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.