How we get from here to there

Our non-RVing readers might be interested in how we get from one location to the next.  For that, all credit goes to Sandy.  She is navigator-in-chief and does an outstanding job.

Once we know the general area of where we want to go, she uses a variety of tools to determine the route of travel.  Generally, she uses Map-Quest first to determine the distance that will be traveled.  Then when she has a specific location that can be put into the Garmin, who is referred to as Vera, Sandy has a possible route to follow.  Next she compares the Garmin route with the Motor Carriers Road Atlas to verify where the Garmin is taking us is a "truck route" which means if a semi can travel the road, so can our 40 foot Moose.  From there, Sandy compares the internet directions to the RV park or COE park to those in the Garmin.  This is really important, as some of the COE parks can be difficult to find.  And deviations from the Garmin are noted on a notepad to reference when we get close to our destination.  And even doing all of the above, we often need 2 pair of eyes to not miss a critical turn.

We learned long ago not to trust in Vera blindly.  Here is why.  Let's say we are headed to a cross roads.  Vera knows there is a county gravel road that will take a diagonal and save 3 or 4 or more miles.  But the narrow road is not worth the gamble.  So we tend to tell her to "shut up" when she says: in .2 miles go left on something like "Milk Wagon Lane."

Whenever possible we tend to avoid the Interstate Highways for two reasons:  we can more safely travel at 62 MPH and 1350 RPMs which is out sweet spot for optimum fuel economy -- and we get to see more of the countryside.   When we do travel on the Interstate highways, we use a spiral bound book called EXIT NOW.  This book is an exit directory and tells us what we can find at every exit on all of the Interstate Highways in North America.  This is especially handy because it lists fuel stops that are big rig friendly.  We do not like to squeeze into gas stations.

Today was air conditioner maintenance day.  This involved climbing up to the roof, taking the covers off the two AC units and then vacuuming fins and coils to remove accumulated dust. I got lucky, no mud dauber nests were present -- a common occurrence in motorhomes.  It was hot up there.  I'm glad I was only topside for an hour.

Tomorrow we travel 180 miles from Ogallala, Nebraska 180 northwest to Crawford, NE.  We are only staying for two nights.

I'll close with a late shot of tonight's sunset.

Stay tuned. 

What's going on in Ellis, Kansas

Well, it all depends upon what you want to do.  We just wanted a nice place to stay while attending Wild West Festival in Hays and we got that.  Tuesday we'll visit the boyhood home of Walter Chrysler (yup, the car guy) and the local railroad museum.  Even though Ellis looks like many other small towns anywhere with a downtown filled with vacant stores, the town itself is experiencing an increase in population and is among the fastest growing small towns in the state.

We are enjoying our time here. We are camped in a small and neat city-owned RV park with water, electric and a dump station.  The park fronts on Big Creek Lake, which was formed by building a dam over the Big Creek River.  The lake is stocked by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.  The restrooms are clean, the showers have plenty of hot water and the grounds are maintained.  Local police patrol periodically and they like to stop and chat.  Our space is $15/night and it is wide site with plenty of room for our Honda.  We get good satellite and wi-fi service. Sites are not reserved, so it is first-come, first-served.  We would definitely stay here again.

 Cookie-baker/computer-instructor, Sandy, would make notes and 

then review them with Gary so he could better retain what we were telling him

 
Sunday we had some time to spend with Gary Omel who needed a little assistance in signing up for the  ForeForum, the new on-line forum for Foretravel owners.  Sandy and I also helped him polish some other computer skills while here.  Gary took home a large container of chocolate chip and some cherry chocolate chewy cookies as well.  He has been such a great help to us with technical issues and problems on the motorhome.  We have his cell phone number for future needs/emergencies.

On the evening of the 4th we elected to stay home and we are really glad.  Fireworks are legal in Kansas,  and it was amateur night in the very large open grassy area across the road in back of the coach.  Just to be on the safe side, I got out the garden hose and wet down the roof and kept the hose handy until we went inside about 11:00 p.m.  Some of these people were way to careless around their own small children.  We saw a couple of goofy fireworks that looked like a miniature hot air balloon, but totally on fire.  The first one we saw landed in a tree next to the home of the guy who sent it up.  He probably didn't plan on that.  Fortunately, it burned out without setting the tree on fire.  Good thing it missed the 30 foot pine next to it.

