West Texas: Another Sight We Seldom See

I have family about two hours south of here. I spend a lot of time heading up and down Highway 84. South of Post, it is a really beautiful drive - at least for the first several hundred trips. Eventually, it all becomes background. I find myself driving by without noticing the beauty.

One place I do still notice is the Brazos River crossing at Justiceburg. I always glance as I drive over to see if there is a little bit of mud in the riverbed. On fantastic days, there is a little trickle of movement in the water. Over the years, I have seen actual running water three times, and one of those was last Saturday. And I wanted to share it with you. If you live somewhere that actually has naturally-occurring running water, you might not appreciate the red mud stream, but for those of us who are local, it is downright miraculous.

Brazos Running

May you see miracles in your version of the drought!

PS - The impatient white beast at the end is my Sasha, who really wanted us to take a swim. More about her here:
Sashadoption
And here:
Thoreau for your Brain, Sasha for your Smile

And here is the last MH post about the about Justiceburg and the Brazoz:
Save Lubbock's Rivers

FM 1269: Fluvanna

If you have never headed north out of Fluvanna, Texas on FM 1269, then you are missing out on one of the most spectacular views in all of West Texas. Words and smartphone photos are inadequate to describe what you will see.

If you leave Lubbock on Highway 84 heading southeast, you will head through Slaton, Southland, Post, Snyder….and you will eventually hit I-20 which will you speed you on your way to Dallas. Because everyone wants to or has to go to Dallas.

Tucked between Post and Snyder is a little place called Justiceburg. Justiceburg, for me, is a wonderful place. The Caprock, the train tracks, Fort Justice, the Salt Fork of the Brazos, the red clay, Lake Allan Henry, the herd of pronghorn antelope, and all those huge wind turbines up on the Caprock all surround Justiceburg. Fluvanna is just a few short miles away from Justiceburg.

FM1269 runs mostly north/south through Fluvanna. The wind farm is just north of town on that road and the top of the Caprock is a pretty amazing place. The view is breathtaking, the windfarm is also something to see (and hear). At the base of the windmills you will often see a herd of deer that know they live in area where they will not be hunted.

If you head south from Fluvanna on 1269, you will see a different world. Pump jacks, drilling rigs, and ponds set up for hydraulic fracturing (tracking) water supplies dominate the landscape.

I remember an annoying country song a few years ago called "God Blessed Texas". North of Fluvanna on 1269, I believe it. South of Fluvanna, not so much.

May the sun, the wind, and the rain power your future.

NEX8K8T6E7Q4

Save Lubbock's Rivers!

The Double Mountain Fork at max flow!

Don't you just love misleading headlines!

I drive through Justiceburg often, and the highlight of that trip is usually the craning of my neck to see if there's any mud lingering in the bed of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos. There is usually a little. Once in a great while there is actual water visible. And there was one time that I saw the highway department out there monitoring to make sure that a flash flood was not going to wash away the Highway 84 bridge. (One small regret in my life is that I did not head straight home, grab the kayak, and ride the red whitewater from Tahoka to Justiceburg.) Two weeks later I passed that way again and saw only mud.

DMFBR

FYI, I love being near water, especially if that water has the capacity to support wildlife. I love ponds, lakes, streams, drainage ditches, playa lakes, buffalo wallows, mud puddles, and the ocean.  I am not terribly fond of swimming pools and it really gets to me that I live in an area where almost all bodies of water have dried up but the freshwater-for-fracking ponds are full and open for business.

The most intriguing water to me is running water. I love rivers.

So, when I ran across this article about the Freshwater Trust, I was both depressed at the enormity of their task and encouraged by the fact that they exist and are making headway. FYI, the Freshwater Trust is not based in West Texas.

The State of Water in America

May your rivers run wild and clean!