Accommodation

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Stromsburg to Columbus (both NE)

Ah, this is the kind of travel day that would be normal for me if I was an American and could just travel at a leisurely pace all the time.

After an incredibly lazy morning, I got packing just before noon, when the temps hit +5C and the wind had died down a little. It was chilly, but tolerable, for dumping and hooking up the toad.

I pulled out at about 12:05 and drove to Shelby, where I had identified through Google Maps a gas station that would be an easier in and out than the ones I’d pass before. I took on 47 gallons of gas, so I was definitely running on fumes! That put my MPG for the trip from Wichita at 5.8. OUCH!!!

My GPS is useless for finding campgrounds, so I just left it on map to show me upcoming roads, and I navigated with a Post-It that indicated my turns. I’m glad I only had an hour to drive because it was incredibly windy and I could only move at a snail’s pace. The only good thing about driving in such conditions is that my biceps get quite a workout.

I had absolutely no trouble finding the Loup Park campground. I haven’t quite figured out this place. It’s carved into a hill and power posts appear to be scattered willy nilly. I’m much too long for any of the obvious sites, so I parallel parked along a secondary loop. If it was summer and busy, I would have likely tried somewhere else as I feel a little in the way, even though the road is clear, but for two nights in early May, I am fine. Getting myself leveled was a bit of work, but I finally managed it. Oh, I just saw the sheriff go by and he ignored me, so I’m obviously not blocking anyone.

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I need to show off my latest MAJOR, life-changing improvement to my RV. TAH-DAH!

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The cubbies traveled that way, rather than turned to the wall to keep the drawers from moving. I can do that now because the drawers are finally secured! It was one of my neighbours at Hidden Valley who came up with the solution in mere seconds when everyone else had failed!

The answer was… Velcro!

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The beige blobs are dried Gorilla glue that I used to adhere the Velcro to the surfaces. I knew that the stuff really expands, so I put just a drop, but it was still too much. In other words, I had to pry my drawers open once everything was dry. Go easy on the Gorilla glue, folks!

I’m off to find the movie theatre. I just realised it’s Saturday afternoon, so I’d better arrive early. There is a 3D showing at 3:30 and a 2D one at 4:00, so I should be able to squeeze into one or the other. I can’t believe I saw Iron Man 2 in Dawson City!

And finally, OMG IT’S %%@#$%&@)( COLD HERE!

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Not the Answer I Expected

This afternoon, I braved the bitter wind from the north and went to Stromsburg city hall to ask for permission to remain at the campground till Monday (five nights total). I explained that I arrived earlier than planned because of the bad weather from the south, was waiting out bad weather in the north, and had plans with friends on Sunday.

I was told I have to be gone Saturday by noon (four nights) and that there are absolutely NO exceptions allowed. Four nights max.

I told them that they would not be getting much of a donation from me.

In fact, all they are getting from me in the donation box is a letter criticizing their common sense. The park is empty, the weather is terrible, and they didn’t just lose my donation. I’ll inform L of this and I’m sure as well as B&S won’t be giving this park money anymore if they stay here.

I’m looking at my options near Columbus since that is fairly on my route and still close enough to meet up with P.J. and her hubby on Sunday.

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Wichita, KS to Stromsburg, NE

Oh, I feel battered. What a horrible good day on the road.

I impressed L, B, and S with my toad hookup skills this morning, then took off around 10:00 or 10:30. L lives right off of a highway, so I barely had any work to do to get going. I also had full tanks of gas and propane, so my only job today was to get to Stromsburg.

I was only about 70KM out of Wichita when the weather hit. Just spittle at first, but really bad wind that had me wrestling the steering wheel. I had left Wichita in a medium-weight long cotton skirt, sandals, and a tee-shirt. Two rest areas up the road (less than an hour of driving), I had to add leggings, socks, closed shoes, a fleece sweater, and a windbreaker/rain coat!

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The original plan was to spend two nights at the Ottawa State Fishing Lake near Minneapolis (yes, both still in Kansas) just north of Salina and I was already wiped by the time I reached that exit! But I knew that I had to stay on the main roads and get to a place with power and internet so I could stay on top of the weather.

I stopped at every rest area to check the rig and take a breather, but the freeway eventually ended and I was going nowhere slow, so I pushed on resolutely all the way to York.

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There, I pulled into the Walmart for some supplies. L made sure I was fed all the time I was in Wichita, so having to cook again for myself is going to be a tad brutal. 🙂

It was really tempting to just overnight in York, but Stromsburg and its donation campground was just 20 minutes away. It made sense to make that final effort and get squared away so that I can just relax tomorrow.

A few minutes from Stromsburg, I discovered that the line between ‘ice pellets’ and ‘hail’ is very fine. Was I glad to see the railroad crossing sign as we enter town as I knew the entrance to the campground was my next left!

This is a nice city park with power (up to 50A). There are faucets but not right at the sites, and there is a dump station. The only negative is that we are right against an active railroad with a train that whistles.

I unhooked quickly, backed in, and immediately started both the electric heater and the furnace!

Today was noteworthy in three respects.

