This morning a short drive took us to Petroglyphs National Monument. Mounds of fractured lava thrown up as recently as 150,000 years ago created a medium for the ancient people of this area.
Chipping away at the dark surface layer with chisel and hammer revealed the lighter rock underneath to create images that have endured the elements. Aside from the animal, human, and plant images, most are hard to read meaning into. There are many drawings of the yucca pod (as in the photo above, left and up a bit from the white signpost, and below). The yucca was a very important source of food and fibre.
I like the raven (I think) in this one. These birds have been everywhere we've been in the last week or so. They are looking for food but aren't too pushy about it. They've got character.
You can only look at so many rock drawings, as fascinating as they are, and as fascinating it is to wonder what they meant to the people who made them. So we hit the road towards Amarillo, Texas.
We are heading home and are now back into ground-covering mode, although we will check things out as we go if the weather and our inclination suits. Today we stopped to heat up lunch at Santa Rosa Lake State Park. The road in had a sign that I guess would be useful to people in a region that doesn't seem to have many lakes:
Leaving the park we decided to use our coin collection for the self-pay day use fee. Used up a lot of dimes and quarters... but when I tried to deposit the envelope I found a very narrow slot. Shaking and rattling the envelope, I finally got it stuck neither in nor out. Poking, prodding, wiggling coins through the paper. Then there was a raven on the post overhead, making a sound I hadn't heard them make before. A soft 'coo coo coo coo', more like a dove, or like a large black bird giggling at me.
Soon after entering Texas we encountered another wind farm, similar to one we saw in Texas first time through. I tried to look up how many turbines there are but the info I could find seems out of date.
The turbines formed a swath, sometimes five deep, that paralleled the I-40 to the north. On and on. After 40 kilometres they were matched by another forest of turbines to the south of the highway that went on for over 5 kilometres. The swath to the north then continued to over 58 kilometres from its beginning. Texas is trying to end its dependence on coal and seems well on its way.
We stopped for a quick look at the Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo. An art installation of Cadillacs planted nose first in the middle of a field that makes a statement about... I dunno. But it was worth the short detour.
You may be able to see some people adding their own graffiti to the evolving artwork.
Aside from observing a perfectly full moon on the way to find food, that was pretty much the day.
Tomorrow on to Tulsa, Texas and whatever we find between here and there.
stay creative,
j
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