Marquette, KS - Concordia, KS - Smith Center, KS - Minden, NE - North Platte, NE - Valentine, NE - Wall, SD

Sunday, April 27 - Sunday, May 12, 2024

It's been a while since I did my blog.  We've been busy!

We left Hutchinson, KS on Sunday, April 27 and went to Riverside Park near Marquette, KS.

It's a CoE park (> $9 a night, electric, water and a dump station) and we were going to stay for 3 nights.  We had planned on taking another route to Minden, KS, but since we didn't have any reservations until then we decided to stay another night.  That's what I love about not planning ahead and making reservations.  We can choose to go in any direction we want when we want.

While we were there we went to Mushroom Rock State Park.  It's strange to see these rock formations out on the Kansas prairie. It's not a very large state park so it didn't take very long.

We left on Wednesday, May 1 and went to Concordia Airport Park. It was a town park and although was free they accept donations, which we did.  It had 30/50 amp electric, some sites had water, and there was a dump station.  It's between a small airport and a busy road.  I never heard any planes take off or land because the road was so noisy.  It did mostly quiet down at night.  It was also right across the street from a Walmart so we were able to stock up.  It's evidently quite well known because the electric and water sites filled up each night.

We've been trying to limit our travel days to less than two hours or 100 miles.  So on Friday, May 3 we stopped in Smith Center, KS at the Beaver Creek RV Park and Campground ($40 per night, full hookups).  The full hookups were nice but it was basically just a gravel parking lot.  However, the owners were very nice and they have a small restaurant/bar on site.

We left on Sunday, May 5 and went to Pioneer Village Campground in Minden, NE ($25.48 per night with Passport America, full hookups). 

The reason we went there was to go to Pioneer Village.  Harold Warp was born in 1903 near Minden, NE.  In 1924 he moved to Chicago and started the Plex-O-Glass Company that went on to make plexiglass for airplanes in WWII.  In 1953 he found out that the school he attended as a child was going up for auction.  He purchased it, complete with everything that was in it.  Then he found out a church and depot were to be disposed of and purchased them.  He found a place to put them and his collection grew from there.  From 1830 he has just about everything you could imagine, all displayed in chronological order.

From the website:

"The Harold Warp Pioneer Village complex comprises 28 buildings on 20 acres housing over 50,000 irreplaceable items of historical value, restored to operating order, arranged in groups and also in the chronological order of their development.

There are 12 historic buildings around the circular “green”. There’s a Frontier Fort, a real honest-to-goodness Pony Express Station, an Iron Horse, and a home made of sod. There’s a general store and a toy store, chock full of all the goods from yesteryear. An original art collection including 25 Currier and Ives prints, 23 Jackson paintings, and the largest single collection of Rogers statues.

You can see a priceless steam carousel, 17 historic flying machines and marvel at 100 antique tractors. See the world’s oldest Buick, a 1902 Cadillac and a 1903 Ford, both designed by Henry Ford, plus 350 other antique cars, all displayed in their order of development."

Here's the website for more information: https://pioneervillage.com/

We spent the whole day looking at everything, but I think it would take a week to see it all.  If you are even close to Minden, NE you should see this museum.  It's a bargain!  Here are pictures of a very few of the things we saw.

This was one of those cars that can go on land or water.

This is the best stocked mercantile I've ever seen.

When they renovated this depot they found seven layers of floor.

Here's the school that started it all, complete with everything that was in it, including many books from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

        There were buildings full of rows and rows of cars, all organized by make and year.

This one had me stumped.  Why would you need a treadmill for a dog?

By the end of the day we were tired!

The next day we drove up to Ft. Kearney to go to The Archway museum over I-80.  It takes you through transportation along the Great Platte River Road, from the pioneers that crossed the country on the Oregon Trail to the present day.  They give you little audio 'phones' that connect to information along the 'road'.  It's easier than trying to read a lot of signs.  We took our time and it took us a couple of hours.  The website is https://archway.org/.

If you're in the area it's a fun stop.

We left Minden on Wednesday, May 8 and went to the Golden Spike Tower in North Platte.  We had been there before five years ago but enjoyed it and it was on our way, so we decided to stop again.

It's fascinating to me to watch the train cars be pushed up the hump, and then each car goes to a different train waiting on one of the tracks.  A car starts at the top and the tracks branch off to waiting trains.

This is also a Harvest Hosts stop so we spent the night.  When you're up in the tower you don't hear the trains, and when you are walking in the parking lot you don't really pay attention.  However, you notice about 10:00 at night that the cars going down the hump screech all night.  Probably not the best sleep we ever had but hey, it was free!

We left on Thursday, May 9 and drove to Ballard Marsh State Wildlife Area.  We spent the night in a grassy campground area a little off the highway.  It was really nice with all kinds of birds singing.  We walked down the road and saw even more birds and marsh.  Even with the highway fairly close it was a much quieter night than the previous one.  We thought about spending another night but there's really not anything to do so we didn't.

