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| Not so sure about the fact that its a chocolate stout :) |
Sunday 7/9 - 7/10
So apparently Kansas has this wonderful setup where each teeny little Crossroads town has all of the services a person could want including a city park that allows camping. At about 830 Aaron, Josh and I pull into Mankato City Park. It has a large playground, Pavilion with bathrooms and picnic tables and we see a man building a small stage. We hemed and hawed about the strangeness of just pulling over and camping at a city park and finally Josh asks the man building the stage if we could stay there.
He's about the friendliest person we've ever met and says absolutely sure explains to us why he's building the stage and that there's a wedding going on two blocks up if we want to crash the party. All in all he made us feel very welcome so we set up camp.
We all play on the crazy playground. Josh goes in the camper to read while Aaron and I catch more flyer flies. We sleep perfectly soundly and hit the road before 7 the next morning.
Our next trip was a recreation of my cross-country trip with my mom and dad when I was 18 months old... And our stop was the geographic center of the United States. We stopped took pictures but here's the craziest part of the whole thing... the name of the street that the geographic center of the United States is drumroll please ... Aa. Yup AA.
We continue to rely on the wonderfulness of Route 36 Kansas towns and head to the next little Crossroads for breakfast.
We continue driving hem and haw about stopping at historical marker on the side keep driving. Then we see a sign for prairie dog State Park and it has a Aaron size statue of a prairie dog next to it. Josh over shoots it, makes a u-turn and we head to Prairie Dog City Visitor Center. The girl at the desk explains that: yes, they do have prairie dogs and she sorry that it's so expensive but it's $5 to go into the park, per vehicle. We decide to splurge and head on in with a quick stop at the 1887 one-room schoolhouse still full of furniture. Then some oogling of Old Farm Equipment.
Back in the truck we drive over a little bridge to prairie dog City. To quote Aaron they are adorable! It's beautifully Sunny about a billion degrees and there's 20 or more prairie dogs hopping in and out of their burrows with babies tumbling around like puppies.
With binoculars we look off in the distance and see a nature trail so we hopped back in the truck. The trail is a story Trail so Aaron reads along about mice on a July 4th outing while we all walk. Animals list: prairie dogs, Orioles, Western Kingbird , meadowlarks, and white pelicans!
Back in the truck heading west. It's getting drier and drier less crops more cattle and way fewer trees. We see a sign for a motorcycle museum so why not. Off the beaten path again we go, even more off the path than 36 West to St Francis, Kansas. The Motorcycle Museum was amazing. They had motorcycles dating back to 1902, the oldest being from Waltham, Massachusetts.
Back in the truck really enjoying the teeny little Crossroad towns of 36 West in Kansas. As we leave St Francis the gas station is closed and we push on.
To keep entertained I frequently go on to Google and read about the next towns that we're going through and discover there aren't any. We have just crossed into Colorado and the cute teeny-weeny little Crossroad towns of Kansas with all the services that one could need no longer existed.
I pull out Google Maps and look for gas along our route and discover that the nearest actual gas station is over 90 miles away. I won't bore you with the details of our gas mileage but it wasn't looking good. By the way we never filled our extra gas can.
On Google Maps there was a Co-op a couple miles off the road. As Josh's reminded me we have AAA we head off onto an even smaller Road than Route 36 to a farm co-op. By the way it's Sunday.
Off in the distance by the grain silos Josh thinks he sees a convenience store and gas pumps. We pull up to a Napa and a Seed Co-op and two pumps. The sign says they're closed but the only thing we can do is try the pump.
The pumps were on... yipee, yahoo thanks for trying Josh. We continue on that little road surprisingly enough find a grocery store get lunch get back on the road and head to cousin Mike's.
We left camp so quickly that Josh and I needed to get coffee and Aaron needed breakfast out. Aa had a lovely egg and cheese on a hamburger roll from a gas station in Ohio.
Our plan for the day was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and then to continue driving further west to a campground. While driving through Ohio Aaron said "hey Mommy and Daddy Orville Wright was born in Ohio." Josh and I said well then what about Wilbur and Aaron said he was born in Indiana.
A couple hours later ... low and behold there was the sign for the Wilbur Wright Museum and birthplace in Indiana. Detour through 7 miles of corn to arrive at his lovely Museum.
After a lovely tour we get back in the truck and continue driving to the speedway. Torrential rains and rainbows along the way. We arrived to 90° and sunny at the speedway. All the quick easy tours were done so we were stuck doing the VIP tour. Wow wow wow
We toured the museum were absolutely mystified at the Indy cars. It really amazed us how close in time to Orville brothers first flight and the first Indy race were... just 6 years apart!
Gasoline Alley, the Press Box, the timing Booth, a bus ride on the track and the coup de gras we got to kiss the Brick.
Truly a great tour!
Back in the truck and on our way to our next Campground through some more torrential rains.
Well, since we didn't start until almost noon, then we had a lot of miles to complete so it was a big driving day.
After our lovely Wawa lunch we continued to drive. Then it was snacktime cuz what else you going to do on a long car day? So we stopped at a sheets. Not only did we get to enjoy Hoagie Fest but we also got to enjoy Milkshake Fest at Sheetz.
As we pull in we see the most amazing ladder fire truck getting fuel. Aaron and I walk over to oogle it and the fireman driver says go ahead open the door get in. Both Aaron and I look at him a little confused and he says no really open the door and get in.
I open the back door to the fire truck and he says to Aaron "go ahead get in, just don't touch anything." Aaron climbs into the brand new fire truck you can just smell the smell of new car inside.
Apparently, the Nanty Glo fire department just received a brand new ladder truck and he was very excited to show it off to us. It was truly amazing with an over 100 foot ladder and more flashing LED lights than you can imagine.
We continue driving till dinnertime and find a Roadhouse to stop for for dinner and grab the last table. Our ticket was the last one in the line for the cook. To keep busy Aaron and I played a game of pool.
We finally arrived at Dillon State Park campground in Ohio at about 10 p.m. . Pull into a no reservation spot, pop up the camper and were asleep by 10:30!
Next morning we were packed up and hitting the road by 7:30.
First night under our belt and it was a complete success. Stopped at a lovely shop in Connecticut to pick up stuff to cook then headed off to the campsite. Camped on Lake Tobyhanna, had a fire, wrote a couple of poems, roasted marshmallows and crashed out.
Decided to run all the way around the lake and Aaron rode along with us.
And a Pennsylvania treat for all ... hoagies and a rack of soft pretzels
From here on out there all new States for Aaron.
