Monday, October 21, 2019

Youkum CountyTX to Paris TX

It was a pretty full travel day today. We thought we might make it to Texarkana, but came up short. We're at the Walmart in Paris TX, having mostly followed Hwy 82 east.

We trekked through a lot of West Texas in the morning. Besides periodic groups of oil-pumping rigs, we were surprised at the extent of the cotton fields. Thousands of acres that we could see from the road. Most of it is irrigated to grow, likely with Ogallala aquifer water. All the pictures we have today relate to cotton.

Mature cotton plants, ready for harvest

Part of the huge cotton field

An older-model cotton harvester

Each tooth combs a row


A newer model harvester at work

Preparing to dump the harvester hopper into the pickup wagon

The hopper swings up and out, dumping the cotton bolls into the wagon

Then they part company for a while

And the harvester carries on around the field

You can likely see the lighter-coloured where the harvester is working, and the darker area in the foreground? The lighter-coloured area is irrigated by a huge circular-orbiting sprayer, and the darker plants are outside the watering. Much less cotton on the non-irrigated plants.

The cotton is planted and harvested in the same arc as the irrigation sprayer, so the harvester goes round and round following the circular rows.



Here's a map of today's travel:

 




2 comments:

  1. Interesting image, harvesters going round in giant circles!

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  2. Those cotton fields are neat!
    Long day for you both!
    Safe travels!

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