The watermelon patch was at the side of the road. An unexpected place to find it. I was thinking that probably somebody threw watermelon seeds by the roadside after they ate the watermelon. The watermelon patch was really resilient and thrived well despite the summer heat. It was really hot outside the apartment at Hobbs, New Mexico.

I went hiding inside the apartment when I got to Hobbs, New Mexico. The long drive wore me out and all I wanted was lay down sleeping. The weather didn’t help much either. It was the middle of summer and the outside temperature was approaching 100 F. Too hot, Too bright!

My past residence of four years was two hours drive away from Hobbs, New Mexico. There never was much traveling done west of my residence except to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Ruidoso. I watched a wall of dust approaching my newly built house on the first week that we occupied it. Correlating anything west of where I lived to be hotter, dustier, and more uncomfortable was not so hard after that.

I wouldn’t say that I did not like it but I wasn’t used to it.

Recently, I had the chance to spend time around the area. The city appeared alive and vibrant as I drove around one morning. High end shops occupied one big section but were still closed. Most people were at the market or groceries and I had the impression that most seem to be from somewhere else. The boom in the oil industry around the area must really be doing wonders to the local economy.

The park lake in the middle of the city seem to be a popular spot. People, appearing to just stop by to watch the lake water, were coming and going. Two fishermen were idling their time as they caught and released 12 inch fishes. The sun continued to rise over the lake, casting its harsh rays on the water, as it reflected a simmering glitter.

We decided to head to Carlsbad Caverns and I even thought of going further to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The drive ended only as far as Carlsbad Caverns. It refreshed my memory on what I saw there years ago. I remembered the caverns and the bat flight but I didn’t have the desire to go down the caverns and it was late. A detour drive through Walnut Canyon felt like a better alternative. Reading about it online, I found one guy say that the place was nothing but a lot of rocks and devoid of life. Well, I wouldn’t argue with him. There is a lot of rocks around there indeed but, we also saw some deer grazing on a hilltop.