Toto... We're in Kansas Now

 If you remember from the earlier post, I said we picked up camp and ran to another campground, and that campground is Slough Creek C.o.E., in Perry, Kansas. Getting to this park was interesting, thanks to Garmin. As we drove down the highway I saw a sign indicating the turn to Perry Lake... but Garmin had other ideas... 20 miles out of our way, down a very curvy road, and back to the street I should have turned down earlier.

This is our first site upon arrival at Slough Creek for four days, before we moved into our original spot for a week.

You guessed it looking at our second site... there's a tree hanging over the site. I made an effort to position the trailer so that the falling acorns landed on the middle of the roof, instead of the solar panels. Both sites had a good view of the dam and lake.

SUNSET OVER THE DAM

A few years ago this campground was partially flooded when the reservoir crested 32 feet above normal level, closing the campground for the following year. A lot of trees were destroyed during the high water... those trees became free firewood for the campers. When the trees were cut down, they were piled in locations at each loop.

For those unfamiliar with Kansas, Perry is located between Topeka and Lawrence. I took a drive to Lawrence to pick up repair parts, and passed the town of Lecompton, which apparently has history. After I returned from Lawrence, Carol looked up what the museums in Lecompton offered.

What looks different about the Kansas territory? If you said one could visit Pikes Peak in the territory... you're right. After the territory became a state, the border was changed.

Lecompton, Kansas played a big part leading up to the Civil War. When Kansas was working on moving from a territory to a state, the territory was split between slavery and "free state". 

Constitution Hall was the center of a state constitution that would make Kansas a slave state, and there was a lot of heat over this constitution. Lincoln and Stevens debated it, which caused Lincoln to lose the election for an Illinois Senate seat... to Stevens. Making a long story shorter, the U.S. Congress rejected the constitution, and sent it back to Kansas for a vote by the people of the territory. Kansas did enter the Union as a free-state.

Constitutional Hall is the oldest standing building in Lecompton, and held many important meetings:

This was  the only building spared from a major fire in the 1800s. Here it is as an undertaker's parlor:

The stairs at the back left side of the photo were moved inside, and the entry on the side was located about middle of the side of the building.

When the Kansas-Nebraska Act was approved in 1854, the territory was created, in 1857 to 1861, a land office opened in Lecompton. Having a land office is great... if the area has been surveyed... which it hadn't been, causing disputes amongst land owners. In its early days the Kansas territory was known as Bleeding Kansas, because of all the violence. Part of the violence was from criminals that were staying one step ahead of the law, the other part came from the fighting between pro-slavery and free-state people... this was before the Civil War.

Lets get back to the Lecompton Constitution (pro-slavery). The constitution was created in 1857, and the Lecompton Constitution Convention was held in 1857, its president was John Calhoun. Because the state was split on slavery, it also split the Democratic party. That split became important during the next presidential primaries, when the Democrats put up four candidates, and the Republicans offered up Lincoln. We all know what happened once Lincoln took office.

From Constitution Hall we headed to Lecompton Historic Museum.

Go to: https://lecomptonkansas.com.

In 1855 state congress voted to make Lecompton the state capitol, this was the artist's rendering:
The builders only laid the first three layers of brick before the job was stopped. The building was completed, as you see it, by builders and it became the Lane College. Lecompton was the fifth territorial capitol. Topeka became the state capitol when they accepted as a state.

This building is more about the general history of the region. The first floor has a room displaying friendship quilts and era specific  sewing machines, a room dedicated to the history of Lecompton's part in pre-war decisions, and an area dedicated to the local high school. One of their football team members made it big in the NFL, playing for the Pittsburg Steelers... and that was Marv Kellum. He only played a few seasons in the NFL, but made the most of them, winning TWO super bowls with the Steelers.

The basement was broken into domestic artifacts and farming equipment.

This was a form of cash register, the money was kept in the bottom drawer, and the daily receipts were kept in the top section. They also have a vintage 1913 Harley Davidson on display... don't get too excited... it is displayed n the original condition it was found.

