Seeing more of Kansas than I planned on today.

My trick of setting the clocks ahead an hour last night worked out pretty well.  Emma had her first outs in the pitch dark, but I was on the road by 9:00, Central time, and passed into that time zone within 10 miles of leaving the campground.  I usually try to leave about 9:00 to avoid any early morning rush hour traffic…of which there is none in Goodland, KS.  :)

Anyway, I planned to drive about 240 miles today and end up just South of Salina, KS, on I-135.  It was a good plan, but it just didn’t work out that way.  As I got off the interstate to head for my destination campground, I began to wonder.  The last mile and a half was down an incredibly dusty and washboard like road.  Once I got to this Passport America campground, I couldn’t find any sites.  It looked crammed full of seasonal rigs, and I didn’t see any of the advertised pull through sites for any sized rig.  There also wasn’t any office to check in with.  It was also pretty seedy looking, so I turned around and made my way out via the nasty dirt road. 

I hopped back on I-135 and began to formulate plan B.  I stopped at the next rest area, and scanned through my Trailer Life Campground book.  There’s not much to choose from in this part of Kansas.  :(   By the time I finally pulled off of the road, it was after 4:00, and I’m only ten miles from Wichita.  320 miles is more than I like to do in a day when I have several more days of traveling to do, but I didn’t have much choice.  I did call ahead to be sure there was a site available, and there was, but the owners were on the road traveling back from a funeral in Missouri.  At least my call went through to their cell phone.  By the time I got set up, made dinner, and took Emma out for some exercise, the light was about gone.  No bird or other pics tonight of my location. 
I did find a bunch of these things on the ground under the trees across from my site.  I can’t remember the name of them.  They are about 3-5” in diameter, and I seem to remember that they are good for keeping spiders out of your rig.  They don’t grow up North, but I remember seeing them in Arkansas.  Can any of my Southern friends enlighten me?  Spiders give me the willies', and if they work, I could pick up a year’s supply of them before I leave in the morning.  :)  Let me know quickly if you know if this is true.

Here’s another thing that has been nagging at my mind recently… should you capitalize the directions; North, South, East or West, or is lower case acceptable?  My mind goes unusual places when driving for many miles with no one to talk to.  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

Loveland to Goodland

I covered almost 250 miles of ‘land’ today, and went from Colorado to Kansas.  I took the first exit for Goodland with plans to stay at the Mid America Campground, but as I gazed at the campground from the exit ramp I decided to just hop right back on I-70.  No one was staying there and the campground looked miserable right in back of a truck stop.  I knew there was a KOA two miles down the road, so I headed there.  For only $5 more, this campground is 10 times better than the other one.
There are lots of trees here, and I think I’ve discovered where all the robins from up North have migrated to so far. 
Each of the cedar trees harbors multiple robins as they take advantage of the cedar berries that are perfectly ripe for their consumption.
With so many berries to chose from, the robins can be picky.
 It’s a matter of finding just the right berry to pick.
Aha!  That one looks perfect! 
Just like we toss our heads back to swallow pills, the robins do the same to swallow the berries.  I have often picked one of these cedar berries to roll between my thumb and finger to enjoy their pungent aroma.  It makes me think of gin.  :)  They have always been hard little rocks when I’ve done this, but today they were squishy like little blueberries.

What a bonanza for these migrating robins!  There must have been close to a thousand of them in the campground.  Mother nature knows how to take care of it’s own.  As Emma and I sat outside this early evening, we were also treated to the haunting calls of many sandhill cranes.  This was so much better than the sounds of the interstate behind a truck stop!

Tomorrow, I hope to put in about the same amount of miles and end up about 30 miles South of Salina, KS.  I’m very close to a time zone change, so I’ve decided to put my clocks ahead this evening so I won’t feel I’ve lost an hour shortly after I get on the road in the morning.  I’ll have to see if I can fool my inner clock into believing that.  :)
                                                                         THE END!! 

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy