Pulling up stakes!

   
     Look out World, we're on the loose again!!!

    Yes, I remember how to post a blog entry!!! It has obviously been a while since the last post, but not a lot of things happened over the summer. This blog will try to sum up our activities and get everyone caught up with what's going on. So, here goes...

     This summer was one of the hottest and driest on record for our part of the world! Amazingly, with 100+ temps and no rain I still had to mow grass in the parks?!?That prairie grass is some tough stuff. Anyway, as followers of this blog may recall, we needed to be in the Manhattan, KS area this summer in order for Barb to help her brother deal with and sell her Dad's property. (Her dad passed away in January.) Having no good place to park the motorhome, we decided to work as camp hosts for the Tuttle Creek State Park. The good thing, this gave us our site and we got paid a little for our efforts. The bad thing is that we were hosts at Randolph and Fancy Creek campgrounds at the far north end of the reservoir some 30 miles from town. Needless to say, we have racked up the miles on the new car.

     One of the events early in the summer is the Country Stampede. This is a "country Woodstock" where several big name country entertainers come for three days and nights of music. The event is held at the River Pond campground area at the south end of the reservoir. We drove by and were kind of glad that we didn't have to contend with the crowds!

     We met some really nice folks during the summer and one group of them turned us on to a little restaurant in Barnes, KS. This place, called Our Daily Bread is a great place to eat. Not only is the food good but the bakery makes some of the best pies and cakes I've ever eaten. You would never know this place is there, it is tucked away along main street but the storefront is small and unassuming. Check out their website: Our Daily Bread

     Believe it or not, even with next to no water we had a bit of a washout at the end of the boat ramp. One of my tasks was to take some of the fill gravel that the park dropped off and repair the ramp. It was a little challenging to do with only the tractor and bucket and they delivered wayyyy more gravel than was needed. I made a good access way but had the backhoe come up later and improve the approach. 

 
    Later in the summer, after Labor Day, we had a cool snap and woke up to an interesting atmospheric phenomenon. A fog bank had formed but only just above the river and stopped along the hills in Fancy Creek campground. On the Randolph side we were bight and sunny but Fancy Creek was socked in.

     A new addition in Manhattan is the Flint Hills Discovery Center. This is a very interesting hands on exhibit spotlighting the Flint Hills area of Northeast Kansas. It is very informative and I learned things that I never knew about the area. We took the grandkids there when they visited us this summer and they had a great time with all of the hands on exhibits and the fantastic multi media, multi sensory presentation that talks about the Flint Hills throughout history. Click on the link if you want to see more about this place!!  Flint Hills Discovery center

     While in the area, Barb and I took the time to drive over to Fort Riley, the home of the 1st Infantry Division and the former temporary home of the 430th PSC and its commander, MAJ Cunningham. We visited some of my old haunts and tripped down memory lane. We got Barb's ID card updated and made sure that all of our paperwork and information with the Army was in order. We spent quite a bit of time at the US Army's Cavalry museum. Ft. Riley was originally a cavalry outpost in Indian territory and up until WW II still trained all of the Army's horse cavalry troopers. In fact, LTC Custer left from here with the 7th Cavalry on their trip to Little Bighorn. The Custer house on post is now a tourist destination. In talking with the lady in the gift shop, we found out that the Army's National Cavalry Competition was taking place that very day! Seems that most every major post in the country has a mounted color guard and that they are outfitted to a specific timeframe in the cavalry's history. Ft. Riley for instance is outfitted in the style and uniforms of the army in the 1870-1880 time period. Well, these groups come together annually to compete in individual and group events... kind of a Cavalry Olympics. Well, I was branched Armor/Cavalry when I first was commissioned and served with a few  Cav troops in my time so how could I resist. It was very interesting.

     We wrapped up out stint with the State of Kansas on October 1st. In the meantime, we worked very hard to leave the parks in a better condition than when we found them. We mowed, trimmed, and painted. We cleaned, picked up, and repaired. All in all, I think that we were successful.

   We have to say that we really enjoyed all of the people we met and especially the folks that we worked with at Tuttle Creek. They made our time as fun as it could be and really helped me out when I needed something at the Park. We have made some new friends and our lives are better for it! Towards the end of our stay, we sat out around a campfire and nature blessed us with a spectacular sunset. We thought that we'd share.

     So now we're sitting back where it all started. Back in the Wichita area at the farmstead we used to own but sold to our son. We will be here for a month and a half and will take the time to relax and visit with friends and family prior to hitting the road in late November.

    There you have it, the summer in a "Readers Digest" format. I know that I left a lot out but we didn't do a lot of touring and many of the days were a routine of mow, clean, or repair, then hide in the motorhome the rest of the day to escape the heat. It feels good to be out and about again and soon we will be back on the road.