Our last night on Lake Perry, KS

We took a trip into Lawrence today and it's a typical college town with hustle, bustle and construction going on everywhere. A great downtown catering to the college kids. I really liked it.

We did a little shopping then stopped at a local place, Runza's, for a bite of lunch. I had a smothered grilled chicken breast sandwich which was totally outstanding and Boyd had a Polish Dog which he thoroughly enjoyed as well. I would definitely go back if I were here longer.

I mentioned the cows that went skinny dipping around here and here's the proof. We spotted a little 4 legged critter crossing the road this morning and it turned out to be a small groundhog, also known as whistlepigs.

The last post also mentioned some insects that I called Willows. This morning we found them on the Internet and were surprised to find out that they're Mayflies. They weren't here last week, just in the past few days we started seeing them.

I took another couple of photos of the lake and found one of the geese we saw yesterday morning.

Tomorrow we have all day to clean windows pack up and vacumn dead mosquitoes. Check out time isn't until 6 PM and we'll wait until close to 6 when we leave. We're going West on Hwy 24 to Topeka and plan to spend the night at WalMart, it should be cool enough by then to not have to have the A/C on. While there the car can get it's overdue oil change and we can restock the freezer. The next morning we're headed to the Prairie Band Casino to spend the weekend.

Kansas City and Topeka Here We Come

It was a very short ride from Pomona Lake to Lake Perry which is situated between Lawrence and Topeka just North of I-70. Of course we took the small back roads again, enjoying the rolling farmland with their just mowed appearance, fresh looking golden hay bales all neatly rolled, scattered around the countryside in between heavily forested areas. Lazy cows cooling off as they skinny dipped in the many ponds, colorful butterflies galore as they spasmodically flew between the many gorgeous wildflowers and I must mention the many new looking John Deer tractors. Again, there weren't many signs and we were relying on our GPS which kept telling us to plow through the cornfields and dirt and gravel roads, which experience told us to ignore. The sky was clear and blue and just as we just started over the top of a hill was Lake Perry in all it's splendor. A truly beautiful sight as it is a very large lake and was glistening a bright blue in the sun. We've been on 4 lakes now in Kansas and they just keep on getting more beautiful, we just never tire of them.

Over the weekend the campground was full of campers and boaters. Pontoon boats are very big up here and I was surprised at how many yacht basins there are in Kansas. Saturday morning I crossed the dam and there were many sailboats out across the lake, that was a pretty sight too.

Our campground is Rock Creek Park and at certain times of the day there are huge clouds of little white blind mosquitoes, they don't bite but are a real nuisance as they come inside every time a door is opened then hang around the lights at night until they drop dead, then you have to vacumn them all up the next day. There are also Willows, really cute little bugs that fly and come inside too, I'll get a pic but don't have one for this post. We found a lake in Tennessee that had so many of these you couldn't go near the lake.

I saw my first Oriole yesterday morning, the pic isn't great as he was between me and the sun.
It sure was pretty but I didn't get to hear it so I still can't recognize one by it's song. We've seen a couple of deer and last night as we sat out by our campfire an owl flew across us to the other side of the lake.

This lake seems to have it's resident Canadian Geese but this morning we saw several large flocks fly in over the lake and circle it while it looked as though they were changing leaders, they didn't land but it was a thrill to see them anyway. I do believe we are in a major fly zone so as the weather cools there should be many many more. Once in South Carolina I counted 117 flocks flying in the V formation as I was about to enter an auction house. Naturally I choose the birds over the auction.

I must mention that on our second night here as we prepared to go to bed we saw lightning way off in the distance. Later, around 2:30 A M it got to us. The sky stayed lit up with a new flash every 5 seconds if not more often and even though there was not a lot of thunder, we had a few strong gusts of wind which broke our neighbors awning straps. Due to the inexperience of Kansas weather we keep our awnings put away unless we're home.

