NEW MEXICO trip
Oct. 12-19 2023
PART 4
I-20 near Sweetwater, Texas. My guess is that the frontage on the right is old US 80/84.
We were forced onto the frontage to avoid a traffic jam near Roscoe caused by heavy road work.
The frontage had a ROAD CLOSED sign, but you can see everyone driving on this closed stretch because freeway traffic was completely stopped. That's the spirit! The frontage was indeed closed, so we had to just merge onto the freeway through the grass when we got to the end.
We couldn't access the US 84 exit, so we backtracked through Roscoe. This is old US 80.
Looking south on the brick-paved Cypress Street.
North on Cypress. This is old US 84, now Biz US 84.
There's a big cooler or bin laying out in the road on US 180 in Snyder. The bin, the bin! The biscuit bin! The coffee bin! The Billy Joel bin! The bin, the bin!
US 180 uses 25th Street in Snyder. Strangely, city streets are numbered from near the town's north border instead of from the center. This used to be US 84 too.
"Borden...It's light and sweet...Borden...It's good to eat...Borden...It's yummy for my tummy...If it's Borden...Gulp, gulp...It's got to be good!" Remember that commersh that always aired during American Top 40? Anyway, this is US 180.
US 180 again.
Probably US 180 near Lamesa.
US 180 uses Avenue A in Seminole, birthplace of Tanya Tucker and Larry Gatlin. Here we pick up US 62 - which we could have taken from Kentucky!
US 62/180 enters New Mexico!
Hobbs, a city of 40,000, has this welcome sign with giant letters. Hobbs isn't exactly a laboratory of progressive public policy. Hobbs is also one of the state's biggest cities, which debunks the idea that cities are great models of progressivism.
On the morning of the eclipse, this is a random alley - a people's road - on the northwest of Hobbs.
This is the very height of the eclipse! And this was the best spot anywhere to see it! The eclipse was annular - not total - so the sky didn't get very dark, but it was slightly darker than normal. This is looking out at Caprock Street from a motel lot.
Northwest on NM 18. The sky still looked a little funky as the eclipse passed its peak.
NM 18 again.
Relief routes are all the rage in New Mexico. A relief route is actually just a bypass. This is southwest on the Hobbs relief route.
The relief route veers to the right, as what looks like an unpaved road is straight ahead.
Aah, relief! The relief route again.
US 62/180 leaves Hobbs, and you can see another of those big welcome signs, only this time in reverse.
US 62/180 at NM 8.
US 62/180 near Carlsbad.