July 3, 2014

Topeka Kansas to Kearney Nebraska

I had previously completed two blog postings with pictures and was sure I published them.  But, alas, they did not appear when I opened the blog today.  I’m not sure what happened to them but luckily had written the text in Word so I could retrieve it without having to do a complete re-write.

Deer Creek RV Park in Topeka was a beautiful facility.  All concrete interior roads and site pads with patio, lush green grass between the campsites and all the expected facilities like pool, lounge, dog run, laundry, restaurant, etc.

Our first night was pretty much a do-nothing resting from all the activities in Branson.  The next day we spent some time driving around the city and drove out to a steak house suggested by a member or our group and enjoyed a great meal.

We decided to see what the Topeka Zoo looked like and planned on going to the Brown vs. Board of Education museum site but became so enhanced with thee zoo that it took all our time.  It is a medium size zoo with many different animals - elephants, giraffes, monkeys, bear,  birds, snakes, lions, tigers, rhinos, turtles and everything in-between.  The weather was a near perfect 72 degrees with a light breeze.  That was a real relief from the upper 90's and high humidity in Branson.

We all gathered for a picnic cookout dinner and prepared for our next trip to Kearney, Nebraska.

We pulled out at 8:30 a.m. and followed the highway north.  Lee was in the front, Wane in thee middle and we brought up the rear.  There was not a whole lot of traffic and the roads were in great shape.  It was still cool and a little heat in the cab actually felt good.

Our first stop was at a Native American Casino parking lot.  No, we did not go inside to gamble.  Casino's such as this one are popular on the reservations and undoubtedly bring in a lot of money.

Kansas was fairly flat and had a lot of wheat fields.  There was corn too but wheat and cattle were more prominent.  As wee crossed into Kansas it was one massive corn field after another.  There would bee maybe a mile of corn then a farm house and more corn.  Rather than car dealerships most every corner in the towns we drove through there were tractor and equipment dealers.

I noticed the elevation was around 2000 feet above sea level.  I was kind of surprised that the countryside was so flat for the elevation.

Wee arrived at our park in Kearney about 3:30 p.m.  Wee have full hook-ups and nice long campsites.  It should be no surprise that the park is smack-dab in the middle of a cornfield.  It is an “OK” park – certainly not a resort or long term destination site.  Tomorrow is thee 4th of July and we have our American Flag flying high.  I’m not sure what wee will do/see tomorrow but there are some really interesting places around here.  This is our first trip to Kansas so everything is new. 

Friday, July 4th.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Fireworks displays and celebrations were held around Kearney last night (???)  It was really neat to watch them all since the land is so flat.  We did not need to go anywhere to watch – we just hopped up on the flat bed of the Volvo, sat down and could watch the fireworks from not only Kearney but neighboring communities miles away.  I felt like we possibly had one of the best views possible.

I was dead tired last night.  Driving takes the energy out of me.  Part of that is due to the extra driver attention needed for a large vehicle.  Unfortunately, many drivers in small 4-wheel vehicles see you as a nuisance and are determined to get in front of you.  I can’t say I blame them because I find no pleasure following a 8-1/2 foot wide and 13 foot tall solid white wall.  They don’t back off because they are afraid they won’t have room to pass and when the way is clear they will cut back right in front of you and sometimes even slow down below our speed.  You do have to be diligent as you KNOW they are going to do this.

We are trying to decide what we want to see today.   Whatever it is, we are leaving at 11:00 a.m.