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Notes about New Mexico and Texas, day 3
The land here is arid, like Arizona. Nothing much grows unless
it's heavily irrigated. In most places, no irrigation; therefore,
no agriculture. Even the cattle were sparse, although we saw more
and more, including some feeds lots, as we neared Texas once we
were on I40.
US 60 was a pleasant road to travel. There was little traffic --
mostly trucks and campers like ourselves. I40 was a different
story, but even there traffic wasn't congested.
I was reminded today that even though I am in my own country, I
am traveling in a different culture. We are such city folk. I
wondered about the reasons one would choose to live out in the
barren plains of these lands. Where do the people work? Do they
form large enough communities, although spread out, that they
support one another? We did hear, in Socorro last night, that
there were a lot of homeless people camping by the rivers.
Apparently, the homeless create a problem here that we don't find
at home -- fires. They camp out and, of course, must cook and
stay warm. Interesting how insulated to our own cultures we
become, how unaware of situations happening even as close as
neighboring states.
We are in a nice RV park this evening in Amarillo. The last time
we were in Amarillo was in 1976, the bicentennial year. It was
our first long camping trip and we crossed the US and back
(skipping California) with my folks. It was their first camping
trip. We borrowed a popup tent trailer that year, and we traveled
in our red Ford van. Lauren modified it so it had a couple beds
and room for all six of us plus a dog. When we were in Amarillo
in 1976, we stayed at the KOA. The wind blew and blew and blew,
and we thought we would lose our camper before the night was
over. The wind is much better this time, as is our camp ground
and certainly our traveling camping equipment. Much has changed
in the last 24 years -- for us and for Amarillo.
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