What Carol and I found interesting was what looked like a second tire on the rear, but it is smaller than the one that traveled on the road.

Today's homemaker is spoiled with all the contraptions that help with cooking and  cleaning. For those homemakers that like to make bread in their bread maker, how about making it in one of these portable ovens:

How many of us have a drawer full of socks? that probably wasn't the case for families in the early 1900s. For the family that did not have a lot of cash flow in the household, it was probably mom or grandma that made the stockings and socks. It doesn't look like it was hard, just a long process.

If you look closely, you see a weight at the bottom of the photo. This weight is pulling the stocking down as the maker is feeding thread around the machine. I'm thinking that wearers were not going to get the fancy socks we see today, especially like the ones I wear, with sharks, chickens, grills, and Pink Floyd album covers on them.

Are you the gardener in the family, I can help you with a great device to rid you of the pests in your yard. 

Every family should have two of these... the gopher gun. Today I am offering a special... buy one, get the second one FREE... just pay separate shipping and handling charges. PRODUCT DISCLAIMER: this product does not come with gopher, you must find your own... in your yard. I caught a gopher once when we lived in our townhouse in Chula Vista, but I don't recommend my process... I reached into the hole, and the little bugger latched onto my finger. I got wise the next time I had to face gophers. In El Cajon I flushed him out using the garden hose, waited for him at his only extra, and hand tooled the gopher.

Let us move up to the third floor of the museum. When the building was still a college, there was a chapel, and there still is.

Looking at this chapel one wouldn't think it was anything special... alas, it does have some history. Some folks my remember a guy that served as the commanding general in Europe during WWII, and later becoming president... well, his parents were married in this chapel. 

This couple started out as students at Lane college, their names were David and Ida. David and Ida fell in love, and got married in the college chapel, and became David and Ida Eisenhower... that's right mom and dad of Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

The last room on the third floor is the music room, full of instruments of the era.

After walking the two museums we strolled over to the little cafe in town for lunch, and then back home.

NAP TIME - TAKE A BREAK

Todays journey takes us into Topeka for a visit to the Evel Knievel Museum (https://www.evelknievelmuseum.com). When Carol and I first arrived, it looked like it was a small museum, unbeknownst to us, we parked in the Harley-Davidson store parking lot.

We walked into the store and was surprised to see there was a small restaurant as well as the motorcycle showroom. There was a sign near the restaurant pointing downstairs to the parts, service, and museum. Surprise number two, the museum downstairs was about Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

The Harley museum was a small museum with a few bikes. At the beginning of the museum is a short history of one of the best dirt track bike racers, then visitors get into the motorcycles.

Some of the bikes were in rough shape, and left that way intentionally. The little orange motorcycle was probably for beginners. They had a couple that were police cycles on display. 

How many of you out there remember your childhood when you bought a soda from:

For all you out there that never had the opportunity to walk down a hot street in the middle of summer... these are soda machines... drop your coins in the slot, open the door, and pull out an ice cold soda. I was a Dr. Pepper kid.

Exiting from the main exhibits, we came upon a couple more surprises. One of those surprises was a Russian Harley-Davidson.

This is a 1942 WLA "Russian" military model. The Russians outfitted their Harleys with sidecars. Fortunately in the 70s, this one found its way to America. Have no fear, America was not left out during WWII, our troops saw the American version of this motorcycle.

Here we have the same 1942 WLA, only in our fine Army drab green. These bikes were equipped with blackout head and tail lights. When this motorcycle when into production, all other models ceased to be produced. For those of you that wonder how the soldiers from both countries received their bikes... 

Some assembly was required... just open the crate, and follow the installation manual... couldn't be simpler.

We finally made it... out the door, 100 feet, around the corner... and we were there.

We all know that Robert "Evel" Knievel was born in Butte, Montana... right? Bobbie dropped out of high school in his sophomore year, and started working in the copper mines. His job in the copper mines was short lived, he was fired for making the skip loader do a motorcycle style wheelie. He may have only received a reprimand... the problem... he took out Butte's main power line, leaving the town without power for several hours.