It was the night of the aurora and John got this picture.

Saturday, May 11 we drove to Sleepy Hollow RV Park in Wall, SD ($54.67 per night, full hookups).  We were going to go to another wildlife area but when we discovered it was seven miles down a dirt road we decided to go on to Wall. 

 Of course we had to go to Wall Drug!

You may wonder why I post pictures of the campgrounds and include prices.  If I don't post pictures of campgrounds I won't remember where I was and what it looked like.  In years to come the prices will seem cheap!  My grandparents camped in the 1960s, they spent $1-3 a night and didn't have to make reservations months ahead.  How times have changed.

Soon we'll be roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1

Bartlesville OK - Newkirk OK - Augusta KS - Old Cowtown Museum - Hutchinson KS

Wednesday, April 16 - Saturday, April 27, 2024

We did go and see Marrs Mercantile in Centerville, AR. It's a small store with things for sale that are hand crafted in the area. I bought an olive wood spoon/spatula.  When Dave and Jennie Marrs renovated the old bank building they also added a bathroom with this colorful tile and used the old bank vault door for the bathroom door. It was fun to see the building after watching it on TV.

From Horseshoe Bend park we went to My Green Country RV in Bartlesville OK for one night (site #13). They had full hookups for $31.65 per night. It looked like there were a lot of permanent people there but the park was pretty well maintained. I forgot to take any pictures.

On Friday, April 19 we drove to Coon Creek Cove Campground, a CoE park near Newkirk OK (site #36) for 3 nights. They had 30 amp electric, water, and a dump station for $11 per night with our senior pass. We didn't go anywhere while we were there. However, we did replace the awning as it was showing wear.  No pictures of this, but think of two old people trying to replace an awning. You get the picture.  :-) It was pretty windy while we were there.

On Monday, April 22 we went to 4 Mile Creek Resort and Campground in Augusta KS for 3 nights. We were in lower level site #20. We had 50 amp electric, water, and dump station at $33.70 per night. We thought being down lower the wind wouldn't be so bad but not so much. I also didn't know when I booked it that we had to go a couple of miles on a dirt road. In this picture the truck has just the dust from our trip to the campground.  After a few trips in and out it was even worse.  John did pressure wash both the truck and 5th wheel, and when we left he drove reeeally slow.  

While we were there we went to the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita.  It's a frontier town where they have moved old buildings from other locations and set it up to really resemble an old town. One of the houses was used in the film "Sarah, Plain and Tall".

Anyone need a new carriage?

On Thursday, April 25 we drove to Sand Hills State Park Near Hutchinson KS for 3 nights. We have site #24, full hookups for $22 per night plus Kansas motor vehicle use fee per night.  It's a nice state park, not even half full on the weekend. It is VERY windy here.  We closed the slides the other night because the toppers (the ones on the driver side - remember, the one on the passenger side was hanging by a thread, John took it off and we haven't been able to replace it yet) were flapping around so much. John was talking to a local gentleman and he said people around here don't put toppers on their RVs because of the wind, they just don't last.

Friday we went to Strataca, an underground salt mine. They've been mining there since the 1920s. The mine goes down 650 feet underground, it's a constant 68 degrees, and there are 150 miles of tunnels. They say the salt area goes from about Kansas City to Colorado, then from Texas to Nebraska, so they have enough salt to last for generations.  They use the salt from this mine as road salt.  We went down the hoist that took us the 650 feet down to the mine. The area they have set up as the museum was mined out 20 years and before, so there's no active mining in that area.  First you go through the museum area, which is quite large. In order to get anything down into the mine it has to go down on the hoist. That means anything large has to be taken apart, sent down, and then reassembled.  Anything that goes into the mine stays there. If it breaks and can't be fixed they take it to a finished part of the mine and leave it there.

There are some big machines down there too!

They use some of the mined out areas to store movie reels and memorabilia, state and federal records.  It saw several boxes of 35mm film labeled 'Friends'.

We went on the Salt Mine Express, and 'train' tour through part of the mined out area. This is how they used to move the salt through the mine. The equipment they use is for coal mining.

Like I said, what goes in the mine stays in the mine.  They've uncovered trash from the 1950s. You don't see Lily cups anymore!  (You'll have to click on the picture to make in larger).

After the train tour you go on The Dark Ride, a tram tour. They take you through more mined out areas, and then turn off all the lights. It is DARK!  After they turn the lights back on you go to a big pile of salt and you can take some home. Of course the last stop is what must be the world's deepest gift shop!  It took us a little over two hours and was worth it. We would recommend if you're going to be even close to the area.

Tomorrow we'll be...

Roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1