Kansas Experience

On Saturday,  March 24, we hit the road at 10:10am leaving Oklahoma City East RV Park, and headed onto I-40 West and then onto I-35 North. Driving for 140 miles.

On entering the State of Kansas at 12:30pm we were on the KS Turnpike/toll I-35 N. We picked up a toll ticket and paid when we turned to go into Wellington. It cost $1.65 Before we went to the KOA RV Park we stopped at Wal Mart not far form the RV Park. Wellington KOA RV Park. is a small, with a small pond with turtles. There were not many units there but as the day went on more RV-ers arrived. They all were heading north to their homes. We had a big meal and watched a movie on TV. Went for a walk and met a couple who were going home to Topeka KS.

Kansas has several Casinos along the main highways. We were in the Flint Hills Region of Kansas.   http://kansasflinthills.travel/ Found on this site is their Mission Statement:
“The residents of the Flint Hills work collectively to balance preservation, conservation, education, recreation, economic development and interpretation for the betterment of the lifestyle and natural resources of the region. This is done through the development and implementation of plans and coordinated activities that capture the grassroots efforts of stakeholders who support the vision for the future of the Flint Hills.”
From Wikipedia: The Flint Hills were created approximately 250 million years ago during the Permian Period. During this time much of the Midwest, including Kansas and Oklahoma, were covered with shallow seas. As a result, much of the Flint Hills are composed of limestone and shale with plentiful fossils of prehistoric sea creatures. The most notable layer of chert-bearing limestone is the Florence Limestone Member. It is approximately 45 feet thick; numerous road-cuts of the Florence Member are prominent along Interstate 70 in Riley County, Kansas. Many of the honey-coloured limestones have been used for building blocks. The non-chert-bearing limestones are best for this, since the chert is extremely hard to cut, yet it can fracture quite easily.

We drove for a couple of hours before we stopped for fuel at Cassoday near Emporia, KS one of the 66 stations situated in between the two highways. These stations were every 30 to 50 miles along the Turnpike. There was a McDonalds and restrooms.

We noticed signs saying “Drive with caution when there or Range Fires”. At one place we could see smoke at the hills and pastures. There were note any bill-boards in this part of the United State as there was in Southern US States.  The trees are just turning green but the flowering pink ones dotted the landscape. The farm field crops were lush green and yellow.

At Topeka, when it came time to pay the  toll fee, I handed Randal $2.00, the price we paid yesterday, however the lady at the toll booth asked for $16.00!!

We arrived at Deer creek Valley RV Park in early afternoon. www.deercreekvalleypark.com. It is a newer one with all cement pull-through pads with wide roads and turning lanes.   We booked for three nights.

Over a pizza early supper, we had a bottle of the KE wine and watched two movies of crime and hate.
I needed  allot of positive time and affirmations before I retired.

The temperature got to a high as 27ºC so the air conditioner felt good the rest of the day.
We were up during the night talking bout our trip north and looking at RV Parks to stay on the way back. There are few RV sites open this time of year so we have to go to ones are open on April 1st.
We think we should go through Manitoba or Saskatchewan and try to be there by the Easter Weekend.

Monday morning we went to Lake Shawnee County Park and Recreation http://parks.snco.us/  the walking paths along the dam and shore, and Ted Ensley Gardens www.scprfoundation.org

The Dam was built during the 1934-38 depression as a work project. The Shawnee Lake was formed and is now a popular place for recreation. The sweet fragrance of the full-blooming tulips and tree blossoms made our walk enjoyable.

While walking in the Gardens we spoke to a few interesting people. One fellow was marking off a running distance in kilometres and trying to figure it out in miles.  I learned that the US running groups always measure the distance in km. At noon a siren  went off that was almost deafening that lasted for a minute. We asked a young lady why and what it was about, thinking they may be testing out for a tornado warnings. She informed us that every Monday at noon it goes off to indicate the start of a work week. We talked to a few others about how beautiful the tulips were this time of year, being so early for then to be blooming.

On Tuesday morning a thunder storm rolled in over Topeka while I was doing the laundry in the “storm shelter/laundry room”. Randal drove over to check on me and brought me an umbrella. I was going to run the laundry trolly back to the Trailer, carrying the umbrella, but I was concerned I may be hit by a bolt of lightening. Randal most have known my concerns and came back to pick me up.