From Topeka to Illinois via Iowa....

Before we arrived a couple of days early at the Capital City KOA in Topeka, we had planned on one stop over in Des Moines, IA at their Elks Lodge for a couple of nights.

Once we shifted our stay in Topeka back a couple of days, we decided to stop two different places on the way to our 3 month summer home in Sycamore, IL.

The first was Terrible's Lakeside Casino in Osceola, IA.  Only $20/night for full hook ups, we decided to stay two nights.  We're not gamblers by any stretch, but we do enjoy a Casino's buffet.  The park was only 12 years old, but looks like it was built for rigs of the 60's.  There was no support for the big Class A's it needed to hold and many of the pads had either been re poured, or in real need of help.  Nevertheless, it was perfect for us until we found out storms had knocked out data towers and our Verizon Mi-Fi wouldn't work.

Terrible's had a Nifty Fifty day on Monday where the lunch buffet was two for one (we were pigs) and every hour on the hour they would give away $1,000 in slot play for anyone who was registered and there.  Was only a 5 minute walk to the casino, so about 10 till every hour, Bob walked down, waited for the name to be called, walked back. During the 6 o'clock drawing we both went, Connie using her free play for signing up for their card.  "Attention, Lakeside Casino Customers.  The winner of this hours Nifty Fifty drawing is Robert" <long pause> "Anderson".  We could have died.  During that long pause, we both were ready to jump up and scream.  Nope.  Might as well have said "Robert NotYou".  Funny story, but both of our hearts skipped a beat.

It was still hot as we travelled the on the 3rd to Buffalo Shores, Iowa.  We had been there before, it's really a great place for those with boats to pull up along the shore and stay in their trailers.  Water of the Mississippi was great as it was still well into the 100's both days we were there.  They had changed their alcohol policy to where you could have beer in the water, you could have beer at your trailer -- you just couldn't have beer on the sand.  Really bizarre.  Was exactly what we wanted, a place to stop, get in the water, cool down, and it was only $18/night.

The 5th, we took off early to avoid the heat and made it to our new home for 3 months, Sycamore RV Resort.

Last weekend in Topeka

We said goodbye to our friend Cody, as he, his wife and kids brought the U-hauls up from Dallas to their new home in Topeka.
We remember well what it was like moving with all of our things in pretty much one place.  Only now, all of our things are in one place and they're moving all the time!

When we checked into the Capital City KOA in Topeka, one of the events was fireworks on June 29th and 30th.  Got to the 29th and scratch the "and 30th" part, so we went 'over the hill' and watched the festivities.  It was something.  Basically, the camp had given one of the locals who sold fireworks in town a place to shoot off his wares to a captive audience.  Everyone got a "shoot sheet", and our host introduced each rocket that went off.  "That was Spunky Monkey.  Next, we're going to do some Sparkling Twirlers.  Remember, bring in your shoot sheet for 10% off your order of anything you see here tonight...."  It was kind of similar to waiting for the community's fireworks to go off, and you're looking at the neighborhood's personal fireworks display in the meantime.

Saturday was the longest packing day ever. It was so blazing hot, we set records the last 5 days we were in Topeka for heat.  Awful. But, we got things taken care of and were on the road Sunday (early for us) headed for Iowa.  Enjoyed our time there, can't see us spending a month there again.

Only a week left? Really?

Hard to believe we leave the Capital City KOA here in Topeka a week from tomorrow to keep heading North towards Chicagoland.

Been busy here this weekend with the park over 75% full.  A big group of FMCA Covered Wagons is here this weekend, I think they said 21 rigs in all.  Kind of neat how they get out on a specified weekend and enjoy each other's company in different places.

Speaking of enjoying company, our first weekend here Connie hopped on the hayride and met our 'across the street' neighbor, Cody.  We've really enjoyed his company, as he's versed in sports, a college and pro football fan and a cigar aficionado.  He's been here for six months while his kids finished school in Dallas (about 15 minutes from where we stayed at Shady Creek RV Park) and he started his new job.  Weeknights watching TV outside and talking sports and life (and a few beers) has been fun.

