Finally Home in South Dakota

 

THE LONG AWAITED FOR SIGN

God was good to us, the winds were gentle and in our favor. Once we hit Rapid City it was like we knew where to go. We made it to Americas Mailbox Campground, our first stay this trip. Originally our entire stay was to be at Ellsworth AFB, but they chose to delay opening until July.

The best there is?

The campground is in the middle of an upcoming industrial park under construction. At first we were disappointed, but realized that God provided us a place to stay on short notice. The construction workers are challenged now and then with the

weather. One day the temperature is in the 90's, and windy, blowing dirt either north or south because it can't make a decision. The next day it drops to the upper 60's/lower 70's, with wind blowing as much dirt as the workers can dig up. We were lucky to arrive in time for the migration of the Miller Moth. 

One thing we like for sure is how close the campground is to our favorite steakhouse, Dakotas. The last time we were there we enjoyed ribeye steaks, Carol's was beef, mine was bison. 

Let us return to the Miller Moth. Initially we had as many as 30 flying around in the and trailer, we would get some out, and more would show up. We walked outside and they would be everywhere, just kick something, and out they came. It was time to take 

action by purchasing moth hunting equipment for the Sage Moth Hunter (me). How lucky I was, I caught two using my mighty moth net, and one in my ball of doom... I put them outside to fly away and annoy someone else. Night time we found that putting a pan of soapy water under a heat lamp attracted them to their doom. The high winds have forcefully moved them on their way to a new location, however, there are a few stragglers.

Sightseeing is being kept to a minimum while Carol's stubbed toe is healing. I continue to walk the area around the campground and an indoor mall a couple of miles away. There are a few things that need to be repaired, and I 'll get to them... I'm retired. If you remember in the previous paragraph I mentioned the near end of the moths, I was wrong. I have fun at night with my handy dandy moth hunter equipment, ridding society of the dreaded Miller moth. I have gotten pretty adept at snatching moths with my "ball of doom", unfortunately the captured moths face extermination in the "pan of soapy water" if they are caught out after curfew, during the day they are just kicked out of the house to play outside.

Today we received word from Ellsworth AFB regarding our reservation for July... they don't exist. The base commander has decided to close the park until sometime in August, after the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Have no fear, we have gone to plan "B"... scramble and find somewhere else. Carol did an outstanding job getting us into some new digs on the way to Wisconsin to see the grandchildren. One of the stay overs will be at a car museum, another will be a working farm or vineyard.

This is going on the street for consumption, and I may get another out before we leave South Dakota.

One Step Closer to South Dakota

 We left the plains of Kansas for the new plains of Nebraska. Traveling the plains is like driving I-5 between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a few more whistle stops. The tropical depression that hit the gulf and traveled north has caused a lot of high winds, mostly crosswinds, sometimes headwinds, either way they reduced gas mileage, we did make to Nebraska in good time though.

We finally settled in to our temporary home at the Ogallala NE KOA. The sites are all gravel with full hook ups, called "buddy sites". What that means is two RVs share a site, with separate utilities for each RV, located in between the RVs. This KOA is right off the I-80 and close to amenities, has a play area for the kids, dog park for the other kids, laundry, and showers. The noise from the highway was tolerable, even with windows open. We joined KOA after learning a little bit more about their campgrounds. The campground we stayed at is categorized "Journey" because it is close to the highway. All "Journey" category are going to be near highway, they are generally overnight. They have two other categories: "Holiday" and "Resort". "Resort campgrounds are the premier campgrounds with all the bells and whistles.

Anyway, the town of Ogallala has a rich history steeped in cattle, it was the end of the trail when the cattle were being moved from Texas. In the mid 1940's the town would start a new life as tourists would flock to a newly created lake thanks to a C.o.E. project:

Lake McConaughy is the largest lake in Nebraska with about 30 miles of shoreline for fishing, swimming, and camping. This lake also provides irrigation water for 225,000 acres of farmland, and hydro-electric power to power a city of 45,000 people. Around here 45,000 people is a huge city, most of the towns we have been through sport a population between 200 and 8,000 (does not include livestock).

There are a couple of other attraction in the town of Ogallala: Front St., Mansion on the Hill, Boot Hill Cemetery, and the Petrified Wood Museum.

The museum that dumbfounded us the most was the Petrified Wood Museum, because of the wood, rock, and art displays.

Most of the displays are from twin brothers who have been doing this for almost 50 years. I am only going show you pictures because there was so much to see, I was overwhelmed.

That's all you get see, you need to see this place yourself. Time to head back home and prepare for South Dakota.

Marching Smartly North

 This is our site at Keystone Lake, Washington Irving South (Corp of Engineers (C.o.E.)) Campground  in Oklahoma. It may not look obvious, but this sight has an approximately 1 degree slope. It was necessary for us to extend our front levelers to their maximum height because of the slope. All the sites are sloped, either forward or backwards. It appears we were lucky to get a site, apparently, last year the lower (premier) sites were flooded out due to a high water levels in the reservoir. It is anticipated that the sites will not be available until next year.

Looking from Back Lawn

 While we were in Oklahoma we visited the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. It was a nice day trip in which we learned more about Will Rogers. Besides being an American Humorist, he was a proud Native American, radio show star, rancher, high school drop out, and volunteer for international tragedies. The museum has several little theaters in it enriching the public about the man. One fact I did not know was how he died. His death occurred when the plane he was traveling in with a friend went down in Alaska in 1935. In the basement is an interactive education center for the children. All but one son are buried on the grounds, a son is buried in Arizona.

