Kansas – Twosna Travels

It was a little sad leaving the AirBnb in Denver that we had called home for seven months. We had sort of grown to like the place, cramped as it was. We don’t feel cramped in the RV. I don’t know why that is, but we’re very happy to be back in it and on the road again for a journey across the Midwest. First, though, we have to get through Kansas. At our speed that entails three nights.

First stop – a repeat in Goodland at the KOA. Goodland’s claim to fame is the huge Vincent Van Gogh replica painting that stands on a 80-foot high easel. I had Cal take a picture of little me for perspective.

Goodland is a tidy little town, with old houses on quiet streets that you can walk down the middle of and no one would care. On a previous visit we discovered that they have a cute historic downtown area. There’s also a tiny museum which, on the outside of its building, proclaims their other claim to fame: America’s first helicopter was patented here.

This time, we only walked as far as the restored White Eagle Gas Station.

Rod Cooper, who owns the Crazy R’s restaurant in town, moved the gas station as well as historic gas signs here from another location. Every town needs a visionary. His latest project is a huge historic home which he placed right next to the KOA. It’s still a work in progress.

Further down I-70 lies Wilson, Kansas. We discovered Wilson a few years ago when visiting the Garden of Eden in Lucas. Afterward, we had lunch at the “Made from Scratch” diner across from the grain silos in Wilson. It’s only open at lunch time and on certain days. A tradition was born. We try to stop whenever we venture across the Kansas prairie. It’s a good homestyle lunch with great pies and we always enjoy soaking up the local atmosphere: seeing all the farmers coming in to chew the fat with their buddies.

Tiny little Wilson RV Park, where we booked our stay this time, is a bit of a work in progress. Unfortunately we were here on a day when the diner was closed. They have problems finding help. Just when I resigned myself to having our leftovers for dinner, we discovered another Wilson restaurant which sits inside the 1899 limestone Midland Railroad Hotel.

This is called “The Sample Room”, in the basement of the hotel. You could guess that it’s named for attempts to try the samples of alcohol behind the bar. Actually, though, this hotel was once a popular railway stop between Kansas City and Denver. Salesmen would bring samples of their wares down here to try to score a sale. Cal and I watch “Antiques Road Show” and I’ve seen these samples. They are often intricate working miniatures of the real thing: windmills, tractors and other farm implements, as well as household items, which would fit in a small case.

Verdict: I think lunch at the Made from Scratch is more fun, and we love those pies, but our humble little plates of meat loaf and chicken fried chicken at the Sample Room were also delicious. Besides, one place is only open for lunch and the other place is only open for dinner.

Wilson is on the “Post Rock Byway”. Besides the pretty view of the hills and prairie on the road, you can also still see fences made from limestone on this road and also all over western Kansas. You can see two of these antique posts in this prairie view, as well as the modern barely visible windmills on the horizon. The past meets the future.

Early pioneers discovered that wood was not plentiful here, but limestone was. Besides being used for fencing still, these posts are included in landscaping everywhere. There was a pretty little garden outside the hotel using them as the legs for a limestone table. It is on the right in this picture.

Wilson was built by Czech immigrants and has dubbed itself “The Czech Capital of Kansas”. These decorated eggs can be found all over the little downtown area, but this golden one was especially beautiful.

The most fantastical, though, is this: at 20 feet tall, the world’s largest Czech egg:

In a state where all the sights are small-scale, Kansas likes superlatives. North of here, we once went to see the biggest ball of twine in Cawker City. We haven’t seen the world’s largest belt buckle in Abilene yet, though.

This complex consisting of a grain elevator, a office, and a coal storage building dates from 1900. Trains still do blow by here fairly regularly.

Our RV park owner also has a little coffee shop in front. As we stood in line for treats, we spoke to her, and to the owner of “Missile Silo”, which is a decommissioned missile base. There are more things to see around Wilson and a good restaurant in a neighboring town was recommended. I guess we’ll have to come back! Next time, though, I’ll make sure “Made from Scratch” is open.

We waved out the window as we passed Manhattan and Ft. Riley. We lived there many moons ago. A plan to include a visit to our friend Gayle had to unfortunately be scrapped when the itinerary expanded to too many days out.

The last Kansas stop, a new one for us, was Lake Shawnee County park on the west side of Topeka. Everything was paved so it was pretty nice. The campground is above the lake on a little peninsula that juts out into it, so there was water to be seen on both sides. A sunset view over the lake was right out our back window.

It was a good start to the trip, so we are looking forward to continuing eastward.

Next time: biking and Laura I. Wilder in Missouri

I last left my readers in Duluth, Minnesota, but we have been back in Denver since that trip. This autumn season has been packed with things going on each day. It’s been interesting and entertaining, but it hasn’t left a lot of time for blogging. I’m still finding my way through the slowness of the internet and my computer. In these beautiful fall days, I’d rather be outside, pursuing non-computer related activities, or enjoying the little time we have left here in town with my grandchildren!

