Wandering Through Kansas

We're Still In Kansas, Toto

We left the Santa Fe campground in Chanute pretty much like we found it.  The trip ahead would take us through some pretty open country.

I should have suspected something when I saw a sign alongside the road that read "Experience the Flint Hills".  At first, as we traveled through this part of the country, it was interesting as to how wide open it was.  Just rolling grassy hills sprinkled with an occasional oil well, some pumping, most not.  Then we realized how desolate the place was.  Very few farms or houses and almost no sign of farming and few cattle.  This went on and on.  We spotted another two or three signs just like the first, "Experience the Flint Hills".  It occurred to me that the first sign should have given us fair warning.  The fact that the sign said "Experience" and not "Enjoy" or something like that should have been alerted us to what was ahead.  But, we "Experienced" the Flint Hills.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we started seeing cattle and hay fields and nice farms.  I guess we made through.

We stayed at Kanopolis Lake last night.  My intent was to stay at the Venango Area COE campground.  By accident and non-attention, we wound up in a state park near the dam.  But, the price was right ($8.50) and the sites were open and clean, so here we are.

My schedule had us touring Mushroom Rocks State Park today, but since we arrived early at the campground, we jumped in Coors and took the 15 min. trip.

These things were really interesting.  Out in the middle of nowhere, in a little draw was a 5 acre park with these rocks.  The rock in 2nd photo was literally covered in names carved in by visitors.  Most were relatively recent, probably written over older ones, but one in particular was chiseled in very deeply and was dated 1878.

We went back to the campground and made ready for the evening.  Ditto and I went for a long walk and as we returned, here's what I saw in the west.

This morning turned out overcast and tried to be dreary, but it was about 60 degrees and no wind.  Dreary didn't fit.  It's a nice quiet morning.

Today...9/19/2011

We got away about 11 am. Amazing. We took the sorta back roads like we usually do. Well, once we passed Springfield, anyway. We took Hwy 266 starting at Halltown and then Hwy 96 once 266 quit. We followed 96 all the way to Carthage. It gets a bit fuzzy after Carthage. The map in my head did not agree with the map Joyce was reading and the GPS didn't agree with either. I made the mistake of trusting the GPS and we wound up on some long dusty dirt roads in Kansas. They were good roads as far as dirt roads go, but still dusty. Finally I gave up on the GPS and headed south where I was sure to find Hwy 160. Eventually, (by following signs, not the GPS) we found Big Brutus. I took a couple of photos, but we did not stop for the tour. For one thing, I would have had to disconnect Coors as there was not enough room to turn this rig around. For another thing, it cost $6 each and we didn't think we would gain that much deep knowledge from it - what with seeing it from the road (relatively close) and with what one can read on the Internet.

So, I gave the GPS another chance and we headed for Chanute - I thought. But, it quickly became obvious the GPS was in love with dirt roads. So, I headed for Hwy 160 again. We then caught Hwy 169 to Chanute. Once that close, I gave the GPS its head again. Dang! Dirt roads still. I jerked the reins and we went on up into Chanute and finally found the park - Santa Fe Park. It's a nice park. Several ball fields, a nice picnic area and well manicured. But, where the heck is the RV park? Finally some nice guy stopped us and pointed us in the right direction.

They have about 30 spots. Most are pull-throughs, but only about 40-45 feet long. With Coors in tow, we're right at 50 ft. I managed to get Coor's tail end just off the road by pushing Pumpkin's nose a bit into the road in front. It will have to do.

After a big dish of spaghetti and a nice walk (the weather is great!) we settled in for the night. Tomorrow is another day on the road, exploring Kansas???

Tomorrow...

Today was spent dodging rain and loading up.  The fridge is full and the kitchen cabinets, too.  We've packed our two seasons of clothes and aired the tires.  About the only thing left is to hook up Coors and load up Ditto and Joyce.  Oh wait.  Gotta take a bath and wash my hair tonight.  Joyce gave me a haircut this afternoon and the itch is about to drive me crazy.