This morning I walked to the Walter P. Chrysler boyhood home just a half block off of main street. The home and museum is modest, but his achievements in life are huge.  The 1924 Chrysler above is one of the first production cars produced by the new Chrysler Corporation.  http://www.allpar.com/cars/chrysler/chrysler-cars.html

Walter was a mechanical genius.  The first car he owned (a Locomobile)  he bought in Chicago in 1908 for $700 of his money and $4300* that he borrowed.  Instead of driving the car he proceeded to take it all apart to understand how it worked and then he put it back together. As he did this he made mental notes of what he would do differently or better.  The 1924 Chrysler above had a high compression 6 cylinder engine and hydraulic brakes.

From there I walked over to the Ellis Railroad Museum.  I'm not a railroad buff, but I enjoy looking at and reading about old places and things.  A 17 year-old high school senior was working there today and she was a walking encyclopedia of information about the town and about the museum.  She was one of those kids who is at ease with adults and has a mind like a sponge.  She said she loves growing up in a small town.  Smart kid.  When I told her that my maternal grandfather used to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad she told me that at one time it was the largest company in the world -- something I was not aware of. 

This area of the museum is a replica of the Western Union Telegraph and Cable office in Ellis, which once was a major hub of railroad activity in the central United States.

We visited the only grocery store in town, which was better than most and had a great meat department with fresh beef from Kansas.  Sandy stocked up.

Stay tuned.

*Footnote: The $5,000 cost of his first car -- a Locomobile while it seems like a King's Ransom in 1908, that dollar amount is taken from a small book I bought at the Chrysler museum. 

A few additional items from Hays, Kansas

Friday night before dark at the Wild West Festival Sandy and I took at walk into Frontier Park.  While we were acting like middle schoolers on the swings a Frisbee landed at my feet.  I got off the swing to return the errant Frisbee and the poor guy walking toward me was beside himself and pleaded with me to please not move the disc.  I placed it back exactly where I picked it up.

Well it turns out they were playing Frisbee Golf and Hays, KS has one of the top 10 Frisbee Golf courses in the United States. If you look at the photo in the area just in back of Sandy's shoulders, you can see the Frisbee basket into which players attempt to throw their Frisbee in the least number of tosses.

On the 14th hole Jake Shearer (L) Stephanie Komarek and Seth Bogart take aim at the basket.
All three young adults are from Hays.  They think Sandy and I have a pretty cool  lifestyle.

Back at Wild West Festival this inconsiderate young lady got right in the way as I attempted to take a photo of the stage.  I decided to include the photo just to show you that when I am on assignment, I am all business.

Each evening before the featured group took the stage, these young ladies would dazzle the crowd with an impressive display of their cheer leading skills.

Finally, a carnival ride that is not for the faint of heart. This is about a 50 foot drop that takes about two seconds.

Stay tuned.

Reporting from Fort Hays, Kansas

On the way into Hays this morning  we decided to see the small herd of American Bison in Frontier Park.  We were not greeted warmly as you can see from this Bison cow and her calf ignoring us.   Bison give birth in the spring to a single calf.  When full grown, adult Bison can reach a height of 6 feet and weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

Click on sign for a concise history of the fort

Across the road from the Bison is Old Fort Hays, in service from 1865 to 1889 to protect military roads, railroad workers and wagon trains headed west.   It is a neat place to be.  Now.   You are on the same rolling wind-swept Kansas prairie that early settlers and soldiers visited.  It is serene, and as you look at the few remaining buildings you can imagine just how lonely and basic life out here was in the decades after the Civil War.

Here is the guard house which was used as a jail, as quarters for enlisted men and storage of ammunition.

This bunk bed slept four soldiers.  Each had a single drawer under the bottom bed.  The beds were phased out in 1874, much to the happiness of the troops.  A contingent of the famous Buffalo Soldiers was stationed at Fort Hays.

Officers had a better lifestyle.  These are the only two of the original  officers residential units remaining.  While simple compared to today's standard of living they were quite accommodating when occupied by military officers.

Officers had semi-private privies.  There is a wall between the "seating areas" and the walls are plastered, but is is still an outhouse.

The block house was used for a variety of functions including offices and church services as well as a major fortification in case of attack.  

I was surprised to learn that Fort Hays did not have  surrounding stockade walls because here in Kansas they were not considered necessary due to the large number of troops stationed at the fort and the small number of braves in a raiding party -- usually about 25 to 30.

Stay tuned

The Wild West Festival from Hays (America), Kansas

Mix these ingredients:

Good entertainment, a huge carnival with all your favorite rides, a $20,000 fireworks display, a clean grass-covered city park, lots of friendly people, families being together, kids having fun, teenagers on first dates and new parents taking babies to a big outdoor event.

If you are in Hays, Kansas you get the WILD WEST FESTIVAL

Wild West Festival is in its 15th year and it brings 25,000 to 30,000 people together for 4 days of fun.

