above Kevin; 1920-30s Oil Pump, Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Midland, TX 03/26

Our stop for the night was a Harvest Host at Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. We got to the museum at 2:00 p.m. We parked HOWE (footnote 1) and walked right in. They close at 5:00 p.m. and we wanted to learn all we could. This oilfield was the largest in the world until the Middle East found some. The pumping units we see – the job is “to get oil from the ground where there isn’t enough pressure to push the liquid all the way to the surface” says one of the displays. It continues on that the pumping units work to “get the most out of wells where large scale production has finished.” We wanted to learn the process from start to finish. For example, how do they even know where to try to find oil? How does the drill work? How does the drill go different directions under ground? How does the pump work? What happens to the oil when it comes up and goes someplace? Etc. etc. But nothing of that information was given at all. If you are deaf, be aware: lots of videos throughout the museum but none have captions (words on the screen). That being said and set aside, the museum is done nicely with good displays a kid would like. They also have a huge display of racing cars from Chaparral company.

Built Low To Go Under Circular Irrigation Sprinklers, Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Midland, TX 03/26

We walked outside at 4:30 p.m. and around the back to the “oil patch”. Quite a few very old oil pump machines. The front desk lady had told us that security goes around and boots everyone out of the grounds and building at 5:00 p.m. so we hustled. 🙂 There was a truck and camper and a small trailer that also stayed the night. I would stay here again on the way through.

Sunrise, West Texas 03/26

With the time zone change plus daylight saving time starting, it wasn’t sunrise until after 8:00 a.m. What a difference for us. HA We set the alarm for 6:00 a.m. and I told Kevin last night that was 4:00 a.m. our body (AZ) time. Oh, that is just a brain puzzlement! Still dark, we pulled out and got going down the outer road to get on the freeway when Kevin pulled over to the side. The basement door on HOWE was open. Shut and locked again and started on the freeway. Opened again. Pulled off, shut it and pounded. Down the road again and it opened again. Kevin was extremely frustrated. I was thankful it wasn’t a major issue, though, not like a flat tire or something like that. He lost his favorite National Park hat because the wind was so strong and blew it off his head. It was still very dark and wasn’t safe to try to get it. He also go a nose bleed with blood all over. Back on the freeway and I saw a truck parking pull off. I suggested he pull off there and do a good fix. He did. He pounded and stuff and then said he added a penny. I remember that “fix” from YouTube a few years ago. The latch is too far apart from catching so if you add a penny, it raises something.

We got to this Corp of Engineers campground in Wylie, Texas, at 2:10 p.m. Check in is at 3:00 p.m. but he let us in no problem.  We stayed here for 2 weeks a year and a half ago. The sites are huge, spidery, mosquito-y, and wet with all the rain they had the other day and humid-y. The lake is right behind our site and fun to watch the boats. We are here because I have an aunt and uncle who live nearby. Always love spending time with them. (More about that next week.) We also have some dear friends who live about an hour away. We love seeing them, as well.

The next day I caught up on journal from the weekend and then did some winter travel plans. Since it has been 4 weeks since my cataract surgery, I am now able to get new glasses. We went to Costco. First I had an appointment with the eye doctor there to get my new prescription and then went inside and picked out some glass frames and sunglasses. 7-10 days and we told her we leave in 2 weeks.

One evening brought severe thunderstorms. This county was listed on the TV as severe warnings. I packed my to go bag. It rained a lot and kept Kevin awake because of the sound. (Sometimes it is nice to be deaf! HA) Lots of lightning, too. Thankfully we didn’t have damage. Ugh, I hate those storms!

Water Everywhere After Storm, Wylie, TX 03/26

We woke up to tons of water outside. The grass has large dips with water; they are bigger than 3 ft indentions. The wind was gusting over 40 mph most of the day. Of course, it is hitting directly to the long side of HOWE. The lake had large white caps all day. 

I am expanding my Asian cooking, thanks to nudging of Bridget, and made Beef Stir Fry tonight. It was very good and fun to make. At the grocery store the other day we couldn’t find snow peas so I just got a stir fry veggie frozen mix. Nah, don’t do that next time. The frozen veggies were store brand (that was all there was) and the quality was in the hole.

Kevin, Do You “Hide” A Card During Our Game Last Night? HA Wylie, TX 03/26

Not much happening this day. After preparing blog post I did some looking for us to explore coming up. I found Hot Springs National Park to be less than an hour from our next campground. That would be neat to visit. I felt very tired and actually took a nap. Kevin offered us to go out to eat but I wanted to stay home and cook. I made yummy shrimp tacos. Then we played one round of the card game Trash. It was funny; he said he wouldn’t admit this, but he kind of had fun playing it! What?! Your secret is safe with me. LOL 

I fixed Sunday Chicken and Stuffing, deviled eggs, and green salad for dinner on Friday. My aunt is out of town but my uncle came over around 5:00 p.m. Kevin picked him up that the campground gate so he wouldn’t have to pay the day use fee. We had a lovely visit. While I was putting dinner together the guys played with ham radio. I love that they share that hobby. My aunt’s hobby? I share that with her and next week I will tell you what we did that week together. 😊

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country. HOWE has stayed at least one night in all 48 continuous U.S. states.