Lubbock, Texas is the birthplace of Buddy Holley, and unfortunately, his resting place, too. We zigged up here to see what this part of Texas looked like and to look at the tribute to B. H. The town has created a small park in the convention center area with a larger than life statue of Buddy surrounded by plaques of other west Texas artists such as Waylon Jennings and Mac Davis. It was interesting to note the number of well known performers from this area.
We drove west towards New Mexico in rolling countryside disputing the notion of absolutely flat terrain like further south. Upon entering New Mexico we were inundated with oil wells pumping. Literally a forest of pumps greeted us with a large number of new derricks working on wells. The fields were bustling with workers tending the “crops” of rigs. It looked like every white pickup truck in the west was working off road.
Once the oil fields ended, we drove into a scenic mountain section near Alamagordo. Curving along canyons and steep grades we first climbed to over 7200 feet to pass through a ski area and then plunged down some 10% grades to the desert floor. We didn’t realize these mountains were there and it was a nice surprise.
Our stop for the evening was Las Cruces, NM, and we were fortunate to stay in a brand new Holiday Inn Express for the election eve coverage. The new Plasma TV, some cocktails and snacks and we were all set for the big event.
