Stromboli's Rolling Log: Day 22. USA's greatest Cotton growing region... Northwest Texas

That is true that Texas raises more cotton than any other state in the USA. Today on our drive from Big Spring (no 's') to Stratford, near the Colorado border, we saw much of the 9,000 square miles that Texas has in cotton acreage. That is a "lotta" acreage. Mile after mile of fields were either already planted or were in the process. Some workers were on the plows, harrows and row plows today as we drove by.

The miles and miles of cotton land either plowed or getting ready.

One thing I told Ruth after we had driven about 50 miles, "This has to be the best road that I have ever driven on with a trailer. It is smooth, there is little traffic. the terrain is level, and the scenery is not cluttered with signs or buildings." It went on that way after we went through the towns. The big towns were Lubbock, Plainview, and Amarillo. We did not go on the east side of Amarillo where the stock yards are located but did see some small ones . There are evidences of oil production the closer we got to Amarillo. It has had its ups and downs in that business over the years.
Each day we stop about every 100 miles or about 1 hr and 1/2 to stretch. Ruth needs to get the back straightened from sitting and it helps me with the relaxation in driving, especially those city freeways. The day remained a beautiful day wtih the sun shining most of the day. A few high cirrus clouds formed in the afternoon. The temp got to 83F from a 64 F in the morning. We did find a roadside park to have lunch , and our lunch is usually in the trailer or at a picnic table depending on the weather and the wind. This country has wind all the time. We can see why they are into wind generation so much.

The automated check in machine at the RV Park

The park appearance (It is brand new), but is just a "Vacant lot".
Do you like the modern "hookup" statins?

One of the many cotton gins along the road . It's a
a long way from Eli Whitney's invention.

The RV park we had looked for in Stratford, had a problem at the entrance as the road going into it had work being done by the city workers, so that gate was blocked. We pulled up to the blocked gate and looked around. We could see trailers in the park so how did they get in? A survey of the road we just came from (US 87) showed that they had made a small temporary entrance with two USA flags above it to see. We returned to the new entrance and made our way in. The office was now on the other side of the entry, but we managed to stop there. Then it was that we realized that this was a FULLY AUTOMATED Park with no one to take your money, but a MACHINE to register, check your length of stay (push proper button) and pay for it with a credit card swipe. and Voila! There was your receipt and ID form for the window of you car or truck. Choose your own site it said. So here is the RV Park with all its modern hoops. (See pictures) Those of you who have traveled in RV Parks will see a difference. Of course ths is NW Texas and there are no trees in this brand new park.

So we got settled in had our chicken cordon bleu with veggies for supper and watched the sun go down. A beautiful day. Tomorrow we will be in Colorado. I am signing off wth some pictures of the vehicles that go by my window (the highway and the RR). Have a chuckle.