The day after our arrival here on Lake Perry we took off for Kansas City since we had to buy dog food at Costco. We spent hours driving around the town going in and out of KS and MO. The KC skyline was impressive to me because I didn't think there were as many tall bldgs. as there were. There were a lot of overpasses with pretty iron bridges over them as well. We checked out 3 of the 4 casinos to see if we would be able to dry camp when it got closer to Boyd's appt. We found 2 where we could stay . We looked for a Chick-fil-A to no avail, they must not be in KS, too bad.

We did find a really cute little housing development named Rock Hill Gardens where the houses were older and just as cute as could be. They mostly had the same design on the outside but with different ornamental features. I took 2 pics.

On our way back home to the RV we spotted a hot air balloon close, by we chased it down and saw it was a mouse wearing a tuxedo, cute.

Our next ride was to the Prairie Band Casino in Holton where we'll spend the Labor Day weekend in their "state of the art" RV park.

Yesterday we rode into Topeka and saw a lot. We ordered Boyd's glasses, the reason we went, and rode around a lot. We were going to a highly recommended place for lunch but didn't see anything on the menu that turned us on so we found Coyote Canyon and liked the sign well enough to stop there but it was closed to get ready for the dinner crowd so went up the hill to the Rib Crib, we had seen lots of them in various towns and were ready for bbq. It was great and we brought some home with us. After lunch we went to the main Post Office down town and what a beaut that bldg was. Built in 1937, it was full of marble and it even had a fallout shelter.

There are a lot of large parks in Topeka, one is Lake Shawnee and we drove all around the perimeter to the RV park. I can't figure why Orlando doesn't have more parks like what we've seen. Another park is that is outstanding is Gage Park.

So far a great visit and I'm sure we've missed a lot.

Pomona Lake, KS Michigan Valley

Tonight is our fifth night here and we're taking off tomorrow morning, heading further north to Perry Lake between Topeka and Lawrence, KS.

This is one of the top campgrounds we've stayed at on this trip. It is truly gorgeous, well maintained and landscaped, 95 sites including tent sites, 30 amp sites, 50 amp sites and full hookup sites. Any site you pull into is spacious and has shade somewhere as well as a beautiful view. We spent the first 4 nights in a 50 amp site and today moved over to a full hookup in order to do all the laundry. Pictures

Hummingbirds are still finding us and we still enjoy watching the fiesty little birds. There are large squirrels here, lots of robins, sparrows, blackbirds of some sort as well as some other birds I can't name. There are some different trees here too and again I can't name them. As a matter of fact, when we moved to this new site today we found baby Robins just outside the bedroom window and have enjoyed watching Momma and Daddy Robin bring them big juicy caterpillars all day long. They must be very young as they don't chirp yet but sure do open their little mouths wide. They are fuzzy and we think there are three of them. Pictured.

We took a ride into Ottawa on Saturday to do some shopping and Boyd noticed a sweet corn sign on the street. We turned around and went back to it and bought a baker's dozen and a basket of tomatoes. The man selling it gave Boyd an ear to try and I tried it too and let me tell you, it was soo sweet and tender, really yummy like Zellwood's Candy Corn.

The buildings in downtown Ottawa were really ornate and each one was different in it's own way. plus many of them had lights on them and the whole town must be really pretty at night when they turn them all on. The old homes were also very ornate as well and very well kept up which was nice to see as they were so beautiful. The paint jobs on them were great too as they emphasized the details. Pictures.

I would highly recommend this area to anyone, it's a winner!

Caught Up At Last and Movin On

Hooray! This catches me up because we're leaving Burlington and Riverside West CG on COE's John Redmond Reservoir this morning heading North about 40 miles to Lake Pomona. That's far enough until we finish checking out that area.

We came here from Fall River Lake where we stayed at Whitehall Bay which was difficult to find as there were no signs, very unlike the COE parks. We had our mail going to Fall River and planned to buy a few grocery items while there but there were no stores so we drove on to Fredonia.

Our stay at Whitehall Bay was very nice and our camp host was very welcoming. We pulled straight into our site instead of backing in which gave us a beautiful view of the lake and we had a terrific breeze coming in from the open lake. On our second night there I happened to wake up around 2 a.m. and saw lightning constantly flashing in the north. Yikes! I thought, we're in Kansas, tornado country. I woke up Boyd and we turned on the weather radio which was warning areas close to us about heavy rains, wind gusts up to 60 mph, golf ball sized hail and flash floods. They were predicting it to get to our area later in the day and that night so at 5:30 that morning we were getting ready to move up the hill where we would have more protection from wind and hail. We were all prepared but it never came, just clouds. We are so lucky.

