January 2nd to 3rd Balmoreah TX to Phoenix AZ

On January 2nd we drove 360 miles to Lordsburg, New Mexico, for an overnight. This is a town of 3000. Used to be larger before five of the six mines in the area closed. There are a lot of minerals, mostly metals, in the area, but the poor economy and overseas activity has caused mine closures. I spoke with people in the office, and the mood was somber. People leaving because they were laid off. Old people dieing of lung disease from working in the mines with no breathing equipment. They are going though tough times. Finally I said "I'm from Michigan and I know about layoffs." They all nodded -- I guess Michigan's problems are news everywhere. (Click on the maps for a larger view where you can read the names.)

The drive west on I-10 was more of the wide open spaces. It's not green like the east coast, but we've come to appreciate it all. What we are looking at here is geology that is millions of years old, not hidden by the lush vegetation that we like so much in the east. And the desert has a life of its own. The plants and animals are real survivors. I'll be talking more about this in later posts.

On January 3rd we drove another 295 miles to Goodyear, Arizona, about 25 miles west of Phoenix.
A few days later the moon was full and I got an interesting shot of the moon through a tree just behind the site where we were parked.