We are camping in Ellis, KS at their Lakeside Park. Yesterday we caught up with Gary Omel at the Wild West Festival grounds in nearby Hays, got our VIP passes for the 4-day event and took a tour of the grounds.

Entertainment on the big outdoor stage began at 6:30 with Trey Michael Warren, up next was the Jared Daniels Band, followed by headliner – John Michael Montgomery, who kicked off at 9:30. Unfortunately , we, two old seniors were too worn out to hang around. Ordinarily I am not a Country and Western fan, but this entertainment was top notch.

Food at the VIP tent was outstanding and was catered by Carlos O'Kelly's one of three different catering companies that will bring the best of their menu items to the Festival. Sandy reported that the margarita was excellent.

As the day blended into night and I observed so many happy faces, I could not help but think that Hays, Kansas and the Wild West Festival blends the best of middle American into a wonderful family activity.

Below is yours truly with Gary and Sandy

Stay tuned for more from Hays, Kansas

A Sleepy Summer Setting

The RV campground at the Fall River Dam here in rural southeast Kansas is a little gem.  It is quiet, there is lots of green grass and large trees of various specimens, oaks, maples, locust, cottonwoods, pines, ash and more.  The grounds are  well-maintained and the restrooms are clean.  We don't have to use the restrooms, but I always look at them as an indicator of how well a campground is maintained.  In addition, the camp hosts are friendly and very helpful.  Perfect.

 As I walked around taking some photos I kept thinking that this would be the kind of place where Tom Sawyer would feel at home.

On the downstream side of the dam is the lovely and meandering Fall River.  Here catchers of fish –. men and herons alike – stalk its banks. And surprisingly comfortable concrete benches under a 100 plus year-old cottonwood invite one to read to contemplate or to take photos.

Now I will relate what I call the $127 error.  When we drove here Saturday, we spent a lot of time on very dusty country roads trying to find the campground.  I became concerned about all the dust that probably became lodged in the expensive engine air filter that Motorhomes of Texas had just replaced.  I had good reason to be concerned because Moose was coated in thick dust everywhere.  

Two rolls of paper towels are stacked  next 

to the filter to give you an idea of it size.

So, in an attempt to take good care of the engine I decided to blow out the dust from this big filter. Fortunately, I happened to describe my filter cleaning action on the Foretravel Forum. I was surprised when several members responded immediately and told me I had just created a situation that would surely damage the engine if I continued to use the filter.  What?  I was only trying to make the filter cleaner.  But what I did was bring fine limestone dust to the interior of the filter where it would be drawn into the engine the next time I turned it on and the grit would circulate in the oil and help wear down the piston rings,  resulting in an engine that would burn oil and become a candidate for rebuilding. Fortunately, the only damage done was to my ego.  I located a replacement filter here in nearby Fredonia at the local NAPA store, where it only cost $127.06 to fix my error. Ouch. Expensive lesson.

Thursday we head to Hays, Kansas where Foretravel friend Gary Omel has promised to treat us to a real old-fashioned 4th of July celebration.

Stay tuned

The 335 Mile Journey from southeast Oklahoma to southeast Kansas

It was a long day.  We departed from the Corp campground in Oklahoma at 7:15 this morning and arrived  within a quarter mile of our new Army Corp of engineers Campground on Fall River Lake -- 70 miles east of Wichita, KS at about 2:15 pm.  It only took us about 90 minutes to go the last quarter mile.  There is a story here.

I've commented before about how notorious the Corp of Engineers if about giving bad directions to their campgrounds.  This time they did it with a new twist.

The camp is divided in East and West segments joined by a rather old bridge with a weight limit of 9 tons.  We weigh 17 tons.  We've been over bridges that were rated for 15 tons, but we had no desire to bring the bridge down and spend the rest of our lives working to pay off the damages. Their directions took us to the  camp at Dam Site East.  We found the camp host there, but he did not give us very clear directions to reach Dam Site West on the other side of the bridge where we had a site reserved.  So off we went with me driving Moose and Sandy leading the way with the Honda.  The gravel road was sooo dry and dusty that I let her get at least 3 blocks ahead of me.  After several "blind alleys" we decided the safest thing for me to do was pull off the main highway and wait while she went and found the way to the West Dam Site.  Ninety minutes after we left the East campground we finally pulled into our new home for the next five days. By this time we had been on the road close to 9 hours.  Our new camp site is exactly 1/4 miles from where this picture was taken.

In the next day or two I'll do a show and tell about the location.  It is very green and lush.

Stay tuned.