Just a Cotton Pickin Minute.

Hi folks,

well we left Memphis with all that beat and music playing and started our trip south to end up in Florida on Friday morning.  The best plans can sometimes be scuppered and today was that day, we had intended going straight to New Orleans but a straight 500 miles did not appeal to us so we decided to follow the Mississippi.

We hadn't seen cotton growing before and here suddenly were fields upon fields ready to be harvested. Finding somewhere to stop with the camera wasn't easy but here we are, it as blowing in the breeze so I could only do my best.

We spotted round bales with yellow plastic covers similar to how some of our hay stacks are at home and realised that it was cotton. When we saw several by a cotton mill I asked if I could take some photographs, this turned into a "Tour" of the Mill and we spent some time there with very friendly "guides" who explained about cotton picking and processing.

This machine separates the seed part from the cotton, like a cat clawing a chicken as the man said "you only get the feathers" and the seed stays behind. The seed is crushed and used as oil, the husk is ploughed back into the land as fertilizer so nothing goes to waste.

This is a bail of raw cotton with the seeds still in it before it is "processed" as it comes off the field.

These bail have had the chaff and seeds removed and are all lined up ready to be re-bailed with a heavy press to be transported into square bails.

There were "bits" of cotton clinging to every conceivable place and someone commented that they would not win The Good Housekeeping Award and they were at their tidiest right now!

Outside there was a pile of the chaff from the seed that would go into animal feed, nothing is wasted, the seed is crushed and made into oil.

Well that's the educational bit over.

Back on our journey we later found ourselves beside the great Mississippi River with trees growing from the river bed. This shot was taken on a bridge with an outlet flowing underneath to the river.

Further on we found a small road which ran beside the river Mississippi to the left and higher up were some very nice houses, here you can see their boat launch areas and more sunken trees.

We lunched along the way and had a very pleasant drive, you see more of America when not on the big Interstates some small towns have four or five churches and are very attractive but you can't stop every time or you would need a week to travel a hundred miles.

This last picture is of the sun setting behind the restaurant of our evening meal and opposite our next hotel, not the best composition but I could not get away from the signs, a big problem in America.

Can we catch up with ourselves?  Tune in again to find out.

Thanks for looking.

nite nite Luv, Mike xx