Waiting...

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for this much anticipated second blog - thank you for your patience :) It was my intention to blog every Sunday and look - it's Sunday! I will be setting aside some non-negotiable time for myself every Sunday to keep my word on a new weekly blog. So here we go!

It's happening. I'm on the road. I do hope you're also following along on the Social Media - that will give you some good (mostly) daily content. I left on Sept 30th - hard to believe it's already been a week and a half. The first two days were long driving days but I did make a couple of stops. Day 1, I started with a hello to my grandparents (on my Mom's side) who lived in an RV park in Ocala, FL for many years up to when they both died. I hadn't been back in quite some time and let me tell you, sometimes it's good to keep things in your memories. The park has not been kept up too well, but it was a nice moment of peace and tranquility by the lake. I continued up to Fort Walton Beach where I checked in on my friend Monica's Mom. We had a nice dinner on the beach right at sunset.

That night was my first experience car camping. I didn't have a process yet for what to set up when or a checklist of things I needed to do before I climbed in the back, so needless to say it was a bit messy. But eventually I got there and hunkered down in a parking lot at a truck stop off the interstate. Yes, I drove interstates to get me to Dallas but that was it!

The next morning, I got cleaned up and ready to go and headed to Dallas. Along the way, my navigation took me a different route than the one I had planned and I ended up on the most beautiful stretch of interstate I've ever seen. It's a section of 49 in Louisiana that goes through the swamps and lasts at least 20 miles. The swamplands were so beautiful and I could see alligators under me! It was truly stunning - thank you for taking me off-route, navigation system!

I made it Dallas later than planned, so I hunkered down that night in the WalMart parking lot just outside my Aunt's complex. I have to say, I was starting to really like car camping. There is something very liberating about it and thank God Eric sent me that air mattress!!! Game changer.

It was great to reunite with my Aunt and Cousin whom I hadn't seen in almost a decade. We spent the day catching up and went to a nice belated Mother's Day lunch. I stayed into the evening and after watching some Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, took off. I spent that night in a different WalMart parking lot after learning, from a very nice police officer, that in fact I wasn't supposed to stay in the lot near my Aunt's house. Apparently that is up to each individual store manager whether they allow overnight camping in their lots. Who knew!

And now I'm off on the real adventure! My first day of no interstates. My first day completely on my own. On the way out of TX, I went through Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. Took a short mile+ walk and did the auto tour around the whole complex. It was really nice. Then I headed up in to Oklahoma. My main destination for that day was supposed to be Keystone Ancient Forest. Unfortunately, it closed early that day and I missed it by an hour. The biggest bummer was that day was one of the few hiking days they allow each month - so it was then or never. Ah well. By the time I got moving after that, the two other places to attempt to get to that day would be closed or close to as well. One was also closed the next day, so I was just checking places off quicker than anticipated. BUT the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve was open the next day, so I headed that way and thought I'd at least locate it and then find a place to stay near there.

And boy am I glad I did! I did a drive through the preserve at sunset and found all the places I'd need for the next day. They don't allow overnight parking, so I took off to find a place to camp for the night. There was a community center in the closest town, Pawhuska, and that's where I parked. It was a nice, early night in and I slept so well. I was up at first light and back in the preserve by 8am. The bison were right in front of me! It was like a dream. I watched some graze in a field and then watched them cross the road mere feet in front of me. As they moved on, I did too. Driving further back into the preserve, there are other cattle ranches that abut the preserve and a large herd of bull were grazing just off the road. They were HUGE. I went on around towards the Visitor Center where the trailheads are and took off on a hike. I thought I would take the mile and a half one but went ahead and did the longer 3 mile hike. I'm so glad I did. I made friends with a lot of deer and saw some beautiful lands.

It was time to head to Kansas after that. I found a much needed car wash on the way in to Wichita and landed at Tristan's around 3pm. We had a nice evening catching up and went in to downtown Wichita to see the Keeper of the Plains. It's a beautiful Native American statue that stands where two rivers merge. Usually there is a circle of fire that lights every night, but they haven't been doing that with Covid. We took some shots and then went to Tristan's favorite local place, The Monarch, for some dinner.

The next day started our two day Kansas adventure! We started at Tallgrass Prairie NATIONAL Preserve - not to be confused with the one I went to in OK - where we took an accidental 4 1/2 mile hike. But we did see more Bison so... We trotted on up to Topeka where we paid our respects at the Brown Vs Board of Ed Historic Site. The museum is still closed, so we didn't get to go in, but we took some pics and there is a beautiful mural across the street that we snapped some photos of too. And off we went to Wamego.

