Day 291 May 16, 2017 Midland to Odessa , TX

Midland is a gritty industrial town in the Permian Basin. Evidence of the oil industry is everywhere. Riding down Industrial Lane we passed one oil or transportation linked company after the other, most with train tracks leading to the main line that paralleled our path.

The Shuttlewagon has rubber tires and train wheels. It switches rail cars from one track to another. In this way the company can spot empty cars to be filled, and once filled, move them to a location to be picked up by the next local freight train.

All the west bound trains had 4 engines, usually two on either end. In this case it was three in front and one in back. The helper engines in the back give the train extra power to handle the steeper west bound grades.

If only helper engines were available for bicycles...

Leaving town, we passed this yard full of drilling rigs. We theorize the company rents/leases/sells them to oil companies. In this part of Texas it is hard to travel any distance with out seeing oil or gas rigs and companies that support them.

About 15 miles into the ride we turned off of US 20 and were suddenly in well-healed suburbia and the campus of the UTPB. The university for all things oil related, has expanded to the arts and hosts the Texas Stonehenge II. (Stonehenge I is in the hill country)
It's located next to the Charles A Sorber Visual Arts Studio.










Neither John nor I were expecting much, after all it's across the street from Home Depot and a McDonald's, but were pleasantly surprised. It was well worth the stop. The plaques along a circular path added to my understanding, and I was surprised how the monument changed when viewed from different angles.

The plaque claims Stonehenge II is an exact replica of the original in England. Wikipedia disagrees. It claims that the stones are 14% shorter than the original. (gasp!)

Because we are in Texas after all, I present the football angle from a local guide book,

"...  Just as the sunsets beneath the press box at Ratliff Stadium a few miles away, the shadow of the press box focuses through the stones on the western quadrant of the Stonehenge, if the shadow appears on the inside face of the stone on the eastern quadrant, Permian wins, if not (town rival) Odessa wins."

Given that the %^& wind is still blowing in our face and we have a nice room, we are taking an unscheduled day off. Tomorrow we will resume our crawl toward Carlsbad Caverns. Today we rest and do laundry.