Follow Us In Our Travels

10/10/2013, Thursday:  Sitting in Ellis Lake Campground in Ellis, Kansas – I think this state is windier than North Dakota! Curt’s been using the metal detector and I’ve been walking. We’re getting our mail transferred and spending time in between storm systems  again.

Back in Iowa, in September: We stayed at Lake Anita State Park for a little over a week. It was nice to sit still and look out at a lake. We didn’t have a lot of neighbors during the week. Didn’t make it on my 4-mile hike around the lake, but the wind has been pretty strong this week and Curt didn’t want to do the hike and I didn’t really want to go the whole way alone. I started out on the path and got to an area where a van was parked, didn’t see anybody around, but just didn’t feel comfortable. So I started going back, took a path into the tenting campground and there sat a pickup with somebody in it, just watching. No tent. Now I really didn’t feel comfortable so I went back to our area and walked around. We’ve been trying to decide when to leave, and where to go to. There’s been storms in Colorado and Nebraska.

9/29: Took off for Council Bluffs, Iowa. Curt wants to get the oil changed on the motorhome. We had it done at Speedco in Arizona on the old motorhome at a decent price. That was synthetic Mobil, this time it’s just Mobil. There’s also a Camping World in Omaha that we’re going to try to get a ladder at. He’s been looking for a 7 foot double-sided ladder ever since we left, but he doesn’t want to pay the price, of course. We had seen one in Quartzsite. Now Camping World website has it on sale. Curt called the store to see if they would honor the price. She said if we print off the sale ad, they will honor the web site price.

 Lake Anita beach

 I don't know if they're eating lunch or taking a nap, hiding in the trees?

 Wind generators by Anita, IA

 Above and 2 below is art in Council Bluffs, IA

 Welcome to Nebraska!

Got his new ladder and used it right away to wash the windshield.

10/1: Another storm system coming in. We’re going to go south of Lincoln instead of going to Kearney to see if we can avoid it.

North Platte River

Tractor Supply Company Distribution Center

Above & below pics are geocaches in one area. I thought the below one in the shape of RS is interesting.

10/2: We were lucky we went south, sounds like they got hit in central Nebraska. We’re going to stop at Junction City and see if we can our air conditioner fixed. There’s a hose that cracked (I think that’s what Curt said). There’s some truck dealers there, but one of them referred us to the ThermoKing area dealer. We got there about 4:00 in the afternoon and he looked at the hose, etc. Between the two of them, they decided that he would try to fix it instead of sending us to Witchita. (Currently Witchita is in a severe storm warning again.)  We went to Walmart to pick up some freon for Curt to put in the next morning, stayed overnight there, and then got back to the dealer early the next morning. We ended up with a bill mostly for a couple of hours of labor, and hopefully it’ll work for a while. Curt isn’t too positive about it.

 Road change from Nebraska to Kansas

 Welcome to Kansas  - a small sign since we're not on the interstate

That camper is a tiny bit on the small side!

 Greyhound Hall of Fame in Abilene, KS

Had to stop there since our son and daughter-in-law have a rescued greyhound

 Walls of fame, including dogs and people

 The great-grandfather to our son and daughter-in-law's dog

 The two resident rescued greyhounds above and below - Jade and Nick. They greeted us at the door, but weren't allowed inside the museum, so went to lie down.

Below pics are of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center. All of the buildings (visitor center, museum, library, house) were closed due to the government shutdown

 Our air conditioning shop

88 degrees at 5:00 at night

 On the way from Salina to Russell, KS, lots of wind generators!

 little oil pumpers

On Friday, 10/04, we went to Triple J RV Resort at Russell, KS. It's a Passport America park, $15 a night + $2 extra for 50 amp + tax came to $18.90. It's interesting that some of the Passport America parks keep it a straight amount, no tax. Majority only take cash. A few don't give receipts. This is a small park. We were at the end of the park, a pull-thru so we didn't have to unhook, but no shelter from the wind. This is the windiest state! We didn't even put our slides out while we were there. It was constant, I'm sure not less than 20 mph. 

 Reindeer in the mini golf park, which obviously doesn't get used as mini golf any more.

We stayed there through Sunday, watching the weather again, with a storm front coming in from the west. From there we went to Ellis, KS. It's not far, I believe only 60 miles, but there is a city campground there that is only $15 and we should be able to get our mail sent to the post office general delivery. There, again, we'll be watching the weather.

 This bird is at Hays, KS

 They've had a drought here for 3 years now; can't even water their grass. I'm surprised we can use the water hookups.

 Some beautiful old buildings.

Now back on 10/10. Curt has been spending time metal detecting and cleaning the coach, and I've been baking and cooking and walking. It's a nice little town. We just put our slides in as there is a severe storm warning at the Colorado border and coming this direction. They're talking about 60 mph winds, rain and possible hail. I'm not liking the midwest.