I've learned two things about Kansas: a) it is NOT flat and b) there is quite a dispute about where Dorothy lived. The movie did not state where in Kansas she was from, but two towns have laid ownership and they still battle today :) Wamego has the Oz Museum which was started by a local collector. There is the Oz Winery, a yellow brick road (sidewalk) and Toto's Tacos (which is sadly closed on Monday's... the day we of course were there). BUT Liberal, KS, has Dorothy's house. We didn't make it Liberal, but the Oz Museum was really cute. SO many artifacts from the creation of the books through not only the Judy Garland movie but all the versions of all things Oz since - even Wicked!

And then we went to Manhattan... Kansas :) The Little Apple, as they call it, and the home of Kansas State University, Tristan's Alma Mater. She gave me a campus tour and we of course had to hit up the bookstore so I could get a KState notebook. And then we went to our little AirBnB for the night. We ordered in from one of her favorite local spots (after the first two on her list were ALSO closed on Mondays... what is that?!), and watched some of The Wiz Live before we passed out.

Day two took us to the north and west sides of the state. We started up to Cawker City that holds the World's Largest Ball of Twine. You'll miss it if you blink, but it's right there "downtown" for all to see! And up we went to Lebanon to the Geographic Center of the US! It's actually a neat little spot - they've done a nice job marking it and last year a group of Lebanese Ambassadors brought a tree from Lebanon to Lebanon! The plaque and message are beautiful. A high recommend!

A few hours later, we found ourselves at Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark and Little Jerusalem Badland's State Park. Gorgeous rock formations that look like they come from nowhere that of course were there from way back when Kansas was a sea! Really beautiful! And then it was home to Wichita.

The next day, I was off to Omaha, Nebraska to see yet another friend, Amy! She was at work, so I relaxed at her place and caught up on some work myself while snuggling with her two pups. I had decided that morning that I would take the next day off and catch up on things and Amy was kind enough to let me stay at her place. We had a great night catching up and reminiscing of high school. She took off the next day for a weekend away and I spent the day working - and playing with puppies. It was a great day.

And so, after some rejuvenating time, it was back on the road. I made my first detour stop and went north to Vermillion, SD, to see if I could surprise another high school friend at her coffee shop - but alas, I missed her. But after having an amazing iced dirty chai at THE BEAN (and buying a few souvenirs), I took off for western Nebraska. I made it to Burwell that evening and had a nice sit down dinner and found another parking lot to camp in. For whatever reason, I woke up around 4am and was rarin' to go, so I went!

Eventually I found myself at Scott's Bluff National Monument. It was awesome. There is a drive to the summit and then you can walk to two overlooks. Nebraska is really stunning. Some amazing rolling hills and water features. Wildlife roaming. And apparently, rattlesnakes. Both at Scott's Bluff AND at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, there are signs aplenty warning of Rattlesnakes and what-to-dos in the brochures. I didn't see any on any of my hikes - I was a little let down by that!

Just outside of Scott's Bluff while I was filling up with gas, I noticed a screw in my tire. After Scott's Bluff, I took my car into a tire shop and they fixed it right up. After Agate Fossil Beds and an amazing hike, I headed to Oglala National Grasslands, where, just as I was passing one of the things to see, I heard a horrible thwacking noise repeating from what seemed to be the same back tire. Convinced I had blown the tire, I jumped out of the car, but no... not blown... just ANOTHER (this time) nail in the SAME tire!!!! This one didn't go in a clean straight line though and was bent at a right angle, so the part sticking out was scraping against the inside of the fender - hence the thwacking noise. So, here I am, on a gravel road about 50 miles from any city at 5:30p on a Saturday with a nail in my tire.

I slowly and cautiously drove back to Chadron, the nearest city, and googled tire shops. Most of which of course were already closed but there was one possible light! Open until 8 (it was now 7p) I called and the woman who answered sadly didn't have any tire guys on for the rest of the night. Or tomorrow. And it was the ONLY shop that was to be open on Sunday. So. I got myself a hotel for two nights and am hanging out in Chadron, Nebraska until Monday morning when I get my tire fixed - AGAIN - before heading up to South Dakota! Awwww, life on road.

So while you've been waiting for this long catch up, I'm waiting anxiously for a tire shop so I can get to my FIRST National Park!!!! I'm beyond excited for South Dakota. But have NOT been let down by OK, KS, or NE. I'm really loving this current section of the trip. I have no dates set to have to be anywhere now, so if I'm done for the day, I can just be done. If I need to work, I'll stop and work. So far, it's been ok managing working on the road! I am loving this freedom while still having some responsibility and income :) I'll do another post with my land acknowledgements and acts of kindness too. There is still kindness in the world - and that is awfully nice to see.

Until next week!

Images: Keeper of the Plains, Wichita, KS; Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark, Oakley, KS; Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Pawhuska, OK; Scott's Bluff National Monument, Scott's Bluff, NE