Another long day in the VRRV, driving. We left the quiet little dispersed camping area near Wakeeney, KS at 0830 or so, and by 5PM we were set up at the Blue Springs Lake Campground. Since we wanted to be somewhat close to planned activities, this meant a pay campground instead of dispersed camping. The Kansas City area is quite large and crowded so there's a dearth of public lands for camping.
This is a pattern I am sure will be a recurring theme as we head further into the more heavily populated half of the country.
Enroute we stopped for a break and a tour of Truckhenge, a site that Martha found on roadsideamerica.com. it sounded interesting as I've been to Carhenge in Nebraska and the Cadillac Ranch in Texas.
The reality was a bit less than expected, still, it was definitely something one has to see in person. The amount of junk stored on the property was quite overwhelming.
Here's the vehicles which inspired the Truckhenge name:
The owners home I think
Following pics by Martha:
There was even a peacock onsite, struts about but it disappeared before either of us could get a shot.
The campground isn't too crowded and the sites are not stacked up next to each other. I will be using the privacy screens though as the sites are within easy line of sight of each other.
We left the overcrowded cesspool that is Denver metro at 7:30 a.m. MDT this morning and by 3:00 PM CDT we were settled near the Cedar Bluff Reservoir at the Mossyhorn camping area in Kansas.
Mileage start for the VRRV: 122875. We drove 319 miles today.
Nice 6 spot camping area in the Cedar Bluff Wildlife Management Area:
It was overcast and gloomy with temps in the low 40s when we left and it would warm to 65°F and partly cloudy by 6PM in Kansas.
Before dinner, we headed out in the Honda CR-V to check out the Cedar Bluff Overlook.
Not a bad overlook point for the reservoir:
Tomorrow, the Kansas City, MO area for about 4 days.
I woke to a temperature of 42°F at 7:30am so I knew it was going to be a warm day as forecasted by the weather guessers.
The plan wants to hang out at the campsite, enjoying the warm weather, and doing some minor cleanup on electrical contacts on Yagi.
The high temperature would end up being 96° F reported in the nearest town though my RV thermometer reported 82°F/87°F inside the RV.
In the morning, I was visited by locals:
Canada Goose
Red-winged Raven....in flight, they're distinctive red circles with yellow
trim reminded me of Japanese aircraft insignia during WW2.
Blue-winged Teal Ducks, male+female
Around 3PM, a fisherman showed up and parked his car lakeside across the inlet from me....it was quite warm but he felt a need to sit by a fire he started. You have to wonder.
Seen but not able to photograph: a Bald Eagle soaring overhead and later on what appeared to be a snake swimming on top of the water! Quite fast too as it left a visible wake behind it. Google Gemini said it was probably a Northern Water Snake, not venomous.
This YouTube video shows the type of snake I saw, except the one I saw must have been much bigger since I saw its body doing the S turns from at least 200 feet away!
Wednesday, April 22
I woke to an outside temperature of 57°F. The forecasted high was 90°F. It was going to be a hot one.
I watched a couple of small ducks fly up onto the higher branches of a nearby Cottonwood tree and perch there. I didn't realize they did that, figured them for ground level waddlers when not afloat.
Some more test riding with the TW200, it was failing to start again but I think I narrowed it down to a loose connection after thoroughly cleaning the positive terminal on the battery. 6 miles of testing, stopping and restarting the engine every .2 miles. That's 30 starts in a row with no issues.
I had to make do with misc nut/bolt for the POS terminal as I managed to lose the nut while cleaning things up. The replacement bolt had a narrower width and it required a lock washer to keep the battery cable tight to the battery terminal.
I'll get proper sized bolt/nut once I get home, no hardware store near me here at the SWA.
The place really emptied out today, which was great for me. I think there are only two van campers and myself in the area. There are no campers within line of sight of camp!
True to the forecast, it started getting very windy here which precluded the u. se of the awning! The winds are supposed to last now till noon tomorrow. Red Flag Warning conditions: strong gusty winds and low humidity, a fire can quickly grow and get out of control in these conditions.
On the plus side, the winds kept the hovering clouds of gnats away!
Wednesday's sunset concluding a pretty good day.
The high temperature reached only 82°F, warm enough but not even close to the forecasted 90°F.
