Onward to Lamar, Colorado

 

Today, Ginny and I continue our journey as we leave the Land of Oz (Liberal, KS), driving 163 miles to Lamar, Colorado, where we will be staying as guests of the Lamar Elks Lodge. RV parking at the lodge is the customary donation of $20 a night for 20/30/50 AMP hookups. Water is available, and it is Big Rig friendly. There is no stay limit at this lodge. RV parking at Elks Lodges is only open to members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

 

We left the old cowtown Dodge City at 9:20 this morning and took the Yellow Brick Road to Liberal, Kansas, to visit Dorothy's House, the Coronado Museum, and the Mid-America Air Museum. We'll be here for two days before getting on the road again, headed toward Lamar, Colorado. We are staying at the Seven Winds RV Park on the southwestern edge of town.

Santa Fe Trail

 

Ginny and I left Junction City a little before 9:00 this morning, following the highway in a southwesterly direction until we hit the Santa Fe Trail that took us into Dodge City, Kansas, where we are held up at the Gunsmoke RV Park. We'll be here for two nights before getting back on the road.

Smoky Hill RV Park, Junction City, Kansas

 

Day 3 of our 7-month RV trip takes us to Smoky Hill RV Park in Junction City, Kansas. I came through here about the same time a year ago with my late wife, Nancy. There's a little nostalgia for me coming back to this place. I lived here back in 1973/74 when it was a mobile home park. I was stationed in the Army just a couple of miles east from here at Fort Riley. My daughter, Evon, was born while living here just before I was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in March 1974. This is not a homecoming for me, though. Other than those mentioned, I have no other ties here. It is a nice laid out new RV park just off Interstate 70.

Tomorrow we'll be back on the road stopping for a couple of days in Dodge City, Kansas.

Yellow Brick Road

 

Today, Nancy and I will take the Yellow Brick Road to Liberal, Kansas, to visit Dorothy's House of Wizard of Oz. The house is located at the Seward County Historical Museum. The museum also houses the Coronado Museum. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján, aka Vázquez de Coronado, was the guy who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542 in search of the Cities of Cíbola, often referred to now as the mythical Seven Cities of Gold.

Dodge City, KS

 

We got an early start this morning, heading from Junction City, Kansas, to Dodge City. Along the way, we drove past several fields of commercially grown Sun Flowers. Kansas is the Sun Flower state. We intersected the Santa Fe Trail in Great Bend, KS. Now we are on some back roads. The truck route bypass through Great Bend started as a gravel road. While in Dodge City for the weekend, we are staying at the Gunsmoke RV Park.

Dodge City, KS

 

Today is day 5 of our 6-month road trip. We had a good visit with my second cousin's widow. I've got more addresses now of other relatives that I lost base with and haven't seen in years. The small town of Marion hasn't changed much since I lived there in the early 70s. Some streets are still paved with brick. A new house has been built where my great-grandmother's house use to be. The house I used to live in is now a parking lot for a church.

 

Today we travel 208 miles to Dodge City where we will stay for the weekend. There have been some changes there since Matt Dillon was a U.S. Marshal.

Grandview Plaza (Junction City), KS

 

We finally made it to Grandview Plaza (Junction City), KS. It was a long drive mostly on 2-lane back roads of Nebraska and Kansas. Tomorrow, we are going on a road trip 60 miles south to Marion, KS to visit distant relatives. I was hoping to meet up with a second cousin that lived there but found out he had passed away 3 years ago. Then on Friday, we will go on to Dodge City, KS for the weekend. While in Dodge City, we will take a road trip to Liberal, KS to visit Dorothy's House of Wizard of Oz.

Homewood, Kansas

Waking up to a light dusting of snow here in Kellogg, Iowa from last night. Much better that trying to drive through the snow and winds that is hitting Wisconsin this morning. Kansas City got a good snow fall last night but the highways will be clear by the time we get there this afternoon. Tonight's planned stop will be Homewood, Kansas.

