Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
My last post had us in Pueblo, CO, waiting out a high wind
warning, combined with a blizzard warning.
We wound up waiting an extra day, since the roads we needed to take were
closed due to the weather. While our location
(actually just south of Pueblo) received nothing more than 25-35 mph gusts and
some temps in the 20s, about 25 miles north of us (in exactly the path we
needed to travel), did receive the worst of the weather. Winds clocking in the 60 mph range, snow,
cold……….all combining to cause the Colorado Department of Transportation to
shut down dozens of roads. Interesting
fact: road closures are such a common occurrence
that they actually have gates across ALL of the entrance ramps to the
interstates with “Road Closed” signs.
They do not fool around with this stuff.
The extra day we waited was a good thing for us, travel wise. Very light winds, and the snow was mostly
melted or blown off the road surfaces.
We did, however, see plenty of evidence of the snow as we drove on I-70
out of Colorado and into Kansas. We also
saw two semis which had gone off the road before it was closed down, and only
one was actively in the process of being removed. The other was pretty well settled into the
ravine between the east and westbound sides.
We arrived at our destination in Oakley, KS and settled into
the campground (High Plains Camping). It
was clean, quiet, comfortable, ample space for big rigs, although it was, as
its name states, located on the High Plains.
Winds definitely come whipping across the plains that sit next to it,
and it did get a little dusty there.
However, this place really was a diamond in the rough. There is a little pub located on site that is
run by the owners. We decided to eat
there our first night, and WOW! They
served a house-made shrimp and crab bisque that was incredible! (So much so that we went back the next night
and got it again!) While dining, a local
couple came in and immediately struck up a conversation with us. Very chatty, very friendly, and just the salt
of the earth. By the time we left, they
had invited us to stay with them should we ever pass through Oakley again! Seriously!
They insisted we take their phone numbers. (While we found that to be very warm and
genuine, well, that’s just not something we could ever do. But they were wonderful folks at any rate.)
Our down day found us exploring the local tourist
spots. For the life of me, never in a
million years would I have looked at a map and say, “Let’s stop in Oakley, KS
and play tourists!” when we were planning our travel itinerary. That goes to show that you shouldn’t just a
small book by its plain paper cover. We
stopped first at the Fick Fossil Museum that is housed in a building shared
with the local library. Apparently, that
area of Kansas was an inland sea millions of years ago, and they have an
amazing amount of fossils in their collection.
They also have rocks and gems, artifacts from bygone eras, and the
chattiest caretaker ever! She was a
wealth of knowledge, and definitely helped set the stage for us as we walked
through the premises. From there, we
paid a brief visit to the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center. It was small, but also had some very
interesting artifacts as well. Had we
had more time, we also would have paid a visit to Monument Rocks, which is
where many of the fossils and rocks were found, but it was about 30 miles away,
and we just didn’t want to do any more driving than we had to since we were
traveling to our next destination the following day.
Fick Fossil Museum
Fick Fossil Museum
Fick Fossil Museum
Buffalo Bill Cultural Center ("Annie")
On Tuesday, we hitched up and made our way farther east,
stopping at a Corps of Engineers campground in Clinton, KS. At this point, we were still awaiting some
sort of word on what to do about our needed repairs. It’s
taken the better part of the last week to get directions as to where we need to
go to have the repairs made to our landing gear, and Tim finally decided to
contact the RV dealer we purchased our rig from last May. They are authorized to make the repairs, and
as a customer of theirs, they are kind of obligated to do the work if we ask
them. As mentioned previously, RV
dealers are swamped this time of year with repair work for the coming camping
season, but they were able to schedule us for May 14th.
So, now that we have a destination for repairs, we are going
to be heading south/southeast in order to make our way back to Knoxville,
TN. Since we have 3-1/2 weeks to make
our way there, we decided to pivot south when we leave Kansas tomorrow, and
head toward Branson, MO. It’s a popular
tourist destination, located in the Ozarks, and why not? We’re hoping to see one of the many shows
that are offered, just as a fun activity since we need something else to do
besides drive and camp! From Branson, we’ll
shoot back north toward St. Louis, staying just outside there at a campground
in St. Charles. We’ll head east after
that, going through Charleston, WV, heading toward the Blue Ridge Mountains in
VA, and then work our way toward Knoxville.
Of course, these are all tentative plans, subject to
change. Heck, even definite plans
change, as we know all too well now. I
suppose if you want to know where in the world (or U.S.) we are, you’ll just have
to stop back to read the next post!
Until then, stay flexible!
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