August 31, 2006

Today we drove the Kansas Post Rock Scenic Byway. This route goes past Lake Wilson to Lucas, Kansas. We stopped at the Garden of Eden in Lucas. Samuel Perry Dinsmore spent twenty two years making 150 sculptures of cement around the cabin he built. We then went to Luray City Park for our lunch. After we arrived back in Russell, we did a little antiquing.

We also found something a lot of people have been looking for.

August 30, 2006

We spent most of the day in Hays, Kansas. We did a self-guided walking tour of Old Fort Hays in the morning. The weather was a little cool for Charlotte buy great for me. We found a park nearby and stopped for lunch. By lunch time the temperature was about 78 with a nice breeze. We have been very lucky finding local parks for lunch each day. After lunch we drove around town for a while then went to the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. We had our picture taken with a dinosaur and Charlotte had fun in the bus.

August 29, 2006

We went to Cawker, Kansas today to see the “Worlds Largest Ball of Twine”. It was a great drive through the open country. We packed a lunch and ate in a park on the way. It was a great day. You can see the excitement in my face when I saw the twine.

August 28, 2006

We moved to Triple J Campground in Russell, Kansas. It’s a quiet place on the edge of town. Looks like a fun area in the middle of the Kansas prairie.

August 27, 2006

The rain started again about midnight last night. We had some lightning but not as bad a earlier in the day. I put the antenna down when the storm started. This morning when I was raising it, the handle and other parts came off and fell to the floor. We needed to get a flashlight to find the parts. We then looked in the manual to see if we could repair it ourselves or needed a dealer. We determined we could handle repairs. It took a little while to find the correct tool in the basement. I finally found everything and fixed the antenna control. We then settled back to watch the weather forecast. More rain coming today and tomorrow. We plan to leave tomorrow, rain or shine.

Update on today: Lots of rain today with some flooding in Kansas City. They interrupted the PGA golf match with a weather bulletin at 4:50 PM and continued until 7:30 PM. The weather team came in from days off to assist with the coverage. There were two or three tornados north of us. Luckily, we were spared the experience. Below are pictures of one of the weather people we watched. Notice the casual attire.

August 26, 2006

We went to the Burr Oak Woods Conservation Area today. There are trails to walk and roads to drive through the area. We walked the short one half mile loop from the visitor’s center. It is a blacktop path into the woods and back. The weather has been rainy the last couple of days so we didn’t stay outside long. This is a beautiful place to visit even in wet weather.

August 23, 2006

We drove to downtown Kansas City today to visit the Hallmark Visitors Center. There is a lot to see and learn here. We talked with a man who was demonstrating their embossing procedure. They use computers for some simple embossing techniques. They still use skilled people with small hand tools to create the more complex designs.

August 21, 2006

We stopped at Kansas City East KOA today. It is close to the highway, so we have a lot of road noise. I imagine after a time on the road we will get used to this noise. We have a small tree on each side for shade. As you can see in the picture below, we have a lot of neighbors. This seems to be a popular stop. We plan to stay here for a week so we have time to explore the area.

August 18, 2006

We went to see the Balloon Fest at Centralia, Illinois today. We arrived at 2:30 PM and left at 8:30 PM. It was a great afternoon and evening. We met Joe and Margie Urley from Centralia. Other than the Chamber of Commerce members, they may the best advertisement for Centralia. Margie told us everything about the Balloon Fest. She and Joe have attended every event since it was started 15 years ago. Joe’s hobby is collecting autographs. He has gathered more than 101,000 since he started in 1984. Of course we now are part of his collection. Here is a sample of what we saw. Our favorite part was the "Balloon Glow" at dusk. The Scarecrow balloon is 111 feet tall and the Pepsi balloon is 100 feet tall. There were 42 balloons at the festival.

August 17, 2006

We went to St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch. Charlotte went to the top, 630 feet high, while I visited the gifts shops. I did find a good book, John Colter - His years in the Rockies, to buy and read while waiting.

August 14, 2006

We stopped at the Vandalia, Illinois Chamber of Commerce today to learn about the area. They told us about the Centralia Balloon Fest next weekend so we decided to stay another week and attend. They also suggested we go to the oldest Illinois Statehouse in Vandalia.

August 10, 2006

Now it is time for us to move on. So we left Indiana on our way to Denver, Colorado. We stopped at Timber Trails Camp Inn in Mulberry Grove, Illinois in the southern part of the state. We plan to stay here for a few days to enjoy some of the local treasures.

August 9, 2006

Charlotte and I went out to the garden to see the sunflowers. There are plenty and they are beautiful now. Here is a picture:

We think there may have been someone hiding in the sunflowers as you can see in the following picture:

We had a lot of fun taking the pictures with the help of Charlotte’s brother Bill.

August 8, 2006

Today we attended the opening of the LaPorte County Historical Society Museum. It is fantastic. We stayed about two hours but could spent days looking at the many displays. Here is a picture of the outside of the building. It is very impressive.

August 5, 2006

Bill took us all for a ride in his Model T Ford today. We went down the lane and picked wild black berries. Jeanette then made a cobbler. We ate it right out of the oven with ice cream. Yummy, it was sooooo good.

August 3, 2006

Today Bill and I went to the new LaPorte County Historical Society Museum. I had the rare privilege of helping dust Dr. Peter Kessling’s multimillion-dollar antique car collection. It was a very exciting “hands on” experience. Bill helped the curator put up a fireman’s pole and added air in the car’s tires as needed. Everyone is getting ready for the opening of the museum on August 8th. Hopefully, we can go again after the opening so Charlotte can enjoy the museum also.

August 2, 2006

We took our Motorhome to Jordan Ford in Mishawaka, Indiana today to have a headlight fixed. It was a fuse in the wrong slot from the factory. Easy repair.