Prairie Dogs, Wild Flowers, Wide Open Spaces, And A Big Ball Of Twine - Road Trip Into Kansas

Nebraska/Kansas road trip (78 degrees, slightly windy, endless blue skies and pretty clouds)

"...the land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty, its uninterrupted mournfulness"

Willa Cather

We find ourselves in south central Nebraska and are staying at another Corp of Engineer Park. There is not much to do here but relax, listen to the wind, and perhaps go on a road trip. John studied the map and found a couple of interesting landmarks which only make sense in a place like this. Across the border into Kansas is a landmark which is the geographical center of our 48 states and not far from there is the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine. I said ..."Lets go!!!".

Willa Cather Memorial Prairie 

We drove past strikingly beautiful prairie land. and stopped often to take it all in. There are endless grassy fields and newly planted ones with huge irrigation devices.. The roads are often planted with hay  and after mowing it someone bales it up. What a great idea. 

We could hear lots of song birds but only identified a few. If you looked carefully you  can find lots of pretty wildflowers in the tall grasses.

Arriving at the geographical center of the U.S we found it over run with many friendly bicyclists who were on a six day tour across Kansas. It was their second day at this point and we all took turns getting our pictures taken in front of the "spot"

Geographical center of our 48 states

There is a small chapel for weddings..who knew and remnants of what used to be a hotel. After wishing everyone a safe journey we were off to find the twine in Cawker Kansas.. 

We found it and initially were the only ones there. However,  after looking at the "guest book" it appeared many had stopped that day. On the website there is lots of information about this oddity and it mentioned it was possible to add a piece of twine if you went to see Lottie. Well, just as we were getting ready to leave out came Lottie from somewhere with this gigantic roll of twine and asked if anyone was interested. Well, of coarse I signed up and Lottie and I were soon revolving around it. I couldn't stop laughing. It was a crazy fun time. She is a very dedication ambassador for this ball of twine and has met people from all over the world. As we were talking to her two folks  from Denmark arrived. Lottie was a very nice lady and I'm sure she would have told us many more stories but she had to take off for an appointment.  As she was leaving she said many wedding are held here too..."you know...to tie the knot". What a hoot!

Worlds Largest Ball of Twine with John, Jimmy and me

Lottie and me adding some twine

As we headed back to our campsite we made a quick stop at Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge. It is very remote and quiet. We were welcomed by the Refuge Manager and he seemed very proud of this refuge. 

We came across a little prairie dog town. Ranchers do not exactly like them very much but they sure were fun to watch.

Little bird peaking his head out wondering what was going on

What a great road trip. I hope you enjoyed coming along too. 

We spent three nights at the Hunter Cove COE campground near Republican City. This one was not nearly as well cared for and unusual for a COE. There is a long dusty road which leads up to it. Our site had lots of tall thistles and many of the sites by the water looked very worn out. Some new ones have been added but with little shade and very little grass. If you are willing to boomdock there are nice sites by the  water/ We checked out another nearby COE  called Methodist Cove in Alma which was much nicer and where we hope to stay in the future. 

Our site (50 amp) near the entrance

We are very excited because our next month will be in the beautiful  Colorado. We will be staying in several areas over the next month. Until then...happy trails!

Nice Surprise - Omaha Nebraska

Bellevue NE (76 degrees, sunny, blue skies)

"I still can't shake the Nebraska off of me"

Andrew Rannells

Lauritzer Botanical Gardens

At first we were going to only spend two days visiting Omaha Nebraska. However, the weather was so lovely and we planned some great things to do after researching the area with AAA tour guides. So, we quickly changed our plans and extended our stay. We stayed our first two night at Base Lake Campground which is located 15 minutes outside of Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue. It was a pretty lake campground for active and retired military. The lake was stocked and we saw lots of people taking advantage of the good fishing. Our site was spacious with full hook ups. Reservations are recommended due to its popularity and small size. We feel very privileged to be able to stay at these military campgrounds and try to include them as often as possible in our travels. 

