There were turkeys fooling around in our campground this morning but we were scheduled to leave Prairie Dog State Park so reluctantly we departed and once again jumped on US-36 westbound. It was a pretty good road but we only followed it for about 30 miles until turning north toward Nebraska. We have been following US-36 for such a long distance that it is almost tragic to leave this highway with its stunning roadside scenery. Half an hour later we crossed into Nebraska and about an hour later crossed from the Central Time Zone into the Mountain Time Zone.
The southern part of Nebraska seemed a lot like the northern part of Kansas. We drove through some farmland but mostly range land with only grass and cattle visible. It is not dead flat. Recent rains have turned all the grass bright green and the cattle can’t be distracted from their happy harvesting.
We zigged and zagged for a few hours and eventually pulled into Ogallala, Nebraska. We promptly found our destination, Sleepy Sunflower RV Park, noting it was immediately adjacent to some railroad tracks and I-80, a busy trucking thoroughfare. The park staff was very nice and led us into our spot. They have full hookups, good wifi and very clean facilities. It is reasonably priced. The best thing about the park is that it is just across the freeway from a terrific restaurant called the Urban Farmer where we went to have a steak dinner. The food was great and not too expensive. I can state for a fact that the chicken fried steak is very tasty, their sunflower seed bread is superb and Peggy ate every bit of her steak. This full-time RV stuff is pretty good sometimes.
See the pix. Click the asterisk *

We took a little longer cruise around the park today. Our intent was to spot some of the local wildlife and we were amply rewarded because we took our time.
The day started with a flock of turkeys who wandered through our portion of the campground. We also spotted a Cassin’s kingbird, a bunch of Canadian geese, three snow geese, some meadowlarks, more turkeys, a hawk or eagle as big as a wheelie bin and, of course, a bunch of prairie dogs. There are zillions of bugs here and they are very discourteous because they keep landing on me, going up my nose and infesting the interior of our truck.
Last night it rained an inch but, thankfully, all the water stayed outside the trailer while we cozied up inside. The rain seems to have killed many, but by no means all, of the bugs.
Check the pix. Click the asterisk *

Today we were quite sluggish. We drove into nearby Norton, KS, and bought some Jack Daniels and some diesel but, other than that, we accomplished nothing. Prairie Dog State Park, where we are currently camped, is a big Jose and we took a spin in the park. We stopped by to see the prairie dogs.
It is a bit strange that the park is called Prairie Dog. There were originally no prairie dogs around this part of the world. Since the park is named after these animals, the humans imported 300 of the critters and attempted to establish a colony. They all croaked. Strangely, some time after the demise of the imported rodents some regular prairie dogs moved in. Maybe it was to make the bureaucrats who named the park look less foolish.

Today was another travel day so we got back onto US-36 again and turned west. We have been on US-36 from east of St. Jo, MO, and have now covered about 400 miles along this route. It has been a great road through northern Kansas with great scenery and exceptional paving. During our trip today, we encountered one of the reasons the paving is so good; the state runs a paving operation that uses massive propane burners to heat up the road paving, a planer scalps off the top of the paving, some asphalt oil is added, a paving machine then picks up the recycled material and spreads it where the paving was scalped. Right behind the paving machine comes huge rollers and then a guy comes out and paints stripes on the brand-new road surface. Driving along this recycled road is very smooth and we had no trouble maintaining the 65 mile per hour speed limit even though the road is one lane each way.
We noted that they have many weird insects here. There are 2” long creatures that look like worms but run like centipedes. There are flying critters that, although tiny, have long tail things that make a 3/4” bug 3” long. There are dragonflies everywhere and they make huge globs when they hit the radiator and windshield. Windshield wipers are not effective against these glue bugs.
After about 120 miles on US-36, we pulled off at another Kansas state park called Prairie Dog. It is a very nice park with – you guessed it – a big prairie dog colony. They are very cute little pear-shaped critters. There is an adjacent lake, the RV spaces are big, the roads are great and our satellite antenna works great. The satellite antenna requires an unobstructed view to the south and from here in Kansas the next obstruction to the south would be Venezuela.
We took a couple pix on the road. See them by clicking the asterisk *

