Continuing to the Gulf Coast

It was a beautiful morning on Amistad Reservoir. The Border Patrol was out early today in their boats. The reservoir is part of the border with Mexico. I suspect some illegals try to swim across. Hence the very derogatory term "wet back".
Saw a very interesting solar power setup today. The panels were stacked three high and mounted on a lazy susan sort of platform. There were ropes hanging off the side of the RV that, I suspect, were used to rotate the panels to follow the sun. Very clever for the serious boondocker.

The drive today, was through West Texas oil country. Business is clearly booming. There are wells everywhere. The truck traffic on the two lane roads we were using was very heavy. Lots of oil service companies. There were RV "parks" here & there set up for the workers. I suppose some enterprising person put in a well, a septic system & power ( a generator perhaps?) then rented the sites for a princely sum. The trailers were stacked on top of each other. We saw this same routine in South Dakota last year. Given the bone chilling temperatures in SD, I'd move to TX if I was an oil service worker. Rather deal with the hot TX summers then the -20* SD winters.

Not everyone in Quemado prospers.

In Three Rivers, we stayed at the City campground. There were only two empty sites; the rest being rented to oil field workers. The campground is located on the shallow and muddy Frio River. On the other side of the river is a Valero oil refinery. :-) The smell is interesting, at best. Oh well, it's all part of our Great Adventure. What do you expect for $12/night with full hookups and five TV channels with three being in English? A bubbling stream in the mountains of CO? A cliff overlooking the Pacific? One more fun memory. Years from now, this is the sort of thing we'll recall and chuckle about.

We finished a healthy dinner of spaghetti squash and sauce so Gopher & I set out to explore the 'hood. As expected, most vehicles had either TX or LA plates. Two big oil producing states. There are two guys sitting out next to a horse trailer. Home I suspect.
I never realized how noisy refineries are. A lot of pumps & motors & such I guess. There is a good sized pipe dumping a fluid of some type into the river. Most likely distilled water you suppose? Not to fear. I hear the Teabags plan on coming down hard on the EPA because they are pressing the TX oil industry to reduce pollution. We're in good hands. I still remember "W" telling me that a little arsenic in my water was actually good for me. Up until then, I never knew that. I rarely get involved in political issues. Don't have the time. Having fun is very time consuming you know. Some days it just wears me out.
The environment does concern me because it directly impacts the things most important to Carol & I. The future health of our children, grandchildren, their kids, on & on depends heavily on decisions we make today. Air & water pollution must be dealt with aggressively. If it means higher taxes and prices, I'm willing to do my share plus some of me neighbors share if required.

And the beat goes on.