But to pick up that trip just a little, we had back-to-back stays at state parks in two states on our way back. The first was Platte River State Park south of Omaha, Nebraska. We were here for a family reunion some years back. My oldest brother had to stay at an RV park down the road because there were no RV sites at Platte. That has changed with the addition of a new RV campground, with full hookups, just completed in the last handful of years. This time, we were there to spend some time with my sister Gloria, who rented a cabin in the park. We also went in to Omaha to catch dinner with her husband Chuck. This waterfall is an easy hike, and is one of the centerpieces of the park, besides the Platte River. I also caught a pretty picture of the little fishing lake early one morning while walking over to Gloria’s cabin.

It’s always fun to have a “girls day” (if you identify as a girl, that is) and Gloria and I did that with a day in Lincoln, Nebraska. We toured the Capitol Building. It’s different than others I’ve seen. The original building, which was built like typical domed capitol, actually crumbled while sitting on ground that was too soft. This one was built in the 1920’s and looks much like that era to me. There was a lot of beautiful artwork meaningful to Nebraska laid in the architecture. A guide took us through and pointed out many things I would have missed.

*Gloria, looking quite lovely in the sunshine*

After walking through downtown to a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch, we finished our day with a visit to the International Quilt Museum. This quilt was one of my favorites.

On another day, Gloria drove us through the Lee Simmons Wildlife Safari, which is just down the road from Platte. I was happy to see this sandhill crane. From late February to early April, over 600,000 sandhill cranes migrate on the Platte River valley before heading farther north. That is something I’d like to see some day – but I don’t know if I’d want to be in Nebraska at that time of year!

After leaving Platte River SP, we headed directly southwest to Tuttle Creek State Park just outside of Manhattan, Kansas. Manhattan was a place we called home for four years and both of our daughters were born at the hospital at nearby Ft. Riley. It is the kind of small university town with huge leafy trees that you would expect to find somewhere farther East, and we loved our day to day life here. We have traveled down memory lane several times in Manhattan, so our purpose this time was to catch up with our friends Gayle, Roger, and Gayle’s niece Annalise. All of the roads around Gayle’s berm home on a hillside are dirt, so they have ATVs. Of course we all had to go for a ride. Cal and I have been on many conveyances in our life, but this was our first for ATV riding.

Here we are with Annalise, who at eleven has her own ATV and rides it around her neighborhood like other kids might ride a bike. We rode to the top of a hill for a great view of the Kansas countryside.

*Gayle and Roger are big Chiefs fans, and it was game day.*

Gayle kept us on our toes, so we didn’t have a lot of time at Tuttle. It is a pretty park which could use a little TLC. They are building a new RV area, though. It was odd to be overnighting at a park we had only driven around in our former life here. It was too close to home, back then, to camp in.

*Early morning view from our site at Tuttle Creek SP*

*Turkey vultures getting in a little beach time*

Back here in Denver, Cal and I have been homebodies this fall, enjoying our grandchildren and keeping busy with day to day life. But we did get in a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The rumors are true – this park is busy and we had to make an advance reservation. Arriving early morning, the parking lots were already full and we had to use the park shuttle. Sort of makes me miss the days when we would go to a park on a whim and just tool around. We’ve been to Rocky Mountain several times, so on this day we just headed directly for the trail. We took an eight mile hike to “The Loch”, a pretty mountain lake. It was straight uphill all the way with an elevation gain of 950 feet. The Loch was at 10,190 feet. The beauty all around us was incredible.

*An aspen glade, about a week before peak fall color*

*This sign, after we had been steadily climbing. “Really*? *Another 1.3 miles to go???” Needless to say, Boulder Field was out of the question.*

*Cal giving the thumbs up: “We made it, it’s the lake!”*

*This stellar’s jay perched right in front of me as I was eating my lunch. It didn’t seem like it was looking for food as much as it just wanted to say hello.*

*Loch Vale, Rocky Mountain National Park*

Back here in Denver…

I’ve been part of a group of ladies called Wonderful and Witty Women. The forming of this group coincided with my arrival in Denver. We are mostly grandmothers who have moved to Denver in order to be closer to our grandchildren. There is a Monday morning walk at City Park with breakfast on the patio at the golf course, another morning socializing at a community garden, a new book group is forming, and there are other activities depending on whatever someone dreams up. Some days several people might be missing, but then there are always a couple others I haven’t met yet who show up. It’s been a great way to stay connected and I will miss my new friends when we leave town. They know I’m a full time RV’er and there are no rules here, so I can just show up again in the spring.