Apr 9, 2013 - 2013-Kansas Wedding Trip

This has to have been the shortest trip on record for us. Our nephew got married April 6th so we all trooped back to Wichita for the event. Weather was perfect (except for that 50 mph wind that Kansas is famous for). Wedding was beautiful and came off without a hitch. Without a doubt, the great-nieces were the belles of the ball and stole the show. They are just adorable... The trip home was uneventful which we always appreciate and we have recovered from the 1,200 miles nicely. Hope this finds you all well...

Dec 26, 2012 - A Bit More Like It

Not surprisingly, it was still darn cold on Wednesday morning when we chose to get rolling. With no hot shower to slow us down (we had no interest in walking over to the shower house), we microwaved water to wash up, ate a little cereal, unhooked the electricity and we were outta Interstate RV Park. One of the jobs we had postponed the night before was our first fuel addition at the nearby Flying J, so that was our first stop. While I ran a good 55 gallons of gas into the Allegro Bay, we used the opportunity to again hook up the Saturn. Let...

Oct 20, 2012 - October 19-20, 2012 – Emporia and Wichita, Kansas

October 19-20, 2012 – Emporia and Wichita, Kansas October 19 – Today the wind continued to blow really hard so I just stayed put. I didn’t do much of anything – took a nap, did some crossword puzzle and played some solitaire on the computer. October 20 – Today I went to Wichita to play tourist. On the way I stopped at the Matfield Green plaza on the Kansas Turnpike to see the Knute Rockne memorial. He was killed in an airplane crash near there. They have also established a memorial for the people who were killed in a flash flood on the...

Sep 26, 2012 - Hutchinson Salt mine and Cosmosphere

We took a drive to Hutchinson and went to the salt mine first, they schedule tours every 40 minutes and we had just missed a departure so had to find lunch. We drove along airport road to the Hutchinson Municipal airport that has a VERY nice restaurant with a lunch buffet. Although it was very overcast, we were able to watch a few planes maneuver as we had lunch. Then we took to 2 hour tour down 650 feet to the salt mine. Afterwards, we toured the Kansas Cosmosphere that has some great exhibits about the German rocket program in WWII and...

Sep 25, 2012 - Cessna aircraft factory

Today we took a long drive, through Kansas farmland, to the Cessna plant in Independence. The tour was customized, just us, and took a total of 1 1/2 hour+. We saw 172's, 182's, and 206's in production as well as the mustang jet. We were taken through the assembly plant and also to the final staging area after paint where interiors, engines, avionics, etc. are then installed. We saw quite a few planes on the ramp awaiting delivery and many in production, it looks as if Cessna will survive at this point. The manufacturing plant also had a...

Sep 24, 2012 - Dead Head East 1

This is day 2 of our trip. Last night was spent in Tucumcari, NM. It was obvious that the super highway by-passed a once-thriving town. Here are just 2 pix of some old Rte. 66 locations there. Tonight we are in Wichita, KS. We are not on Rte. 66 so no pix of here. Tomorrow we will make our way onto Chicago – we expect it will take 2 more days of travel. There will be more pix and details once we have actually started back on Rte. 66. Dead heading east is very tiring. We fought wind, traffic, and construction almost all day.

Sep 23, 2012 - McConnell AFB Wichita

We found this new campground yesterday, convenient to Commissary, Exchange, walking trails, just great. We have a concrete pad and this new section of the Famcamp was just opened a few months ago. We went to the Wichita aircraft museum, had a great conversation with UL Rip Gooch, a board member who told us about a new fly in community. He's quite a character, 89 years old, has been in the avialtion industry in multiple phases, is black and was successful in the 1950's, has a book out that I purchased. I believe that I saw him at Sun N Fun....

May 29, 2012 - El Dorado & Wichita

Monday drove to El Dorado State Park where we hiked a few trails one of them walking along the top of the dam at the reservoir, it hit 99/37 degrees today with hardly any wind so hard going walking in that heat. We saw loads of nodding donkeys and you could smell the oil as we drove along. Tuesday a stroll around the Old Town in Wichita, lots of cobbled streets, old buildings, galleries & a few shops. Then hiked the Indian Trail Loop along one side of the Arkansas River then back the other side 2.6 miles, not that long but it was over 90...

May 29, 2012 - Wichita & places around

Saturday we moved on again with over a 3 hour drive to Wichita in Kansas, it is now 95/35 if it was not for the wind the heat would be unbearable, but we are in Kansas the 4th windiest State, there are also 2.5 cows for each person in Kansas. Kansas is home to more F5 tornadoes than any other state not that we have seen any YET!!! It is located near the centre of Tornado Alley, a region of high activity generally held to also include Okaholma, parts of Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah. Tornadoes can sometimes strike with...

May 29, 2012 - Gower Good Times Music

Friday evening we went to Gower Good Times Hall, where anybody can put their name down & be called to take a turn up on the stage. It was pot luck free dinner as well where people just take loads of food. The talent on stage was amazing from a 4 year old singing to a 92 year old man called Hank singing & playing the guitar. Once people found out we were from England they kept coming over to chat which was lovely, they were amazed that we had found their hall in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, but we explained that I had read about...

May 28, 2012 - Kansas City- a few more days

Another day we went to the Praire Centre where we walked along the paths so many different birds & butterflies that we had not seen before. We were warned not to walk in the long grass because of snakes, ticks & chiggers, not that we would have anyway. They can be as small as a pin head they bite then cause a nasty itching rash that can last for up to 2 weeks. We also met Ray while walking here his grandson is going to England to university & he is coming over to see him & going to look us up as well. Tuesday spent quite a few hours...

Apr 12, 2012 - Kinder, La

After seeing Bevy and family we drove to Kinder LA where we are staying three days in the RV park at Coushatta Casino. It is a very nice RV park and shuttle service is good so we don't have to take car down! Unfortunately slots are not at all friendly but Jim says tables are. As long as he wins what I'm losing!