Midland is an oil town - the little white patches signalling the oil wells were dotted across the pancake-flat landscape. Alan's investment business which he set up after he retired from banking is focused around this industry and he is full of information about its detailed workings. So it was not surprising that one of our first tourist visits was to the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum (the basin is the geological name for this area at the southern end of the Great Plains. It was mind-blowing to find ourselves in this vast flat area all at least 1000 metres above sea level and extending northwards into the Canadian Prairies.
The Petroleum Museum is beautifully planned and laid out, with very clear explanations (too much to take in in one visit of course, but we tried and we have Alan to remind us of details) of geology, exploration and extraction. The image of the pumpjack with its leisurely oscillation is everywhere in Midland and dotted across the landscape wherever you look in West Texas. It reminded me of the carpet of vines around Lunel in the old days, symbol of another all-pervasive liquid-producing industry! What was striking in the museum displays was the amount of faith and guesswork involved in finding oil - this makes investment uncertain of course - and the fairly obvious fact that it is mixed with toxic substances and with salt water when it is extracted. One impressive photo showed a snow-like landscape next to a gusher which produced only brine and had coated the surroundings in salt! The museum also houses an impressive collection of Chaparral racing cars. Further info on the museum website.
That was Monday when we also visited Alan's comfortable office above a downtown bank, and in the evening we heard the Walker Family (the 4 daughters are also a separate group called Redhead Express), an all-American family group performing country, bluegrass, Irish, gospel, 50s and 60s and some of their own compositions. The performances were astonishing and moving - some really talented young people. Lunel mandolin festival fans will be pleased to know that a mandolin was almost always part of the band! It was at the very impressive Wagner-Noël Performing Arts Center - it says it's in Midland but actually it is completely in the middle of nowhere near the airport. The hall is nearly as big as the Festival Hall in London or the big Corum concert hall in Montpellier, beautifully laid out with 3 tiers, and the locals are proud to have had it built after 30 years of campaigning.
On Tuesday we made a couple of visits, the first to George W Bush's childhood home, a capsule of 50s interiors lovingly reconstructed by the managing Trust - the hushed tones of awe and adulation showed by the guide were at odds with our own views of the man (Alan flatly refused to go in as he always has despite living in the town for years) but it was fascinating to see a presidential site in the USA - the nearest thing I suppose to royal palaces and so on in England.
Then we visited the American Airforce Heritage Museum run by the Commemorative Airforce which is dedicated to preserving 2nd world war planes. I quite like old aircraft, and there were lots of interesting exhibits though the hangar was nearly empty because most of the planes are out on a circuit of airshows celebrating the New Mexico centennial - it became the 47th State of the USA in 1912. But one thing that impressed us coming from a similarly hot and dry region in the south of France was the water-saving garden, a pleasant space with seats and trees and colourful plants, swarming with beautiful monarch butterflies.
We had some times to relax in Alan & Barbara's comfortable home - it is a rambling house mostly on one level, and only as we left did I recall that there is a huge second garage where the 4x4 we travelled on to New Mexico in, and also their Airstream RV (recreational vehicle - caravan scarcely covers it!) - we did not see it because it is in the repair shop just now.
All too soon we had to pack and continue our journey westwards, 460 km from Midland to the mountains of south-eastern New Mexico. The photo link below has some pics which give an impression of the journey, and you can also see an album of pictures taken at the very impressive and modern museum at Roswell, site among other things of the first American space programme and home of the scientist Dr Goddard whose rocket propulsion inventions gave rise to turboprop aircraft and much more. We were particularly impressed by the ceramic work (and patchwork quilt) of the local multimedia artist Eddie Dominguez. We resisted the temptation to visit the UFO museum (or 'aliens museum') while passing through Roswell.
Our journey took us from over 1000 to over 2000 metres, along seemingly endless straight roads - Alan driving with steady and reassuring calm - which eventually dropped from the high plateau and the oilfields (my photos don't really show the impressive and seemingly endless rampart you see looking back as you descend the first level - this was not surprisingly sacred to local native american tribes living in the area) into oak scrub (very low-growing oak trees, reminiscent of the garrigue in the S of France) towards the pine clad hills of the mountains and the Indian reservation around Ruidoso. Of our doings in New Mexico you can find out more in the next instalment in a couple of days! Meanwhile you can see lots more photos of this part of our trip here.
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