Day 7: From Roswell to Texas

I finished up my Roswell, NM shooting in the morning and was all eager to wrap up the Southern New Mexico stuff and get over to the big chunk of stuff in Texas. It was around 10:30am and I decided to turn on the AC since it was in the 80s already and climbing quickly. No dice. Blowing hot air. Evidently, it took four days for the freon to leak out again since Day 1’s long pitstop at the Pep Boys in Yuma. Crap. I wanted to hit another Pep Boys since the job was under warranty. But it turns out there aren’t any Pep Boys in Southern NM — not even in Albuquerque. The closest was Santa Fe, NM which was WAY north and a huge break from my planned route. It was a Saturday and the mechanic at the Goodyear was nice enough to drop what he was doing to look things over. He couldn’t find any leaks anywhere despite his fairly high tech machine and decades of expertise. He suspected the rattling compressor or the seal leading to the line behind it. But he told me not to worry since AC systems are very predictable. If I’d gotten four days, I’d get another four with the refill. (Not so it would turn out.)

I’d always wanted to know more about that Goodyear anyway but I didn’t get very far. One guy said it was a car dealership (Cadillac). But another guy insisted it was always a GE appliance dealer.

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And so, after about a two hour delay, we were on our way. Here’s a nicely aged sign in Roswell. Let’s hope they never repainted it since that would ruin it:

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A couple of signs from Artesia, NM:

This one may have bright paint but the rust and holes on the can indicate this sign is super old. Bennie’s Western Wear opened here in 1947 and I’m inclined to believe the sign is from then:

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On the way west end of Hobbs, NM, at a closed restaurant-ish looking place, was this C-152 Lectra sign. There are about a dozen of these left scattered around the country. The arms were studded with bulbs originally. This video gives you an idea of what these signs would have looked like at night:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8492055@N08/4794881045/

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