Sadly, his time here is coming to an end.  He's closing on his house in Dallas this weekend, and his new one here in Topeka on Monday, so he'll be rolling out of here Tuesday or Wednesday.  Just another example of how people of like interests tend to gravitate towards each other.

Loving the lifestyle, looking forward to moving along when the time comes.

Wind, wind go away....

Man, it has been windy here at the Capital City KOA in Topeka!  Average winds 20 mph+ (gusts up to 40 mph) for the last three days, with temperatures in the 90's.  Have been almost locked in during this whole time with the A/C running and feeling the rocking and rolling of the rig.  First time in recent memory we're starting to get a little cabin fever.

The week behind....

Not much went on this week as we settled into our new adopted hometown of Topeka, KS at the Capital City KOA.  Winds have started picking up each day, but it's still so mild we can get by with the fan for most of the morning and evening while running the air during the afternoon.  We have had wonderful evenings.

Forbes Air Field has been really busy lately with large Air Force 737 cargo planes landing, along with a few fighters either doing touch and go's or refueling.  Great staying in a place that has a free air show.

Wednesday we found either (a) how great our vision insurance used to be or (b) how awful our vision insurance is now.  Take your pick. Used to be we'd hop into the eye doctor, pay our $10, have our glasses within a week and never pay another dime.  That was when we were working.  Now, that we're retired -- wow!  We had no idea glasses cost so darn much.  $600 later and we've got our glasses for the next couple of years, and that's going 'cheap' on everything -- no scratch coating, no reflective whatever, cheap frames, etc..  Yikes.

Friday, we saw the hayride rolling with no one on it, so Connie hopped aboard and so did a camper from behind us.  After conversing, it's our second person we've met since leaving Sea Breeze RV Park who has also stayed at Gulf Waters RV Park in Port Aransas, TX.  Cody grew up in Kansas City, is a Mizzou grad, and is a common occurrence we find in 'full timers' -- he's waiting on his house to get built.  His wife and family are actually living about 5 miles away from where we stayed in Aubrey, TX (The Colony).  We enjoyed his company Friday night talking college and pro sports, and again Saturday night as we watched the NBA Eastern Conference Finals (campground here doesn't have ESPN) and Stanley Cup Final game 5 outside the rig.

We learned from the guy at LensCrafters that the first two weeks of June are the busiest for tornadoes here.  Didn't want to hear that.  Hoping that our luck holds out.

Our travel to Kansas

Yes, Toto, we're in Kansas.

When last we left, we were waiting out Mother Nature and delayed leaving Shady Creek RV Park by a day.  Well, we got the storms, and Oklahoma City didn't.

It was our first hail storm of note, a good 5 minute droppings of pea to nickel sized hail and it just came out of nowhere.  Was partly cloudy, then all of a sudden it sounded like a small bird flew into the side of the rig.  Then it hit.  Had a few dents added to the front of the rig and our propane heater, but nothing broken or permanently damaged.  We had had so much rain in the two days that the pool was at high tide.


We had a decent day on Thursday to travel to the Elks Lodge in Edmond, OK.  No problems getting through Oklahoma City, traffic was pretty average.

The folks at the Edmond Elks Lodge were wonderfully accommodating from the phone call letting us know they only had 50 amp connections to our arrival and subsequent 'few' in the bar, great folks.

We knew ahead of time that we turned into pumpkins at noon on Friday, because they were having a flea market that would take up all of their parking lot, so we were on the road to Wichita, a mere two hours.

I guess you should know if the place your going to is on the other side of 14 railroad tracks, things probably aren't looking up.  When we got to the Wichita Elks, which billed itself as having "electric and water".  No one there, raining, 15 amp outlets on the side of the building, but no way to get there and no signs of water.  Not where we wanted to spend 3 nights.  We make a quick call to Charlie at the Capital City KOA to see if we can come in earlier than Monday.  Like today.  Like in 2 hours.

Carmen hates riding.  It was tough telling her we had two more hours to go, and we weren't really done yet.  She got through it, though.

We saw some great looking casinos along I-35 including the Winstar which had world replicas of famous buildings as their exterior surrounding the buildings.

So here we are!  A month in Topeka, Kansas.  Got some plans, but all Fred P 'soft plans'.  Stick with us and see how they come out.