We woke in Kansas’s gorgeous Lovewell State Park this morning and were again treated to sightings of the abundant birds here. We identified two of the species we were ogling yesterday; Franklin’s gulls that don’t look anything like the gulls we see in the west and nighthawks. The nighthawks look like really large swallows and exhibit the same aerobatics and 20-G turns. They make short work of flying insects.
We needed diesel after our long drive yesterday and, since we get no internet in this part of Kansas, our Gas Buddy app just gives crazed information when it gives any. We quizzed a beautiful female game warden we encountered on today’s drive and she indicated the closest place to get diesel was in Superior which is the closest town but in Nebraska. We headed that way and noted that the first thing we saw in Superior was a stump that looks like it is giving passing motorists the finger. However, the rest of the town was a nice little burg with some beautiful historical houses.
On the way back to our park, in addition to a big flock of wild turkeys, we came across some trees that look like a cross between and orange tree and an apple tree but they produce inedible fruit that resembles a green orange with warts. We quizzed our neighbor about this flora and found it is called a hedge apple and, while not to be eaten, the fruit makes a good pesticide and the wood makes durable, long-lasting fence posts. The same neighbor had gone her nearby home this morning and when she returned this afternoon she brought us a box of colorful, beautiful veggies from her garden. Her garden efforts certainly are more effective than any gardening I have ever done except maybe growing pot.
We took a few pictures to share. See them by clicking the asterisk *

We were back on the road today, continuing our westward progress. We crossed the Missouri River at St. Joseph and continued west on US-36 into Kansas. The last time we were in Kansas, we had just been married in either 1879 or 1979. On that trip we crossed from Missouri into Kansas at Kansas City and drove through Emporia and into Colorado. During that crossing, we were amazed at how flat and grim the Kansas landscape was. I stupidly assumed all of Kansas looked like the southern part of the state and Dorothy’s back yard. Driving across northern Kansas on US-36 presented an entirely different landscape with gently rolling hills and extensive farm and ranch land. It was actually quite pretty.
About 180 miles west of St. Joseph we pulled off US-36 onto a rural road and pulled into Lovewell State Park. The park borders a big reservoir and we have full hookups but absolutely no phone and scant data. There is no wifi or internet communications on our phone, maybe because they don’t know about the internet here.
However, the sites are wide and spacious, there is almost nobody here and there are gigantic flocks of birds that we cannot identify. The biggest flocks appear to be some kind of gulls but we cannot find them in our bird spotter’s guides. Since the population of this part of America is almost non-existent, there is very little light pollution and the views of the Milky Way at night are stunning.
We got a few pix. Click the asterisk *