That day we hung our hummingbird feeder out and within 4 minutes we had our first Ruby Throated visitor and they came and went the whole time we were there. They're such fun to watch. We saw no other animals in the park, not a single squirrel. we hadn't seen any in Baxter Springs either which we found strange. As a matter of fact we were almost the only campers in the park except for the night before the storm was to come and another came in the day we left. We really enjoyed the peace and quiet.

When we left we didn't travel too far to the CG, Riverside W, as I mentioned before. We arrived a day early since we skipped our planned overnight stay at Emporia. We had found diesel for $4.29 a gallon and filled up there and saved the trip over to Flying J which was out of the way. The most we've had to pay for diesel is $4.83 down between Little Rock and Hot Springs. I've seen on the Internet that in Kansas City it's down to $4.05. That sounds cheap now!

Burlington seems to be a very progressive little town and we had fun exploring the area. They have 2 city parks where you can camp in an RV and a Chamber of Commerce which hands out packets of info to tourists, good info too. That's how we found out about the restaurant we had our 32nd anniversary dinner in yesterday, Aug. 14th. You're going to love this - it was in a T/A Travel Center. BETO Junction Restaurant at the intersection of I-35 and Hwy 75. I had the shrimp dinner and Boyd ate spaghetti and meatballs, it was a cross between Red Lobster and the Olive Garden all rolled into one. The meal was great, we had to have 2 boxes to bring home what we couldn't eat, the salad bar was small but was fresh and had some side salads on it that were also terrific. Lots of truckers were in there naturally and they were our entertainment. One, sitting at the bar, had the hair I would love to have, still don't know if IT was a man or woman. An anniversary dinner we won't forget, that's for sure.

While I'm on the subject of anniversaries, I have to say that it's been a great 32 years. Sure it's been rough at times and I was ready to quit but I'm glad I didn't. Boyd, as everyone knows is crazy but his craziness is loved by all who get to know him. He's one of the very few good guys around, honest, sweet, generous,funny, compassionate, caring, and kids flock to him and he always has time for them. That says a lot about the kind of person he is deep down. You have to know him to appreciate him, a diamond in the rough some might say. Anyway I love him, he's made my life terrific and I wouldn't trade him for anyone. Happy Anniversary Boyd, I hope we have many many more.

On our way home from the truck stop, we took a ride down Old hwy 50 to Lebo. We caught a glimpse of deer eating some farmers crop but there was plenty there for all, saw an old cemetery on land donated by a family originally from England after they had acquired their wealth. The sheep and kids (baby goats) were found too. I took pictures of the rolling countryside but the camera just couldn't do it justice. So serene and green it must be like heaven will be.

We're on little back roads most of the time, there is so much to see and it's all wonderful. I can't explain this to people who ask me "why don't I want to stay home?" You're only on this earth once, unless you're Shirley McClaine, How could you not want to see this beautiful country? It's all so different and you never know what's going to be around the next curve or over the next hill. We see so much that interstate drivers don't see. Farms, lakes, gardens, wild animals, domesticated animals, fruits, graffiti on trains and the people are so much fun to see, meet and talk to.

Back to the CG and the big reddish brown squirrels, hummingbirds and turtles. We're in a pull thru right alongside the old Neosho River where the snake birds fish all day and the cliff swallows fly over every morning and evening catching bugs. Over by the dam we see big white egrets, seagulls and big white pelicans, birds you normally wouldn't associate with Kansas. Bugs! We sure have those, poor Magic was loving it outside in the x-pen until a horsefly bit her, now she's afraid to go outside. The little white bridge separates the two cg loops but we've been the only campers once again in this beautiful park.

It's 11:37 and the A/C is still off. It's been so delightful the whole time we've been here and it's been a great place to ride our bikes too. We're all packed up and ready to go as soon as I finish this.