09-13-08 Saturday (Bad Altitude)

Kansas: At Sundowner West campground as we departed.

As we drove through Kansas today, I’ve made some observations.
1- Rest Areas for trucks/RVs suck here as compared to other states. Truck parking is like parallel parking. Stupid.
2- Kansas is a lot like Cape Coral. Flat, sparse and barely any trees.
3- Kansas has a lot of flying bugs, but Jim put a dent in its population using the windshield method.

Because of the RV damage Jim inflicted yesterday, he thought it better to downsize to this beauty. We'll see if we can make an offer and get them to throw in the truck with it.

Guess what time it is kids? It’s time for Wal-Mart! A Wal-Mart is Colby, Kansas that is. We got In and out quickly with 2 space heaters in hand. We took in the scenic views of the parking lot with sandwiches for lunch.

With Kansas being pretty flat, the winds certainly whip up at times. The wind direction was trying to push us off the road. Aside from us swaying, you could see the truckers had difficulty as well. Not only did the wind try to kill us, it also managed to unravel our awning. We were hearing strange noises and then Jim spotted the awning hanging down a foot. We pulled over and re-rolled it. Sigh.

Dasher decided today was a good day to hang out on the dash while in motion. As long as he lays down, he’s not in the way. Here’s a photo of him sun bathing.

When the fuel level reaches a quarter, the generator will shut off. It wouldn’t be the end of the world but we needed to find gas. Each gas station we passed was very tiny. Before getting to Colorado Springs, we found one that might work. Of course it didn’t and we had to disconnect the Cherokee to get out.

We arrived at the campground at 8pm or so and with much difficulty crammed into a spot and setup. The park is emptying tomorrow (per the owner) so it will be easier to maneuver and find a new spot if needed. We’re kind of in 2 spots right now. Apparently the people next to us connected a PVC pipe to the sewer connection we were supposed to use. I guess they are long term and no one made them fix it? It’s a mess. We need to bring the RV to Camping World and get the jacks repaired so I guess we’ll reposition or get another spot when we’re done with Camping World. Thanks to Mike Gabbard for calling me during RV setup and causing my phone to strategically fall onto a rock and crack the display. Expect a bill in the mail. You should be more careful.

Let me tell you about altitude. It does strange things to containers. It made a cleaner under the sink bloat and leak. When I did a load of laundry, the detergent slowly fills the cup, but this time it shot into the cup. If you could have seen the look on my face. I guess everything has been pressurized. It’s weird. There are a few other things that have dispensed a little too fast, but you have the idea. Apparently, you use it, and then it will deflate and be normal again.

Dasher pictured above. He's very tired after typing in the Blog.

It’s time for dinner. We’re 2 hours behind now. It’s been a long road trip.

09-12-08 Friday (What was that noise?)

This WAS to be an uneventful day. Alas, I wished it had been.

We departed Eureka, Missouri at about 11:30am for our 380 mile trip to Salina (pronounced sa-line-ah), Kansas. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get an earlier start as we were waiting for some mail to arrive. We got the mail, and then departed.

We chose an easy in and out Pilot gas station to fill up before hitting the road. After a fill up, Jim drove several feet away from the pump and then BANG. Ah, shit. Yes, that was the sound of the left rear coach smacking a concrete fuel pump barrier. We jumped out of the coach to find a broken sewer hose holder that was attached to the bumper accompanied by some yellow scrapes, topped with an obliterated left rear side marker, and finally joined by a smashed left tail light. My reaction was shocked, followed quickly with chuckles as we re-entered the coach. I shrugged it off looking to the brighter side of things by imagining the other things it could have been. When and if it’s my turn to smack the RV, hopefully there will be laughing rather than anger.

Before I move onto Kansas, I must point out 2 important facts. 1- We never went to a Wal-Mart in Missouri! 2- On one of the interstates I noticed a mile marker every 2 tenths of a mile. (Notice the .8 on the mile maker sign to your right?) I found this to be amusing, as well as a waste of money. Jim says someone at the DOT has family in the sign business. I think the Missouri state parks could have used the money; a few of them needed help. Perhaps fixing the damn roads might have been money well spent? If you Google for the top ten worst roads, St. Louis makes the list. Maybe these weren’t necessarily important facts, but it is my job to embellish this blog to keep you amused……………. And you are amused, aren’t you?

Our Wal-Mart shopping trip was due. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Topeka, Kansas. It was not the usual conforming exterior Wal-Mart style. The inside was huge but under some sort of reorganization. We wanted to buy a small ceramic heater since tomorrow our next stop is Colorado with a low of 36 degrees! Sure we have heat via a furnace but it’s cheaper to use the parks electric rather than our propane. So, I walk over to the fans but don’t see heaters. Excuse me, Mr. Wal-Mart employee, where would I find the space heaters. Mr. Wal-Mart employee says they don’t have room for them right now so none are out. I would have thought that since Salina, Kansas has a low of 56 degrees, and getting colder, it might be time for heaters over fans? We’ll just wait and stop at another Wal-Mart.

It was our first time arriving to a campground at dark. We’ll avoid this situation in the future. It was 10pm and the office was closed. Typically, you just use a night drop box and pay in the morning. This, as I verified earlier in the day was the case here at Sundowner West. We filled out our form, slipped it through the slot and took a map. As a side note, the map indicated the shelter is below the restrooms. Scary. Out of all the RV’s there, 90% were dark inside. Maybe it’s so boring here that they went to bed at 9pm on a Friday night???? The campground, like most was pitch-black. We could only see the road directly in front of us but not where all the sites were, the site numbers, hookup boxes, etc. On a turn within the park, we got stuck on an incline that lifted a rear wheel off the ground. We were half on the road and half on the grass. We attempted backing up with the Cherokee in tow. Again, this never works unless the Cherokee and RV and perfectly straight with each other and only a foot of reverse is needed. But of course, if this was the case, we probably wouldn’t need to back up. I got into the Cherokee and tried to backup in tandem with the RV. Nope. We had to disconnect! Luckily we were at the campground but with a one night stay, we didn’t plan to disconnect. Now the RV was able to get unstuck, and into a spot. We made our park connections and ate dinner at 11 or something. Goodnight Salina.

Some miscellaneous photos I snapped:

This sign is for a Missouri town called Blackwater. If you remember that in RV lingo, blackwater is toilet waste. It was raining.

Missouri: A giant cow, pretty much in the middle of no where.

Missouri: I missed stopping at a Wal-Mart so much, I snapped a photo of the Wal-Mart truck.

Missouri: Wildflower Area sign. I thought this interesting because we had seen many of them throughout. One sign that intriqued me was a "Pairie Rehab" sign but I could never get a clear picture of it at 70mph. I wanted to comment something like, "A place for the alcholic Ingles family?"

I had so many great headlines to call this blog entry. Of course they all incorporated The Wizard of Oz somehow. We came up with, "Oh Toto, I don't want to be in Kansas anymore" "Maybe the Wizard can fix this?" "Kansas ain't freakin' flat Toto." What can you come up with?