We got to take a spin into St. Joseph, Missouri, today. It started raining last night so the temperatures have dropped substantially but it is still underwater on the humidity. I am a terrible sweat hog and seem to be damp most of the time.
The first place we visited was a house where the rat Bob Ford shot the criminal Jesse James right in the cowlick. Ford was a chicken as proven by the backside entry wound. Jesse had been making many people angry by robbing their banks and trains for some 16 years and had an ample supply of folks who wanted him dead.
Right next to Jesse’s final residence is the Patee Museum. It is alleged to be one of the best Western museums in the country and I would have to agree. It was a hotel back in Jesse’s time and also the eastern terminus office of the Pony Express. The collection here is magnificent. They have displays of stagecoaches, wagons, cannons, a bunch of Pony Express memorabilia, an old carousel with carved wooden animals you can ride, two ballrooms and a great assortment of murder weapons taken from the former operators, sometimes after they were recently shot. There is a half ton ball of string, old automobiles in good shape, patent application models of strange devices, a signed first edition of Roughing It by Mark Twain, an indoor full-size locomotive pulling a few historical railway cars, a big selection of old fashioned toys in great shape, a working gallows, operating model trains and a full size train station. They also have office, store and hotel room displays made to look like they did in the 1800’s. The Pony Express room is a big room off the lobby and is preserved as it was during the year or so it operated. There is a good display about the Buffalo Soldiers. There is period furniture liberally distributed throughout the building. I know because I sat on a lot of it. To see everything, budget at least a day or two. This is a Bucket List museum. It costs $6 for mere mortals and $5 for the elderly, like me.
After leaving the museum, we took a drive through downtown St. Jo and found lots of old buildings. Some of the old buildings are in great shape and truly stunning. Lots of them are falling apart. It is a bit tragic that these old treasures can’t be renovated. Maybe there’s just not enough money around to save them. We also took a spin down to an area called The Stockyards. We did not see too many stockyards but there were semi trucks everywhere with stock trailers. Apparently, they don’t fool around much with stock outside instead choosing to truck the unsuspecting future food directly to the myriad slaughterhouses lining the Missouri River. There were also an abundance of grain elevators along the river. There must be a lot of river cargo on the Missouri although I doubt many head of cattle use it.
We took a few pictures you can see if you click the asterisk *

Today we took about a cubic yard of laundry a few miles down the road to a commercial laundromat. Since there is only two washing machines in our campground, we would have been in there all day considering the drawbacks to extended travel without access to laundry facilities and sweating. It is pretty toasty here. It was 100 yesterday but only 97 today. Maybe we can check out St. Joseph tomorrow.

We were back on the road today, leaving our plain accommodations in New Franklin and continuing our westward trek. We escaped from the smooth, wide federal interstate system highway I-70 about 10 miles west of New Franklin and veered onto the very pleasant rural highways of Missouri. The state roads might quite possibly be better than the interstate highways, at least when it comes to paving and scenery quality. Southern Missouri is rolling grass and forest lands that border the wide and muddy Missouri River. There are substantial limestone bluffs that border the river and all the road cuts along Missouri 36.
We pulled back off the highway about 175 miles later when we drove into the A OK RV Park just north of St. Joseph, Missouri. It is a nice park with full hookups, a very small laundry, nice grass between sites, shade, great satellite antenna reception, good wifi and does not have railroad tracks anywhere within earshot. We want to go into St. Joseph tomorrow but, unfortunately, we have to do our long-neglected laundry. It is not like we really need clothes here because it is hotter than hell and wearing nothing is more comfortable than wearing anything. However, the laundry may rot in the humidity and we can’t have that.

Our current short-term abode is at the Katy Roundhouse RV Park and Vacant Lot near New Franklin, Missouri. There are some trees here. New Franklin seems to be located close to Old Franklin which is very close to Franklin. No kidding.
Not too far away, however, is the town of Boonville which is named after Daniel Boone but spelled incorrectly. It is the location of an A&W. It is also the location of some gorgeous houses and other buildings here in the midst of sparsely-populated central Missouri. Since today is the 39th anniversary of my poor wife being duped into marrying me, we went over to the A&W for an anniversary root beer float. It was quite refreshing since the temperature here today is close to 100 and so is the relative humidity.
After the reward at A&W, we jumped back into our properly air conditioned truck for a spin around Boonville. This place is amply supplied with some absolutely gorgeous old houses and buildings indicating that not everyone around here is a farmer. Right in the middle of our leisurely cruise through town, we noted considerable nasty fencing surrounding an easily identified government complex. We soon passed by the sign indicating the facility is a medium-security prison, right in the back yard of some very pretty houses. The howling from crybabies would be heard for miles if a prison was in such close proximity to their houses in California.
After some fueling, we headed back toward our spartan campground and came across a store called Snoddy’s. It sounds worse than it spells.
If you would like to see some of these great houses, click the asterisk *