The Offutt Air Force Base is the  U.S. Strategic Command Headquarters which "provides reconnaissance and precision awareness to national leadership and war fighters at any time and any place". You can feel the power!  President Bush was brought here right after 9/11. Much of this base is underground and very secure.

Lauritzer Botanical Gardens

The next day we really enjoyed our visit to Lauritzer Botanical Gardens. Throughout the extensive grounds there are lovely gardens which branch off in different directions.

The rose garden has over 2000 bushes. You can take a tram tour here but we decided to walk it instead and enjoyed the leisurely pace. One of our favorites was a train garden. There were multiple tracks with trains scurrying around among the plants and trees. I was intrigued by the amazing detail.

Train Gar

The next day we went to the Dunham Museum. Bill and Chris you would really love it here. Omaha is all about trains. President Lincoln in 1858 designated this city as the place for the first transcontinental railroad to go westward. 

Dunham Museum

This museum is located in the former train station  of the Union Pacific. Its in a art deco style and is a very beautiful and unique place. 

Train Lobby and Waiting Area (soda fountain is in the back)

There were actual train cars you could walk through too. 

A fun traveling exhibit is here telling the tales shipwrecks and their recovery by Odyssey Marine Exploration.  There are some stunning displays of the actual  bounty discovered. There were lots of gold coins, silver bars, porcelain  treasures (amazing how they survived) and pirates too. Beware!

Glass bottles and perfume containers

Some of the coins in this case were worth over $25,000

Silver bars

Captain John Blackbeard

We had these sinfully delicious treats at the antique soda fountain. Yum!

We moved to another campground down the street due to a big event going on at the military park. Haworth Campground is a county campground along the Missouri River its good location is reasonably priced. Most sites are 30 amp sites. A few have 50 amp and water. 

Haworth Campground

When we were traveling in Canada last summer our friends Carl and Vickie  told us about how they loved to find Volksmarch walks and in-cooperated them in their full time travels. We tried one with Vickie in Quebec. I checked the website- see link -and found there were several in Omaha. The definition of a Volksmarch from their website is -" a non competitive 5 or 10 km walk. It's not a pledge walk, its not a race, it is a fun activity with your family, with your pet, or all by yourself. Volksmarching got its name from its origin in Europe. Today there are thousands of volksport clubs around the world."

On the website it tells you where to go to pick up the detailed instructions for the walk and how it is rated. This one was supposed to be well groomed with few obstacles. Sweet! In Omaha the walks are sponsored by the Nebraska Wander Freunde Trailblazers. We drove to the Comfort Inn and asked at the  desk for the "walk box". I found detailed instructions, map, and a stamp to be used if you want to obtain credit for the walk. We were soon on our way to the start point. It was a beautiful day for a walk. You can find a list of all the walks in the U.S by clicking this link.  Choose the state you are interested in walking and YRE/Seasonal Events drop down boxes. 

Lewis and Clark National Historic Visitor Center

Along the route we made a quick stop at the National Park Headquarters to get a stamp for our National Parks book. It  was a nice center. 

The highlight of this walk was passing by the park commemorating the pioneers and history of the westward movement. The life size statues are amazing. We spent a lot of time here walking among them. 

Check out how this buffalo which was incorporated right into the corner stone of a parking garage.

A 10K walk is a little bit long for us but we did better than expected. John's knee replacement really slowed us down for awhile but he is feeling better with each passing day and tolerated this walk fairly well. We did stop for lunch downtown for a break. 

There were bike rental racks everywhere What a cool idea. The first hour is $6 and each additional hour is $4.

Rental bicycles 

Our walk ended right along the Missouri river. There was a Taste of Omaha Festival going on which was a nice surprise and very well attended.

I think some more AVA walks will be in our future. Thank you Carl and Vickie for indroducing us to them. Why not try one yourself.

We are now heading further west to another Corp of Engineer Park in Nebraska. A side trip into Kansas to see the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine is on the agenda!