First, it was my worst gas mileage day EVER. I am just at the red line and have gone less than 400KM! When I get fuel, I will note how many gallons I get so that I can calculate just how bad the gas mileage situation was today. I am generously estimating 4 to 5MPG. Yes, I’m hauling a heavier toad, but I was also going straight uphill the whole way, plus there was all that headwind. In closer to ideal conditions, the toad hasn’t been affecting my gas mileage noticeably.

Second, today was the first time I ever hit anything backing up with Miranda! No B.S.! Until today, I have NEVER so much as grazed anything backing up. I went back one foot too much and the very top edge of the RV went into a tree branch. I can tell there is some damage to the fiberglass, but nothing that is particularly depressing me. I’ll just slap a piece of Eternabond over the area when the weather clears up and no one will be the wiser. 🙂

Third:

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That white stuff on the ground looks suspiciously like snow.

I will likely be quiet in the next few days since I have projects to do and there isn’t much in the area.

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Well Fed In Wichita

Normally when I do driveway camping, I’m on my own for meals. Oh, I of course have a few with my hosts, but we pretty much stick to our own routines. L informed me upon arrival that he had stocked up on extra groceries for my visit. He made a nice breakfast my first two mornings and a really yummy saukerkraut and pork chop crock pot dinner last night.

His daughter and I got talking about food and when it came out that I love Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, she suggested we have lunch yesterday at Le Monde cafe and deli, a cozy restaurant with a mostly Mediterranean menu. What a joy it was to share an entrée of hummus and pita with someone!

This morning, L and I went next door to B&S’ for brunch (a couple I had met on the beach). I had breakfast burritos for the first time! I don’t eat eggs, so I’ve always stayed cleared of those, but S’ mix was much heavier on the sausage and veggies than the eggs, so they went down just fine.

After gabbing and about a gallon of coffee each, L and I headed out for an afternoon of sightseeing.

We started off by taking in the Keeper of the Plains, a monument that stands at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers (Ar-kan-zes, not Ar-ken-sa!).

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This monument represents the local indigenous peoples and marks their sacred ground. There are some informational panels near the monument.

Next, I asked that we go downtown so I could photograph the statues along main street. We had a lot of fun getting photographs with those, but I’ll go easy on L and not publish the rather saucy ones. 🙂
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Next, we headed over to the River City Brewery for something cold (and non-alcoholic) to drink where L left me in charge of his valuables.

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We then went across the street to the Museum of World Treasures, one of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. It is an eclectic personal collection of everything from dinosaur bones to Egyptian mummies, WWII memorabilia, and autographs. We could only take pictures on the third and first stories, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the war and royalty exhibits were impressive!
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We then headed back to the River City Brewery for a late lunch/early dinner. The Brewery makes a variety of beers and only serves its own brews. We put in an order for the pulled pork special and L asked me if I wanted a beer because he wanted one. I took a glance at the menu and suggested we order the sampler, which got us NINE small glasses of beer (it came out to about two beers per person).

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We were a little surprised to discover that our BBQ pulled pork sandwiches came topped with creamy coleslaw, but it wound up being really yummy!

The beers were mostly great! There were a few that neither one of us liked and a few that one of us disliked, but we mostly agreed. I really liked their fruity Maibock as well as their Old Town Brown. L like the brown one too as well as the Emerald City Stout, while I found that latter one lacking in mouthfeel and preferred, to my surprise, the milk stout that had a maple syrupy finish.

We had our stouts with a stout and pretzel brownie, not that we were able to finish it. 🙂

It was a really fun day. Thanks, L!

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So That’s How a Log Feels In the Morning

I went to bed around 9:00 last night and slept straight through to 4:00 (sounds crazy early, but that was 7 straight hours!). I threw OFF a couple of blankets, snuggled up against Neelix (who was snoring to raise the roof; I love me a content kitty), and slept for another three hours! One good night doesn’t make up for a string of bad ones, but it helps!

L had told me to watch for the house door opening in the morning to signal that it was time to come in for breakfast! WOW! That happened around 8:00 and I went in to find coffee, bacon, bagels, fresh fruit, and more. Am I glad to be here! I had a chance to meet his daughter, too.

I have a few projects to work on today, but I’ll get started on laundry at some point and have a shower before we go out to dinner and a movie with some of his friends.

It’s too wet out to get under the rig, but I’m not leaving Monday so we have (ie. L has) time to get some repairs done before I take off.

We looked at a map last night and he gave me a really good compromise route. Instead of going diagonally through Nebraska and the Dakotas on secondary roads (with few overnighting options), I should just shoot north through those states and then swing west through the top of North Dakota; basically the route I took to go east last year. It’s such an obvious option that I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself!

It’ll be a little more mileage than the diagonal route, but at least I’d be on the US side for gas prices, I’d know where to overnight, and if the calendar catches up with me, I’d be able to go into Canada quickly. So that’s what I’ll do. I just checked the map and if I drive 500KM a day, from Wichita I’m five days from my property on that route.

I was originally going to hang out in Stromsburg, NE, and cannonball from there, but the revised route puts me through Hankinson with the super cheap FHU casino RV park, so that would be a better place to hang out. I may make it back to Canada yet!