Cathedral, Farms, Oregon/California/Mormon/Pony Express Trail(s)

We left the park in Russell Kansas around 8 a.m., headed west on I-70 for 30 miles, then north from Hays Kansas up to I-80 in Nebraska.  I have taken this route numerous times, and find it an easy drive….even in the motorhome now that I have done that too.  Yes, you slow down at a few towns, but traffic is light, and it is an easy drive.  However, before we even get to Hays, we see the famed Cathedral of the Plains, also known as St. Fidelis Catholic Church, built from 1908 to 1911.  Here are a few shots, clicking on them will give you larger pictures (just be sure to come back to the blog )

     

The cross and figures at the cross is across the street from the church.  We did not go inside, had too many miles to travel, but it was a good, quick ten minute detour.  Then it was a long drive through much farm land…

 

Kansas above, Nebraska below

 

Nebraska below

Until we hit the Oregon/California/Mormon/Pony Express Trails in the area below in Nebraska

As we traveled along the relatively short portion of these trails, our minds wandered to “I wonder what the pioneers who traveled these routes thought as they came upon the various obstacles?”  Heavy brush, muddy fields, rivers to cross, hills, a constant slow rise in elevation….so many things besides the dangers along the way from Indians, animals, and other people.  The trail is about 2,000 miles long, and it took from four to six months to cross it.  So they traveled from ten to twenty miles per day, depending upon the conditions.  As we were about 10 miles out, we could see one of our destinations for the day…. Chimney Rock. One could imagine how many times wagons pressed forward to camp near Chimney Rock for the night.

 

Driving a bit further west, and we came to Scotts Bluff National Monument.  We should have went into the museum, but we were just too tired, and still an hour from our park for the night.  So here are a few pictures of Scotts Bluff, and the link to the National Park Service will give you more info on the monument.  We will need to try and come back to the area when we have more time, that is for sure.

Yes, the Oregon Trail rain right about where these wagons are placed today.

Well, we covered nearly 500 miles today, but we got to see some cool stuff, although just briefly.  With father’s day on Sunday, we need to get closer to Salt Lake so that we can spend Sunday with my daughter Stephanie.  But tomorrow we are stopping at Independence Rock for sure.  For tonight, we are at Pony Soldier RV Park, an old, old KOA with very friendly staff/owners.  We will be hearing a train whistle during the night, but I don’t think it will keep us up much since it is on the other side of the highway.

Yes Dorothy, we are in Kansas

But before we leave the KOA in Oak Grove, the dogs need some exercise. 

     

They both look so bored…..one thing I find about KOA is that many of them have doggie runs…some are very elaborate, most are like the one(s) today.  I said “one(s)” because there are two there…one large one cut in half.

But when they get to run free….they don’t care just how big the dog run is….

Today Skruffy was the one to go way out there….there must have been a reason for that.

….and very quickly it is easy to see why.  Get away from dad, find a good smell, roll on my back….that way he can’t (won’t) tell me to stop.  After awhile, I take them to the dog run next door…different smells. But quickly they think I made a big mistake.

Hey DAD!  Look what just showed up next door….can we go back there????

Well, if we can’t go back there, then I am going to bark and bark and bark at them….and that is what Skruffy did, while Bubba just wagged his little tail.  Well, it is time to go kids….let’s go back to the Jayco motorhome.

But on the way we see this tricked out Class A.  The side is a tribute to the troops, the back is a tribute to NASCAR, and the other side is just a plain old paint job.

Above is the backside of the office, laundry room and bathrooms, with the swimming pool to the right.  Below is a playground for the kids (although we did not see any young kids old enough to enjoy it…just a few infants being held by their mothers.)  And yes, that is our Jayco Melbourne right next to the playground…..where they don’t want any dogs to be….which was not easy since our dogs are use to going right out the motorhome door and do their thing.

And one last shot of the KOA….that is the back of our rig, right next to neighbors….typical KOA style, just not my cup of tea.

So we headed to the west along I-70 around 10:30, all rested up from our marathon drive on Tuesday.  We went quickly into Kansas, paid the $5+ toll for the short distance on the toll road to Topeka, and after a quick Walmart stop in Salina, we made it to the Triple J RV Park in Russell Kansas, a Passport America park where it cost a whole $15 to stay the night, $2 more for Internet and Cable (and it is poor cable, but OK Internet.)

At least there is some grass between sites, along with many trees and bushes.  The owner does very well at trying to keep space between the RV’s unless too many pull in for the night.  It is clean, and far enough away from the freeway that the noise will be very faint in the middle of the night.

She gave us a spot right near the front, so we won’t have any neighbors on our “door” entrance side, and probably not behind nor next to us either.  And the shade was very welcome with the early summer heat, which was in the mid-90’s as a high.

And for Skruffy and Bubba….I think they are still bored…but they enjoyed today better than Tuesday/Wednesday, that is for sure.

Tomorrow we head up to Nebraska when we get to Hays, and then we are going to go up into Wyoming following the Oregon/Mormon Wagon Trail.  I have seen some of this area before by car, but didn’t even have time to stop and take pictures.  And on Saturday we plan to see Independence Rock in Wyoming where emigrants carved their names on the rock….and hope to stay Saturday night on the far western end of Wyoming so that we can be in the Salt Lake area by noon where we plan to spend some time with my daughter Stephanie.