Buffalo Bill and Anne Oakley

WHERE ARE WE?  McCook Nebraska

Sometimes I get to wondering if people view us as that little old couple that go down the highway looking around and slowing down traffic.  My dad used to do that and I must admit that there have been times when we see something interesting on the side of the road, that I look down and my speed has dropped by 20 kph.  Then I look in the mirror and realize that there is a small line up starting to form behind me.  It's real folks, and if you haven't done it, you will.  

Kansas and Nebraska are big cattle and milk producers along with many crops, some of which support the cattle.  We see lots of cattle roaming in the hills along the way, but every once in a while there will be a feedlot.  By feedlot, I mean cattle in pens for literally miles.  This particular one was at least 2 miles deep by 2 miles long.  Probably hundreds of thousands cattle housed there.  I can't imagine the work to keep them fed and clean.  There were 3 semi cattle haulers backed up to the chutes with a few more in waiting in the yard.  Lots of steaks there!

And lots of huge dairy farms.  Hard to get a picture when your driving because I tend to slow down and hold up traffic!!

The crops here are just getting a good start and there is lots of irrigation going on.  

We stopped in Oakley Kansas today which is the birthplace of Buffalo Bill Cody.  He and Anne Oakley are noted legends in this area.  Buffalo was a noted buffalo hunter, hence the name, and Anne Oakley was just a renegade!!!  The town has built a beautiful interpretive center with a big monument to Buffalo Bill.

Today was a short travel day and because the weather was fantastic, we picked a little city park in McCook to park in.  24C is the temperature we seek as we travel along and that is what we got today.  They obviously water the grass and it is lush and thick and soft.  Archie loved it after walking in grass with "stickers" in it for the last couple days.

A beautiful sunset in a very relaxing place.  We will see what tomorrow brings.  Good Nite!!

Another Day on the Road

WHERE ARE WE?  Liberal Kansas

We had a good night at Walmart in Abilene TX.  Sue was having a tough time getting up this morning so I told her just to lay in bed and watch the TV!!! Get it??  The TV!  The one on the bed!!!  Lame joke! 

Its always good to catch up on the shopping so we have supplies for the road and I had to go back in this morning for some things we forgot.

We had a good drive today.  Here is where we went!

As soon as we crossed into Oklahoma there were hundreds of wind turbines churning away.  They sure do clutter up the view. We went by lots of oil stuff in the pastures too but it seems like lots of them are abandoned or at least not active.  Interesting country.  Even a dinosaur on a hill near the town of Canadian!!

We stopped at a nice little park for an hour to let Archie run around.  He has been couped up for a few days now and deserves a run.

Just a little update on my Starlink installation on the back of the MH.  It works very well and only take a minute to set up or take down.  Small pat on back!!!

We made it to Liberal Kansas about 5:30 and headed over to the fairgrounds for the night.  There is no charge for dry camping and it is a nice quiet place to hang out.  Good Nite!!

We Wasted a Rainy Day by Driving

WHERE ARE WE?  Abilene Texas

We turned our travels north again today.  We have Abilene TX as our destination.

We jumped on 83 highway and will stay on it until we arrive in Virden Manitoba.  Double checked and the Jeep is following along just fine.  

It was a lovely morning but soon the temperature started to drop and the rain started.  We got to drive in the rain for about half of the trip.  This part of Texas is very pretty and the wild flowers along the ditches are amazing.

There is a lot of history in this part of Texas as well.  Lots of the old buildings have date stamps of 1880's.  And a lot of the houses are built in the southern style.

One thing that tugged at my memory today was going by a bunch or almost ripe winter wheat fields.  When I was in my late teens, I used to come south with a custom harvesting crew and we always started in Texas around the first week of May.  I still remember how exciting it was to come all the way south to Texas to begin our summers work.  We would work our way home and arrive in early September.  That's my nostalgia for now.

At one point today we actually had to turn the heat on and of course the windows all fogged up.  I had forgotten how that happens when it rains and is cool.

Sue was having a wee nap in the back when we arrived in Abilene so I just quietly drove to the Hobby Lobby parking lot.  Then I went back and woke her up.  She didn't spend much time in the store at all.  I don't think she was in the shopping mood.

We headed across the street for the night.  Did a little shopping, watched a little TV and called it a day.  Good Nite!!

Got the Jeep Back Today

WHERE ARE WE?  Larado Texas

Had a couple things that I wanted to do this morning.  First it was time to give our tanks a good flushing and get filled up with water.  Guess what.  At 7:30 a city guy knocked on our door to tell us they had turned off the water for a while to fix a leak.  Well so much for that plan.  Well I thought maybe I could do plan 2 while I waited.  So I hopped on my bike and rode about 2 miles to O'Reilly's to get some oil and a filter for the MH.  I had contacted an oil change place in Larado across the street from where we will be picking up the Jeep to see if they did oil changes on Motorhomes.  Sure she said however they don't have oil or the filter for our engine, but if we bring our own, they will just charge us labour.  Ok that sounds good to me.  I got what I needed and headed back home.  

We just kinda hung around and about 11 they finally turned the water on so I got busy and got my chores done.  I even hosed the MH off to get the salt off a bit.  We headed down the road and grabbed some gas at a good price.

Sue mentioned that it was sure hot today and I looked down and it said 37C.  Just as I took the picture it dropped to 36C.

We made it to Larado about 4:30 and Sue had talked about visiting Hobby Lobby and Walmart.  We were running short of time so that wasn't gonna work today however I pointed out that the truck ahead of us might have some neat stuff, and the Walmart truck right beside us may have some rollback items.  She didn't bother to jump out so I guess she doesn't need it that bad.

We arrived at Southern Tire Mart to pick up the Jeep.  Remember how we burned the back bearing out of it.  Well it was a little more than that.  Apparently the rear end that I changed out last fall was not in great shape, because both axles were in bad shape.  So we changed them both and the seals and bearings and brakes and drums and all sorts of things.  Nothing $1500 USD would't fix.  At least we know its in good shape now.  So we got it all hooked up and went to get our oil change.

I got them to change the oil and grease the undercarriage, and add windshield washer fluid.  The oil filler cap is way up inside where you can only put oil in with a small container.  The guy doing it was new and he had oil up to his armpits by the time he was done.  $55 USD for everything.  I was pleased with that.

We headed up the to Larado Travel Information Center for the night.  Tonight we watched Survivor after supper and then called it a day.  Good Nite!

Our trip today.