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Big Diversion (Reunion Flight Day 4)
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 Photo Info
Posted By: Nickens, Dan
Date Posted: Oct 18, 2018
Description: Out of the mountains and into the high plains. Even though it was high (5000'), it just seemed a lot lower after coming out of big terrain. And the flat stretched as far as I could see. The scenery would not be changing any time soon. (I hoped, because there was a ugly stalled front somewhere out on the plains.)
Date Taken: Sept. 22, 2019
Place Taken: Pecos Plains SE of Moriarty, NM 9/22
Owner: Nickens, Dan
File Name: Flat Out 2 IMG_0989.jpg   - Photo HTML
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Category: Cross Country Reunion
Favorite option: If you want this item to be marked as a favorite, click on the black heart. Flatout (Reunion Flight Day 3 Run 3)    Make Cover Photo     
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Read what others had to say:

Nickens, Dan - Oct 18,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    The land wasn't the only thing that was flat. This old home was flattened.
Near the Corona VOR, NM 9/22. 		     Attachments:  

Flat Roof IMG 1002
Flat Roof IMG 1002

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Out in the desert it takes time for things to fall apart. The electrical service seems to indicate this place wasn't abandoned so long ago.
Near the Corona VOR, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Not Long Gone IMG 1005
Not Long Gone IMG 1005

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    The land looked a bit crusty. I dropped lower to see if it might be caliche, crusty calcium deposits that often forms in deserts. Maybe, but the dirty gray patches were biological, not chemical. Still, the white areas? The only way to know for sure would be to stop. I didn't have time for that.
Near the Corona VOR, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Mottled Land IMG 1015
Mottled Land IMG 1015

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Sometimes you just gotta cross the red line.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Crossing Red Line IMG 1025
Crossing Red Line IMG 1025

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    A playa lake just waiting for the thunderstorms out east to leak over this way.
North of Pecos River, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Waiting for Water IMG 1043
Waiting for Water IMG 1043

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    It seemed as I inched towards the east and closer to the stalled front, the ponds got wetter.
North of Pecos River, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Almost Wet IMG 1051
Almost Wet IMG 1051

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Perfectly normal prairie abruptly erupted in sand.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Grading to Dunes IMG 1056
Grading to Dunes IMG 1056

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    The beautiful old beach sand was lying below the Mescalero Ridge (escarpment) marking the start of the great Llano Estacado on the horizon.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Beach Below IMG 1077
Beach Below IMG 1077

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Rolling over the dunes, just like on some deserted coastline. The Mescalero Sands are named after the Mescalero Apache who once roamed the desert coast.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Rolling with Sand IMG 1089
Rolling with Sand IMG 1089

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    If you squint just so you can imagine the darker vegetation as an ocean sweeping against the old sandy beach.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Imaginary Shoreline IMG 1093
Imaginary Shoreline IMG 1093

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    The sand is slowly burying recent intruders.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Slow Burial IMG 1100
Slow Burial IMG 1100

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Climbing up onto the great Llano Estacado, one of the largest tablelands on the North American Continent.
East of Roswell, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Flatlining IMG 1105
Flatlining IMG 1105

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    You don't mess around at desert fueling stations. You never know what may slither or crawl out from under the pump. This tarantula was not happy at being disturbed.

But, I needed fuel for the last stretch, so I stopped at Lovington, NM (E06) because they had self-service fuel. I wanted just a little reserve because night was coming and there had been weather at my destination in west Texas. In 2.6 hours the flight log covered 228 miles at about 88 mph.
Lovington NM (E06) 3295 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Pump Protector IMG 3295
Pump Protector IMG 3295

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Tablelands are flat. The Llano Estacado is exceptionally flat: sloping a mere 10' per mile towards the southeast. That's the direction I was headed, so at least it was downhill.

There wasn't much to look at. When surveyed by General Randolph Marcy in 1852, he had a rather pessimistic assessment: "When we were upon the high table-land, a view presented itself as boundless as the ocean. Not a tree, shrub, or any other object, either animate or inanimate, relieved the dreary monotony of the prospect; it was a vast-illimitable expanse of desert prairie .... the great Sahara of North America. It is a region almost as vast and trackless as the ocean—a land where no man, either savage or civilized permanently abides ... a treeless, desolate waste of uninhabitable solitude, which always has been, and must continue uninhabited forever."

Apparently he didn't realize there was water and oil below his feet.
Llano Estacado, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Flatout IMG 1117
Flatout IMG 1117

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    With as little as 14" of rain annually there wouldn't seem to be enough water to grow a scrawny cactus. Fortunately for the farmers there is an underground reservoir: the prodigious Ogallala Aquifer. Unfortunately that is a dwindling resource, forcing some farmers to resort to dryland farming or growing oil.
SE of Hobbs, NM 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Growing Disks 2 IMG 1123
Growing Disks 2 IMG 1123

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    The other underground resource that buggered General Marcy's assessment was oil. It occurs in abundance below the Llano Estacado, hiding in the productive Permian Basin (so named because it has one of the world's thickest deposits of sediment from the Permian Period). It is the largest petroleum producing basin in the U.S., currently providing more than 1 million barrels of oil per day for SeaReys everywhere. Production is forecast to increase to 5.4 million barrels per day by 2023, so balls to the wall! Fly on!
Approaching Odessa, TX 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Black Crops IMG 1125
Black Crops IMG 1125

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    Well, fly on unless there is nasty weather ahead. There was. A front stalled for days over Texas, and extending to the mid-Atlantic states was now dead ahead. But it was a problem for another day. I stopped at Odessa (KODO) for the evening.
Approaching Odessa, TX 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Stop Ahead IMG 3304
Stop Ahead IMG 3304

    
  
Nickens, Dan - Oct 17,2018   Viewers  | Reply
    After another 1.2 hours covering only 94 miles I was down with the sun. I wasn't the only one stuck for the night. This guy was stuck on a stick.

For the day, about 660 miles flown in 9.2 hours. Not a blistering speed, but enough to catch up with the bad weather.
Odessa (KODO), Texas 9/22 		     Attachments:  

Stuck on Stick IMG 3307
Stuck on Stick IMG 3307

    


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