Belmont to Hayti

We drove through four states, and a lot of CORN today and have finally stopped for the night in Hayti, Missouri which is 19 miles north of the Arkansas border. We had a beautiful day to travel, and our 11 hours in the car was quite tolerable! Mr. Jones brought along two choir CD's: one is music for performance this fall, and the other one is his practice CD for this year's Festival of Lights, which made for very enjoyable listening!
We also played Trivial Pursuit ... not with the game board or the regular rules, however. My sister, Ruthanne, told me that she and Terry play this all the way to North Carolina when they travel to visit my niece, Shari, and it helps the time go by. It's difficult to describe to you the exact way you can play this in the car; but suffice it to say that so far, Mr. Jones is leading 16 to 3. Good thing I'm not a sore loser, huh? Actually, playing the game really helped pass the time for me and actually kept me awake all afternoon. Mr. Jones found it less pleasant, but perhaps that's because he did ALL of the driving. I offered to help, but he didn't take me up on it.
We crossed the mighty Mississippi about mid-afternoon, and since we were making such good time, we continued right on ... We saw smoke from quite a distance away, and concluded that this was a controlled burn, not a wild fire. We actually saw quite a few smaller burns as we drove on through Missouri.
We also saw mile after mile of cotton fields. I saw this last fall too, but was never able to get out of the van to take a good picture of it. Tonight, once we arrived at the Drury Inn & Suites here in Hayti, I crossed the street and took a nice walk over to this field. I've never ever walked through a cotton field before, so I just had to do it! Plus, I picked off just a tiny bit ... just like a cotton ball you would buy at the store, only it has a seed in it! To all of you country folk, or farm folk, this is kind of a "duh" experience ... but for me, it was very cool.
"The wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness." James 3:17-18 NLT

Our plan tomorrow is to rise with the sun, eat a yummy breakfast, and hopefully be on the road again by 7:30 a.m. According to Mapquest, we have another really long day of driving ahead of us. We hope to arrive to Sabrina around 8:00 tomorrow night ... I'm thankful for such a good day today!