At least we waited til after the sun came up to leave Tucumcari. We saw lots of windmills and wind turbines in New Mexico. The old fashioned windmills pump water for the many cows and other agricultural uses:
And the modern wind turbines produce electricity. If you click the photo below to enlarge it you may be able to see the turbines on the ridge across this field. I counted at least 60 of them over there. They are HUGE! A sign we saw says that each one produces 1.5 megawatts of electricity. I don’t know exactly how much that is but it must be a lot.
Ok, so I looked it up for us all to know. From this website: Oregon Power Solutions:
“…How many homes can one megawatt of wind energy supply?
An average U.S. household uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year. A one-megawatt wind turbine can generate between 2.4 million and 4 million kWh annually, depending on the average wind speed at the site. Therefore, a single one-megawatt wind turbine generates enough electricity to power 240 to 400 households….”
An average U.S. household uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year. A one-megawatt wind turbine can generate between 2.4 million and 4 million kWh annually, depending on the average wind speed at the site. Therefore, a single one-megawatt wind turbine generates enough electricity to power 240 to 400 households….”
So, if there were 60 of those things, they could produce enough electricity for up to 24,000 homes. Wow!
The turbines were out in the fields, so a farmer could still use the land to ranch or grow cotton or peanuts, and also receive lease payments for a power company to put those wind turbines on their property. That is a good use of resources in my opinion.
Another thing that was amazing to me is that there was so many ranches and farms, and you could see at a glance what these people do to make a living. They grow cotton, peanuts, sorghum, and corn. We saw a peanut processing plant, cotton gins, feed lots, feed and seed silos, farm implement sales lots. I guess I lived in cities for so long I either never knew or forgot about all the agricultural occupations that existed. See how beautiful that cotton field is?
We saw flocks of geese flying south for the winter. That is also amazing to me how those birds know when the cold weather is coming, and take flight before the first snow.
We DIDN’T see any rattlesnakes, but this sign had me looking for them. This was at a rest area east of Amarillo on Hwy 287.
We stopped for the night at Wichita Falls RV Park in Wichita Falls, Texas. The guy who works in the office there can not give directions. We called him twice, and he failed to give correct directions both times. If you are going south on Hwy 287, take exit 1-A, get all the way over to the right, turn right at the first light, and stay on that road until you see the sign for the RV park. That guy had us running all over Wichita Falls pulling that trailer. It is hard to turn around when you have a 34′ trailer behind you, ya know? They weren’t making any dinner for us, either, so I made some potato salad.
And this was a little interesting: a collection of fire hydrants, each one painted a different color, at the RV park. Hmmmm……
We made about 410 miles today–not bad. Tomorrow, we head for Shreveport.
Thanks Karen for keeping us up to date on your trip to Alabama. We leave Brigham City, UT for Twin Falls, ID tomorrow morning. We got waylayed for two nights due to snow. All the road camera's and weather reports are for clear weather tomorrow. Enough about us…take care and safe driving.
I am enjoying your trip with you. Thanks for sharing all the things you see. I stopped at a reststop in Wyoming. It was just beautiful and I had decided I would love to live there (not at the reststop but the state). I used the facilities and noticed a sign when I was coming out talking about rattlesnakes and that there were over 30 species and I was in their homeland. Well I jumped all the way to the car. Well it was still beautiful.
Like the new header. That's a fine looking set up.
So I guess it's windy.
You are putting a lot of miles down every day. Keep safe.
I'm leaving for Death Valley in the morning and meeting up with Jeremy there for some days of hiking and exploration.
Thanks for taking me on this trip with you. Its a good way to see the States from this far away.
Gaelyn mentioned on my blog that you were traveling east through Holbrook and Amarillo as we were traveling west. It was fun to see your photos of some of the same things I had seen. I'll check back again.
I have always loved cotton fields. I even grew cotton in Iowa one summer as a child. Great show-n-tell project for school. I had to laugh at the fire hydrants. Must be heaven for dogs. ha ha
Say, Karen, do you and Fabgrandpa share the driving or are you able to be the passenger full time? 410 miles is a long haul. I wouldn't want to do that. I'm pretty bleary eyed at 300.
Safe travels…
Judy