We made arrangements with Floyd today to look in on Oxford and the hens.  The hens have just begun laying eggs, but Oxford just lays around.  Not quite the same, but both will need some attention while we are gone.  They'll be in good hands.

We leave out tomorrow.  Our first stop - drive by, actually - is Big Brutus.  I'm not sure why, but it's on the travel agenda.  It's about 180 miles away so that should give Pumpkin plenty of time to tell us what hurts.  If no complaints are registered, then it's on to Santa Fe Park in Chanute, KS (whoopee!).  Well, that's all right.  We don't want to start out too big.  It might make the rest of the trip a let down.  Onward and upward!  South Dakota or bust.

Crunch Time

We're tightening down all the screws trying to get Pumpkin ready to roll next Monday.  I sealed the questionable spot on the roof yesterday and the gap in the window rubber seal this morning.  I don't know if either was the source of water penetration, but they shouldn't be now for sure.

I cleaned out the stuff from the basement compartments that won't be needed on this trip.  Then I added a few things - like that danged bottle jack I could have used Labor Day weekend.

I'm leaving the cab-over bunk mattress out.  We won't need that either and it will help dry out what dampness there is left up there.  I'm going to stow our lounge chairs up there instead of in the Jeep so it's much easier to access them and put them back.  If stowed in the Jeep, I have to unzip the rear window to get them out and that can be a pain.

Joyce made some covers for the inside of the vents.  They Velcro in place.  They should help insulate both heat and cold.  If we want to open a vent, it's a simple matter of just ripping the cover off and sticking it to the ceiling somewhere else.  Joyce put Velcro hooks on the covers and the ceiling fabric works like Velcro fuzz.

I got a new LNB (feed horn) for the satellite dish and checked out the cables before we went to Beaver over Labor Day.  But, there were too many trees to even try to pick up Dish TV.  Where we're going this time, I think there will be lots of opportunity to try out the satellite TV.

The buffalo roundup at Custer was going to be a problem for us in finding a camping spot.  If we arrived at Custer during the roundup, most everything would be full.  If we arrived afterward, many campgrounds close as soon as the roundup is over.  But, I found Ellsworth AFB has a nice "Famcamp" RV park and was assured we could get in just about any time.  The AF base is just outside Rapid City so it will be a good jump off point for daily outings into and around Custer SP.  We may stay there several days.

Doctor Appointment Today

I took Pumpkin to the tire shop today and had new valve stems put in all 7 tires (6 plus the spare).  After that one popped on us Labor Day Weekend, I didn't trust them.  I wasn't sure if the old ones were even high-pressure stems.  So, $162 later Pumpkin has 7 new valve stems and all tires rebalanced.  Cha-ching!

Oh No! Not Again!

Crap, crap, crap!  I removed the mattress from the overhead bunk this morning only to find big black spots of mildew.  It looks like we've had a water leak again!  But, we're going to Custer State Park in a week or so, so I'm not going to do anything with it except clean with bleach until we get back from that trip.

I can't really tell without taking some areas apart, but I suspect it is leaking around the front window seal.  There is a panel along the bottom of the window on the inside that will come off with three screws.  Removing it should reveal what the problem is - or isn't.  If it is the window, that's not a difficult fix.  The problem is getting the area dried out and the mildew or dry rot killed out before it does any more damage.

Rugged Camping

Prairie Creek campground turned out to be a pretty rugged place.  It was constructed back in the 60's and designed mostly for pickup campers and pop-ups.  There have been some improvements and updates, but for the most part, it is still tough to get larger campers in there.  We were on the last two sights on a fairly steep hillside.  It was tricky getting in and out, but we made it.  The only real problem was the actual pad was narrow, too narrow for a good awning covered area, and the edge dropped off over a foot.  To make things worse, they had embedded rocks (rough field stone, not flat rocks) in cement along the edge making a sloping bank which was very difficult to walk on - especially for Joyce.

That's Pumpkin and then Stephen's new trailer is the next site down the hill.

Here's the proud new owner showing off his campsite hotel.  You can see the rock ledge along just behind him.

Although the park was actually pretty nice and well kept, it is not a convenient place for Pumpkin or "Aspen".  We'll probably not go back there.