#5: [31-Oct-16]

#4: [05-Jan-03]

#3: [22-Dec-01]

30-Dec-2001 -- Continued from 32N 102W

After a wonderful home-cooked breakfast in the Casa de Goates, we set out from Odessa at 9 am. If our team had thought they had seen flat before, the drive south to the confluence surpassed our imaginative capabilities: we could see turns in the road about 10 miles away. The trip to Iraan (pronounced Ira-Ann; named for Ira and Ann Yates, the owners of the ranch nearest the oilfield whose discovery created the town) was about 80 miles, during which we saw about 15-20 other vehicles on the road.

Outside of McCamey, we lost our official hood ornament, Expose-o the Clown (won at a coin-operated skill crane in the Pizza Hut of Big Spring by Sturgis), but it was quickly recovered by Thomas.

We stopped on SH 349 before turning on to a private dirt road belonging to Marathon Oil Company, leading to a mesa filled with wind generators. We traveled about half a mile west, turned and went about half a mile north. We disembarked from Win's father's '92 Pontiac Trans Sport and began walking.

Charles Sturgis was our point man through the West Texas chaparral. Mesquite bushes, cacti, juniper, and plum thicket (all vegetation bedecked with thorns and spikes) greeted our shins with the full force of West Texas hospitality. As we moved through the open spaces, dry gullies, and game trails, the GPS coordinates slowly went to zeroes. Several signs had warned us of animal traps (conjuring up images of rusty iron jaws of bone-shattering power), so we stepped lightly towards the confluence.

With mesas off in the distance and no roads visible, the actual site was perfectly isolated. The only sign of humanity's dealings with this area was the wind generators cutting through the voiceless wind. If we had visited this confluence in the summer, it would have been baking at 110 degrees with no shade for miles. Walking back, we got a photo of some of our team treading ahead, showing how the scrub concealed them. The Trans Sport was a mere glint in the distance.

Continued at 31N 101W