This was such a fun weekend! Our plan was to head to Lake Scott in Kansas, about 30 miles south of Oakley on US83. We stopped at the I-70 Diner in Flagler, CO and had the BEST chicken fried steaks for a late breakfast before we made the state line. We haven’t been in years, but it’s still the same adorable “joint” with really, really good food. We did kind of miss the famous Chili Schpiel, but the fella who used to do that wasn’t there (we bought a pint, anyway). If you get a chance and you see the bright pink car atop a checkered pole in eastern Colorado, I highly recommend stopping.
We made it to Kansas just around noon, passing countless sorghum fields (and a few drying fields of corn), and mile upon mile of blue sky. Kansas gets kind of a bad rap, but I think it has its own unique beauty, especially if one wanders off the I70 corridor. We saw a few large herds of antelope, a few deer stragglers, and were nearly dive-bombed by a BIG hawk. Oh, and Kansas was the first stop on the Inman Insect Massacre of 2015. Our windshield…oh, what a mess…
The campground was immaculate – we, as is typical for us – somehow ended up entering at the wrong end of the park and took the scenic route to camp. Thankfully, we arrived early and there were lots of places to chose from. Freddy got us all parked and leveled, I put out the slideouts and we set up camp (he sets up outside, and I set up inside). We were kind of bummed to discover that there were no fire pits in the “prime” sites, and while the locals were aware of this, we, sadly, were not. Turns out, we brought firewood for naught (though I did immediately log in to Amazon and ordered us a portable firepit for future use). It’s always fun to set up – friendly people stop by to tell us what a pretty camp set up we have, and it’s flattering to be RV rookies with a place others enjoy looking at.
Believe me when I tell you, when the internet tells you this spot is an oasis, it truly is! There is some really interesting stuff to see at Lake Scott. Granted, we were there in the off-season, but the lake is gorgeous (no wake, so don’t plan to waterski), the beach was immaculate, sandy, and combed, with a marina right there – I could imagine kids walking up to the window to buy ice cream on hot days. Really, very cool. We walked to El Cuartelejo, the ruins of a very old adobe settlement (I will not dwell on the tarantula we saw while walking, I will not dwell on the tarantula we saw while walking, I will not dwell on the tarantula we saw while walking), and saw a tiny lizard darting around in the underbrush. There are benches all over the park, just waiting for someone to sit a spell, so the whole place felt SO very welcoming – I’m sure we’ll be back quite often.
Well, we planned for Kansas, and ended up there, for sure, but my husband is a gypsy. After landing at Lake Scott, discovering that there were no fire pits in the “prime” sites (and consequently ordering one on Amazon later that night), wandering the grounds, meeting a few strangers, and sleeping the night through, the hubster woke up ultra early, brewed some coffee, and skimmed the atlas whilst I slept. Big mistake, sleeping past 5am when the man has an atlas…
Anyway, we packed up camp sometime around 7:30am, and were on the road toward Oklahoma and Texas, with Clayton Lake in New Mexico as our “most logical” destination. Have I mentioned my husband is a gypsy? Suffice it to say that the man’s decision led to him spending a long, LONG time behind the wheel for the past 4 days. I do owe him $5 after betting that Highway 54 was Pancake Blvd in Liberal, Kansas. He might actually get that money if I ever have any cash.
Tomorrow I’ll post more photos of our most recent foray into this RVing business – please note that there aren’t pictures of Oklahoma or Texas, aside from their state line signs, simply because it didn’t make seem fair to take photos when we were just passing through (and we didn’t see a real whole lot to take pictures of during the few hours we were there). We did make frequent stops to scrub the windshield at various truckstops along the way, but only managed to find tshirts for Kansas and Oklahoma. Texas and New Mexico? Get it together, people.
Serenity, vagabond 