On the road - Day 3

Today was my last travel day down to Oklahoma. The day started again when I woke up at 4:30 this morning. A fast shower then into the travel center restaurant for breakfast. I was on the road again by 6:15.

Everything went fine on this leg of the trip until I stopped in Oklahoma City for fuel. There was something going on with the air brake system. I had brakes and everything but a pressure relief valve kept releasing every few seconds. Now what I thought. After topping off the tank with another 27.4 gallons costing $96.74, I continued the last 30 miles to my daughter's house.

I pulled into her driveway at 11:00. She gave me a quick tour of her new house and property and where I could plug in. Then she had to leave to show her house in the city that she's wanting to sell. While she was gone, I had lunch and setup my satellite TV system.

Things are looking up tonight though. I found the electric skillet and my coffee cup that I had thought I had left behind.

On the road - Day 2

Day 2 catches me awake at 4:30 this morning. Not bad though. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and I was tired. So that's 8 hours of sleep. Well I was hoping I didn't leave anything behind, but when I started looking for my electric skillet so I could cook breakfast, that's when I realized that not only the skillet, I forgot my coffee cup too. OWFISH! I needed to get a new electric skillet anyway and I've got other coffee cups onboard.

Today promises to be a nasty day with rain, snow and winds.  I was on the road by 6:15 and at 6:16 I was crossing the Mississippi River. At 9 o'clock, I stopped at a truck stop restaurant for breakfast that Barb and I always stopped at going this direction. There was snow and ice on the ground. Afterwards, the closer I got to Des Moines, the more snow there was on the ground. At least the roads are only wet. I stopped at the Pilot Travel Center in Des Moines for fuel. $206.81 for 56.676 gallons of diesel. I'm glad I only needed half a tank.

After filling the tank, I kept heading toward Kansas City on I-35. I thought of stopping north of the city for the night, but since I was making good time, I wanted to get through that mess before the traffic got ugly. In fact I kept going until I made it to Emporia, Kansas. A total of 515 miles today. Boy was I beat fighting the winds driving this rig. I pulled into the Flying J Travel Center for the night, topped off the tank with another 41 gallons for a whopping $151.42, and $15.14 to replace the wiper blades. So far I've spent $358.23 for fuel and have drove only 784 miles. 256 miles to go. At least Flying J has WiFi... for a cost.

Kellogg, IA

Once again we were able to get on the road by 7:30 this morning leaving from Homewood, KS to continue our trek to Wisconsin. Today we drove 297 miles with a fuel stop in Des Moines, IA where I topped off with 68.6 gallons of diesel costing $280.00. We have averaged 7.9 MPG since leaving Oklahoma City. We have stopped for the night staying at the Kellogg RV Park in Kellogg, IA. Tomorrow we should make Wisconsin before stopping for the day and make it to Oconto by Tuesday afternoon.

Homewood, KS

We were able to get on the road this morning leaving around 7:30 AM. There were some winds today but not like yesterday. We drove 295 miles and stopped for the rest of the day staying at the Homewood RV Park in Homewood, KS. 747 miles to go to get to Oconto, WI.

High winds

We were planning on leaving out this morning continuing our trek to Wisconsin for the summer but opted to stay put here in Oklahoma City for another day due to the high winds here in Oklahoma and Kansas. That will give us another day to enjoy the indoor hot tub here at the RV park. It is 1025 miles from Oklahoma City to Oconto that will take us 3 to 4 days to drive.

Topeka

We left Oklahoma this morning continuing our trek to Wisconsin. You couldn't ask for a better day to travel. There was no traffic and the weather was beautiful. Today's travels takes us to Topeka, Kansas for the night where we checked into the Capital City RV Park. This wouldn't be a bad location to visit Topeka if the sites were level. When I got the rig level the right rear tires were 4" off the ground. While here we visited with a cousin for dinner. If you like Mexican food El Agave Mexican Restaurant at 2222 SW Washburn is very good and there was no line to stand in on a Saturday evening. Tomorrow morning our trek north will continue taking us into Iowa for the night. We only have 652 miles to go but we can't get checked into our summer campground until Tuesday May 1st.