250 Miles to Elpaso

While heading west on route 67 I fell into the landscape. I imagined what it looked like before rail road track, and pavement and imagined that it must have been a graveyard for anyone who tried to pass through on anything but a horse.

I walked around the town, talked to a few locals, and felt a sense of fear mixed with hope.

I'm in Alpine, TX near Big Bend state park. I had a feeling that I'd make it here some day. I'm a little late, it would have been much better if I arrived in my 20s as I had planned originally, but unfortunately I got a little lost. Better late then never.

It seems that the oil and gas industry is picking up, and not too far away, the city of Sweetwater has roughly doubled to my eye. Large hotels, RVs, new restaurants spell one word, oil.

As far as I can predict, gas prices will likely drop. Fuel prices dropped very steadily on my path southward from Fargo, ND along I-29. A good omen for domestic crude oil production in the Texas oilfield.

Along with any uptick in oil production (Dallas/FT. Worth area is in a booming real-estate market currently) the western North Dakota oilfield indicates to me a massive bubble, slowly building financial pressure under the West Texas sand.

Things in this area are steadily pointing to an enormous amount of work, and a massive population (both Mexican and American) in need of high paying skilled jobs, which if my thinking is correct, played an enormous role in bringing the USA out of the financial ruin we were headed for not long ago.

I have heard rumors as well of a financial boom in China, and with that typically an increase in sales of vehicles, and increased demand for fuel.

With other rumors surrounding Russia, (a country that remains a little too quiet for my liking by the way)might also indicate that market demand will continue to rise.

That may indicate hostile planning and/or emergency planning contingency in the event of a war.

With any luck, we will have more green alternatives, and new tech to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

All I can say is God bless Elon Musk, I hope the deal with the HD solar panels works out well...