Overlooking the Roger's Tomb

 

Being a Kid Again

Still a Kid

 

As you can see, things never change, even on the road. Learn more at https://www.willrogers.com/.

If anyone should ask you "where is Waldo?", you can tell them Waldo is about seven miles from Paradise... Paradise Kansas that is.

Unlike the C.o.E. park in Oklahoma where the campground is above the dam, the Sylvan Grove C.o.E. campground is below the dam. Most of the C.o.E. dam projects are earthen dams, in other words, dams like we used to built as children, only their's hold more water and you drive across them.

Wilson Dam

Sylvan Grove C.o.E. Campground

       
                                                                                                   

One of Two Playgrounds

Next time we will try one of the other C.o.E. campgrounds around the lake.

There are to a few odd attractions in the area. First we went to Lucas KS. and stopped at a house built in 1907, called "Garden of Eden", then downtown Lucas to the art district (main street). Next stop was Wilson KS to see the world's largest Cezh. egg, and have lunch. Between the two towns it was a day excursion.

The "Garden of Eden" house was built in 1907, later the owner began adding to it, with part of it paying tribute to war veterans.

 

The last picture is the mausoleum of the builder and his wife. When the mausoleum is open you can view his face through a glass plate in his coffin. You can learn more at http://www.gardenofedenlucas.org/ 

After we left we drove to the art district in downtown Lucas KS. The art district is actually their main street, and contains some neat art work. Their claim to local fame is the public restrooms, in fact, their restrooms have won awards for the most unique restrooms in Kansas.

This is the entrance to the public restrooms. Image yourself looking on a very large toilet with the seat up, and your pet Mud Raker drinking out of the toilet bowl... you now are visiting the largest toilet in Kansas. Let's talk inside. 

  

All tiles, stones, shells, and toys were individually put in place. Outside on the lawn your imagination can play as you enjoy the other displays. 

Have no fear, you can see the entire art district in less than an hour.

After leaving this fine one stop light (really one stop signal) town we headed to Wilson KS, "the Czech Capitol of Kansas", and the world's largest Czech egg. The town has history and more little eggs staged throughout the town. If you are in town and hungry, your choices are limited, we ate at the Made From Scratch Cafe.

Made from scratch means made from scratch. My Ruben sandwich is made with homemade rye bread, and freshly made potato chips. Carol's meal was pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas and carrots. Finally, we had rhubarb pie, totally unadulterated rhubarb, nothing else. As you can see, there was quite a bit of food, we had meals for a couple of days. Having finished lunch we stopped at the local market to pick up a few groceries before going back home to prepare for our journey to Nebraska.

More at https://www.hppr.org/post/welcome-lucas-ks-home-no-2-restroom-america;

http://www.kansastravel.org/lucaskansas.htm.

The COVID19 Adventure

This was our home from mid-March to end of May.  For those that wonder where this park is, it is located outside of Livingston Texas, between Dallas and Houston. The biggest thing Carol and I learned while at Livingston... Texas is not the place we want to be in the summer, and it isn't even summer yet. The humidity was the hardest part of the stay, then came the rains trying to drown the park. We did have some excitement one evening when a tornado touched down about 10 miles from us. 

This is Carol's new toy... a washing machine with a spin basket. As soon as she got it out of the box she was doing laundry, with great enthusiasm. The spinner removes so much water, the clothes are fairly damp, drying fast when hung outside. The unit is small enough that it fits in the shower, so Carol can wash and it will drain no problem, and it is stored there during traveling. While she is enjoying laundry I play outside cleaning the truck and trailer, go for walks, or just nap. One day was exceptionally different, I was preparing to clean the slide side of the trailer by closing the living room/dining room slide... oh no I didn't, the slide stopped moving after a loud pop. My suspicion was that one of the tracks jumped the gear... a couple days later the repair confirmed my suspicion.  What in fact happened was the gear driving the slide slipped to the right, causing the slide to not move on it's side. If you look 

 closely, you can see the groove the allen screw made in the shaft. I spent time underneath with the tech, now I have an idea of what to do if it happens again. Now that that is fixed we can finish cleaning the slide side of the trailer.

We were trying to limit how much sedimentary lifestyle by going out for nightly walks. I attached myself to one of our fellow RVers, and we walked every night, anywhere between 1 1/2 to 2 miles. After my walking partner moved on, I re-introduced myself to my digital Walkman for my longer walks, Carol and I went on shorter walks.

Finally, it came time to prepare to leave Texas for South Dakota. Par for the plan it started another cycle of rain and wind, and I'm talking rain that tried to wash our site into our neighbors site. We got on the road and headed for Texarkana to visit one of Carol's relatives. We stayed an the Elk's lodge on the Texas side of Texarkana. 

They have "four" sites, only two have 30A electric, the other two are 20A receptacles; gravel parking surface; no water or dump station. We popped in for a drink and didn't see anybody but the bartender. Before we went to see Carol's relatives we stopped by the federal building to play tourist. The building is the second most photographed federal building in the United States. If you have never been there you may be asking me why I have provided this piece of trivia. Well... it is the only federal building that sits in two states, Texas and Arkansas. Another point of interest is the fact that while the judges are appointed in one state, they can sit the bench in both states.  I was in a hurry to get back to Texas so Carol wouldn't leave, it's a long walk to her relatives house.

 It was a fun time visiting with relatives, but it was time to move on. We did a little scout sightseeing for our next visit to Texarkana. Back to the the trailer to prep for our next leg of the journey, which is Keystone Lake Oklahoma, which is near Cleveland Oklahoma.