Family Visit and Blue Springs Lake Campground

At Blue Springs Lake Campground, Lee’s Summit, MO

Back in 1991 when I took a job in Arkansas, mom and dad followed very quickly by moving from California to Independence / Blue Springs Missouri area where they had friends, and mom had two brothers, two sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews living nearby.  Now, mom and dad live back in California…and only one sister-in-law is left…Aunt Vera.  I have shown pictures of my cousin Donald a few times…he and I are the same age…this is his mother.  Don’s sister Cassie has lived in the area since the 1970’s, and her and her husband Rick sold their home recently and moved in with aunt Vera who is 92, still climbs the stairs a few times each day, and has lived independently since Uncle Harold, a Pearl Harbor survivor, died in 2002, shortly after attending the 60th anniversary of the attack with a honor trip back to Pearl Harbor.  It was nice to see Aunt Vera and Cousin Cassie, her daughter Allison and Allison’s three children…sorry that Rick had to work, but as a bonus, my oldest brother’s daughter Kathryn and her husband Dallas, a Jackson County Fire Fighter, were able to meet us there.  Before long, 3 hours had come and gone...and we were gone again without any pictures.  Gotta remember to take that camera to these events!
 

Blue Springs Lake is a 720 acre reservoir located near Lee’s Summit, west of Kansas City, south of Independence. It is located in Fleming Park, a public park in Jackson County which also contains Lake Jacomo, another 900 acre lake which is right up against Blue Springs Lake.  There are two campgrounds in Fleming Park, both administered by the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department, which also operates a third campground nearby called Longview Campground along Longview Lake.  All three campsites have a combination of full hookups ($33) or electric/water ($25) or tent ($21) with water nearby, and there is a slight discount for senior citizens.  (We are paying $31 per night for full hookups)  All campgrounds take reservations, but we are outside of the busy season, and easily got in without one…but there is no extra cost if you do reserve, which can be done through the Park and Rec website.

Most RV sites are very deep, and can handle any size of a RV.

Some, like the one above, have two sites right next to each other…great for camping with a friend…not so great if you don’t know your neighbor because they are like “right next to you”.

Here is an example with a large Class A motorhome in a full hookup spot.

Although there are no sites with direct access or views of the lake, it is a short drive in either direction to get to the lake.  There is also a boat marina located at all three lakes, and there are also picnic shelters, and Blue Springs Lake has a swimming beach, and lots of fishing at all three lakes.

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Here is a playground which is close to our campground.

Deceitful Me?

Yep, that’s mom.  Where are we?  In Missouri, where we gave mom and dad a big surprise by showing up in Blue Springs (outside Kansas City) where they have been for two weeks now, with another four nights to go before they fly back to the Sacramento area.  Why?  Because we can, that’s why.

We left Cochiti Lake on Tuesday morning, and drove to Elkhart, Kansas.  What?  You thought I did the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument hike on Tuesday?  Well, I actually did that on Monday.  Implied that I did it on Tuesday in the blog to throw mom off “IF” she read the blog…she hadn’t, but mission accomplished, it was a complete surprise to them.  On Wednesday we drove through Dodge City, said hi to Wyatt, Bat (Masterson) and, of course, Kitty and Matt, as we drove quickly through (after getting gas).  Wednesday night we stayed in Emporia, Kansas.  This was the loudest park we had stayed in for many weeks, and it was not that loud….just seemed to be since we have had dead silence for so long now.

When dinosaurs are the most interesting thing to photograph as you travel from one corner of Kansas to the other, you know you have an exciting trip.  Of course, we were on a mission, travel 800+ miles in just over 50 hours, you know that you don’t have time to stop and enjoy the roses, errr, tumbleweeds.

Good weather for two days, but woke up today to the sound of thunder, and once underway, we stopped to allow the storm to pass over just on the outskirts of Emporia, then hit about 20-30 minutes of some pretty hard weather before clouds with blue skies started to appear.  Hard to tell, but it is real dark in that rearview mirror.

    

We are at a KOA in Oak Grove, Missouri, ten miles from mom and dad’s weekly-stay motel.  We have stayed her in the past, just last year, and had to renew our KOA membership to get the discount….but there is a KOA in Florida by Marcia’s brother’s house that we also stay at, so it is as it is.  Just not a big KOA fan, overpriced for what you get….but sometimes it’s your only choice.  Will be here for four nights, then off to Arkansas.  We also get to see my youngest son, who is in his first year at the Cleveland Chiropractic College just over the boarder in Kansas  He had a birthday yesterday, and I told him I would drive the 90 miles from Emporia to take him to dinner, but he had two tests today and decided stay home and study.  Tomorrow I will pick him up at noon from the College, and then the five of us will have dinner somewhere.  If I don’t blog for a few days, just know all is well.