Yesterday morning in the Garden of the Gods Campground we met a Dad and his 11ish year old daughter Olivia from Erie, PA. They were on a big adventure through the west with the Mom and a 16 year old sister. Olivia said her two favorite places were the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the Prairie Museum in Colby. They were a really nice family.
So when we were trucking across boring, flat Kansas we realized we would be passing right through Colby and decided to make a stop and check it out. It is a little jewel for anyone who likes history and "things". The woman who donated all her treasures to the museum must never have thrown a single thing away, from buttons, marbles, dresses, kitchen ware, musical instruments and on and on and on. The second part of the museum was a replication of a typical Kansan plains town.
Out we went, the only people in town. We walked into the plank house and I felt like I was walking into my Grandmother's time, from the crocheted table cloth made by Tante Gusta to the crank phone on the wall. There was a Victrola with 78 rpm records like Grandma had in her basement. There was a piano that Luanne promptly played and we had early evening entertainment!
Our next stop was the one room school house where I promptly took charge as teacher, ringing the class to order.
Luanne's favorite spot in town was the sod house, or the "soddie". It was a typical pioneer construction on the outside but the inside was nicely finished and Luanne decided to move in.
She practiced rocking the baby with her foot while doing her knitting and darned near spent the afternoon doing it!
The barn was huge, and beautiful for a barn. The church was Evangelical and Luanne found a pump organ and was once again regaling the congregation.
We spent last night at a campground in Salina KS. Once again, we have great weather except for the winds which are blowing steadily at over 20 mph with greater gusts. We are headed for Columbia MO tonight, about a 5 hour drive. Luanne leaves Sunday morning for the north and I'll head for the last couple of hours drive west and home.
Saturday late afternoon
We've made it to Columbia after driving through the heaviest winds we've encountered anywhere save our torndadic dust storm in Taos. It was gusting and swirling and we really knew we were in Kansas! We stopped at a rest stop and it was literally hard to stand up against the winds.
Now sitting with a Bloody Mary and enjoying not having to drive any more today! I'm about two hours from home but too much to even think about going tonight, besides, one more night laughing with Luanne before the trip is over!!
We had high winds, here, too. It sounds like you two are eeping out every last drop out of vacation.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have an RV, vacation begins as you leave your driveway, and ends when you pull back in. That's certainly true with you, two. I'm glad you decided to take the extra time to head home--certainly more interesting than dead heading. We miss you, but we're glad you're still having fun. Let us know when you're off the road--have a great day, today, too.