Bobby enjoyed his motorcycle, which got him in trouble periodically. A good example was in 1956 during a high speed chase, he crashed his motorcycle, was arrested for reckless driving, and thrown in jail for the night. This night would be the beginning of his illustrious career. The night jailer came on duty and conducted his check, noting two cells occupied, Bobbie Knievel, and William Knofel. Mr. Knofel was also known as "Awful Knofel", because awful rhymed with Knofel. The jailer decided to call Bobby "Evil Knievel". Bobby later changed the spelling to EVEL, to eliminate any ideas he was evil.

Evel Knievel was a thrill seeker, if you were unaware, he sought thrills via the rodeo and ski jumping, where he won the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1959. Being from snow country, he also played hockey.

As visitors move through the museum, they can read stories about his various jumps throughout his career, as well as see some of the motorcycles he rode to accomplish those jumps.

1967 had its ups and downs for Evel Knievel. In 1967 while watching a light heavyweight championship fight, he saw the fountains of Caesars Palace, and decided he was going to jump them, the only problem was that he was denied permission from the CEO of Caesars Palace. This motorcycle is a replica of the cycle Evel used to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace. The CEO didn't just change his mind about the jump, there were a lot shenanigans on Evel's part. He had friends pretend to be lawyers, he faked a corporation, he made the CEO believe he was someone he wasn't, he had the CEO believing that ABC Wide World of Sports was interested in the attempt. Eventually the CEO broke down and agreed. If any of you saw the attempt, you know it was not a success... he crushed his pelvis, a femur, received fractures to his hip, wrist, both ankles, and a concussion, that put him in a coma.

I don't expect you to see all the information, but the basic gist is this... 168 jumps and 19 crashes between 1965 and 1980.

How would you expect him to get from event to event... I'll show you.

Working in concert with Mac Trucks, they created a vehicle that had a living space and trailer to haul required equipment. This truck has not been in the pristine condition all these years... in fact... it was found in a salvage yard in Florida, in really, really rough shape. The before 

picture was taken after they pulled the rig out of a bunch of trees and overgrowth. The picture also shows the last paint scheme for a particular event. The museum has an 18-minute video on the restoration of this legendary tractor trailer. 

The walls you see around Carol were the actual walls from the recovered rig. The restoration took several years from start to finish. What is funny is the fact that Harley-Davidson committed to doing the restoration, without having a clue how to go about it. They called in many experts from different fields to accomplish the task. A lot of the artwork was done by the same men that did the original paint job.

in the restoration process they tried to reuse as much of the original items as possible, they were able to save a lot of the cab interior, with the exception of the headliner. Due to weather damage over 40 years, most of the coach furnishings required re-manufacturing. This tractor trailer is a sight to see.

Going upstairs, we stopped in the theatre which was running a couple of shows from the past, one was George Hamilton play Evel Knievel, the other was Sam Elliot playing Evel, in a series that was never released. After the short clips, we passed all the toy products that carried Evel's name. Think about it, Evel was the only humanoid that endorsed toy products, everyone else was either a cartoon, or an idea from someone's brain.

The intriguing exhibit was the: 

X2 Skycycle. The Skycycle was designed to jump the Snake River Canyon. 

Like a few of his planned jumps, Evel had a premonition that he would not make the jump, but continued as scheduled. Have you ever seen the launching platform for this stunts?

The Skycycle is sitting at the bottom of the ramp. As many folks may remember, he did not make the crossing, he landed in the river. There have been a lot of conspiracies as to what went wrong. When visitors watch the video of the launch, it can be seen that the parachute opened upon launch, slowing take-off. Further investigation by the engineers determined that the parachute did not handle the G-forces of take-off.

Carol and I definitely recommend visiting this museum, but check for its new location, they have scheduled a move to a new building. Do look at their website... I haven't yet... I was there. We are not done with Kansas yet, one more stop near Wichita.