2018 - Blog #3 - Please... let the good times roll!

Our campsite in Mound Valley Campground

We remembered Kansas from last year as being flat and hot, but as we drove across Kansas this time we are pleasantly surprised by the lush green rolling hills and the spring flowers.  This time, instead of crossing the bottom of Kansas, we took a more northwestern direction and we seemed to be rewarded by the route we chose this time.  Our first stop was another Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) campground just east of Cherryvale.   Mound Valley Campground was a nice, relaxing place to “lick our wounds” from the last campsite and renew our faith in humankind. 

the orioles are so colorful

  From the friendly ranger who checked us in to driving through the beautiful, woodsy campground overlooking the blue lake, we just knew that this was going to be a great place to stay for the next four days.    Jean went to church here and said that there were only 34 people in attendance, as she has discovered is usual for these small towns.  What a huge difference from the large attendance that she is used to in Venice.

our campsite at Riverside Campground backed up to this river

Our second stop was in the middle of Kansas just northwest of Wichita at another ACE campground near Marquette.   Yes all you Michiganders… there really is a Marquette in Kansas!  There are 4 campgrounds on Kanopolis Lake, all within a mile or two from each other.  We checked out all of them while we were there and were thrilled that we had blindly reserved a site at our favorite campground of them all.  It was a small, wooded campground on the opposite side of the lake/dam, on the river and it was just perfect for us. 

"summer snow" from all the Cottonwood trees

  The people we camped next to had two cats with them and were thrilled to know that we were “cat people” as well.   While we were here we were able to do the first true sightseeing and hiking since we left our brick and mortar home three weeks ago.   We had heard about Lindsborg aka “Little Sweden” and we desperately needed to do laundry, so we drove 15 miles to check it out.   What a fun day.   We had a great lunch at Farley’s (recommended by the locals), did our laundry, visited the Swedish Dal horse workshop/gift store, the quaint gift shops and art galleries and the Berger Sandze’n Memorial Art Gallery on the Bethany College campus.    We had never heard of Berger Sandze’n before and were quite impressed. 

Jean at the Dal horse workshop/giftshop

  The Coronado Heights Castle was just outside of town, so of course we went to see it too.  

Coronado Heights Castle

While we were in town Jerome heard about an old buffalo jump and cave where the Indians ran the buffalo over a cliff and then smoked the meat in the cave below the cliff overhang.   We found out that it was in the state park just a couple of miles up the road from our campground, so of course we just had to go there too.  The next day we hiked the Buffalo Track Canyon Nature trail and just loved it.   Who would have guessed there would be a beautiful little canyon in the middle of Kansas?

Dakota sandstone on the canyon hike - do you see a wolf or a bear?

Jean hiking in the Bear Track Canyon

Our third and last stop in Kansas has been at a KOA campground in Goodland.   We had vowed that we would never stay in a KOA again but there weren’t many places to choose from out here and this one has been such a pleasant surprise for us.  The new owners here are so friendly and their pride in ownership really shows.  What a nice place and such a treat to have TV, good cell service, a laundry facility on site, pristine bathrooms and showers, a book exchange, and good/free Wifi.  (Except we apologize for the inconvenience to all of you when we posted our last blog on the free site instead of our secured mobile hotspot.   Boy did we learn a lesson that we won’t repeat!)

yep, another tire blowout!

We won’t say that mishap hasn’t continued to find us, ie: battery charger died, we had a leak in one of the cupboards in the bedroom that we can’t find and hasn’t happened again, and last but not least, yes, another tire blowout on the interstate just before we got here.   This time the blowout was on the traffic side so it was even a bit more hair-raising and Jerome decided to replace the remaining original tire as well as the blown tire this time….. ka-ching$$$, ka-ching$$$.  At least our truck and trailer didn’t burn to a crisp on the interstate like the one that was still burning black as we passed it, not too long before our tire blew out. 

 

All-in-all, we have been having a good time and now we are looking forward to moving on into Colorado tomorrow where we will be able to visit with our nephew, Matt, in Boulder.

‘Until later, we think of you often, especially all of you in harm’s way with the storm coming to Florida and the Gulf states and wish for safety for you and your loved ones.    Jerome and Jean