From Oklahoma to Kansas

WHERE ARE WE? Medicine Lodge Kansas
NEXT DESTINATION? Slowly North

When we woke up today it was a lot nicer day than yesterday.  The wind had gone down a lot and the sun was shining.  We took our time getting going this morning and found ourselves doing a morning happy hour with Doug before we all packed up our things to hit the road.  Doug is going to be heading east and we are going north today.  We have enjoyed our time with Doug and Yuma for a couple days.

Charlie enjoyed the sunbeam but wasn't getting far from the Ponderosa because he knew we would be moving today. 

I busied myself with hooking up the Jeep to the Ponderosa and made sure the lights and safety chains were hooked up.  When I got back in the Jeep to do the final check before locking the doors, there was Yuma looking at me like "we going somewhere"?   He is quite the dog!! 

It wasn't long and Doug and Yuma headed out in the White Lion.  Hope our paths cross again sometime down the road.  Safe Travels.

We will be heading almost straight north.  We will hook up with highway 281 and follow it all the way north.  Today we have to use a few other highways to save us some miles because 281 swings way to the west.  Although it is only 238 kms it took us about 5 hours to get there.  We diddle along like a couple old seniors!!

Lots of little Oklahoma towns to go through and a lot of them have seen worse for wear.  This was a cute little hotel in a small town that was closed I think.  I bet there were a lot of good times there.

I love the country side in Oklahoma and Kansas.  It is mostly nice prairie and there are a few things that identify this area.  Cattle are one of them.  Lots and lots of cattle, and for all you A & W fans, they were mostly the Angus breed!!

A little farther down the road we thought we saw a cowboy in action, but it was just a metal silhouette of a cowboy roping a calf.  It was in a good place to catch your eye.

The big concrete elevators dot the horizon for as far as you can see.   In my young days, I used to come to this very area to custom harvest, and although I can't remember all the towns I hauled grain to, there is a possibility I hauled here.  That was 50 years ago though.  I was 15 when I started custom harvesting and did drive truck with no license once in a while.

And oil and gas pumps and storage tanks are everywhere.   The agriculture and oil are the back bone of this country.

And every town has a water tower with the name of the town on it. 

We stopped by a nice little roadside picnic area for a bite of lunch.  The road wasn't very busy so it was a nice quiet spot.

While Sue was walking around with Charlie she saw this painted rock on the ground.  She picked it up and it said it was from The Fluffy Show on Facebook.  She went to the Facebook sight and this rock was originally found in Wisconsin and someone had brought it here.  Interesting hobby that some people have painting rocks and seeing where they go.  We just left it there because it was a good spot.

It wasn't long and we were in Kansas.  We will keep our eyes peeled for Dorothy and Toto!

We had some thoughts of home as we were sitting waiting on a train to go by.  Our hometown of Rivers is a train town and waiting on trains is a daily experience for us.

We have one of those multi arm things for holding the cell phone when we use it for navigation.  I sort of laughed at the way ours looked today.  I almost wanted to put on some music so it could dance!!

We found a nice park to spend the night near downtown Medicine Lodge Kansas.  The downtown is quite pretty with this old hotel on the corner.  It is now an apartment block I think.  The brick cobblestone streets are absolutely gorgeous.
 

And there are some old colonial style houses near the down town.  This one had a guest house in the side yard as well.  These houses probably have some great histories.

The city park we are in is in the sports grounds and of course no one is here.  The bathrooms are shut down and the baseball diamonds are not being used.  In the States, it seems like a lot of city parks are still open for overnight RV's.  At least someone recognizes that there are still RV's travelling to their homes.  We have 50 amp power and can stay for 48 hours if we want.  What a great thing for a town to do.  This is where we will be for the night.  Not bad I would say.  Thanks Medicine Lodge Kansas.