Paris TX to Sikeston MO

Yes, another Walmart. We did try a casino about 1/2 hr back. They had a nice RV area, but it was set up for big rigs, with full hookups, concrete parking pads, and $40+ camping fee. We were pretty disappointed with the lack of welcome there. 

It was quite windy most of the day, sometimes squirrely tailwinds, sometimes heavy crosswinds. Along the highway we saw this fellow, and thought it a funny thing for him to do with his outboard:

Amphibious, or jet-assist?

We noticed some round bales along the way with different-coloured wrapping than we're used to:

Turns out they are cotton bales! We've never really seen cotton baled except in old movies, and that looked a lot different:

The bales are huge, 8 bales was a common truckload

The bale ends must be 8 ft across, much larger than our usual hay bales

We did see some baling in progress, but too far away for pictures, especially on busy I55. Instead of the collection operation I showed yesterday, these combines suck in the cotton from the plants, and spit out these bales when full (or not full, for the last bale in a field). This saves quite a bit likely, no second tractor etc for field transfers. If you're interested, here's a link (click Here) to a short Youtube video of a John Deere baler that looks like what we saw in the distance.

Here's a map of today's travels. We took the blue route, almost all Interstates. Hwy82->I30->I40->I55. We're just reversing the common winter route south: