Empty campground, Moving Day and Visitors

Location: Long Branch State Park; Macon, Missouri
(click pictures to enlarge)

The Lewis and Clark campground started emptying early Sunday morning and by that evening there was only one other camper on my half of the campground. It was an older

gentleman in a small Casita trailer. I didn't see him out and about until he was hitching up today. He pulled out about 30 minutes ahead of me. I had an unexpected find in the campground. It was a laundry and unlike the others I have found in state parks, this one was super clean. I took the opportunity to get all my clothes and bed sheets washed. While they were washing, I sat on a bench watching everyone hitch up and pull out. It was a peaceful time and the weather was perfect.

Moving day was an easy 150 miles with one Walmart stop about half way. Besides using their "facilities" and stretching my legs, I picked up a couple things. I had a hankering for some spaghetti so I got a box of it and some sauce in a jar. I had a choice between sauce in a can or jar. I splurged and went with the jar. It has to be better if it's in a jar, right? I just realized I forgot the Dawn I was suppose to pick up. I'll go into town tomorrow for it.

Campsite in Long Branch State Park

I kicked back in the zero gravity chair
for a while after getting set up

This state park is very pretty and well kept. I got a nice site and only had to put one set of blocks on the left side. My site is concrete and looks new. My nearest camper is about 200 feet away and are a "snowbird" couple on their way to Florida for the winter. They are from Nebraska.

Later in the evening, I started to fix the spaghetti but decided to check my cell phone app to see what was available in town. Wouldn't you know it, a Taco Bell popped up on the screen. Since I couldn't remember the last time I ate at Taco Bell, I knew it must have been too long, so off I went. I drove around town before eating and found something interesting. As you may remember, I have washed clothes in two laundromats that had tanning salons attached. Well today, the laundromat had something else you could get while waiting for your clothes to be done.

Taco Bell was better than I remembered. I was lucky it wasn't crowded because I didn't have reservations. I was able to quickly place my order and was able to find an empty seat. This crew did a good job with the main entrée (Chili Cheese Burrito). After filling my stomach, I hit the gas station and filled Freedom's stomach too.

I got a good picture of the Long Branch Lake on my way back to the campsite. The sky was nice and the lake calm.

 
After pulling into the campsite I saw the first of my visitors for the evening. He was sitting in the grass and hoping I hadn't seen him. I got my cell phone from my shirt pocket slowly and was able to take a quick one before he hit the bushes.

Later on, right about sunset, I went outside and saw the other visitors. They were eating some acorns from a tree by the dump station. The older one saw me but knew I wasn't going to hurt them. I took a couple pictures with my cell phone but then slowly went inside and got the Nikon with the bigger lens. They "grazed" for about 10 minutes and looked at me every now and then. They slowly left by jumping in the tall grass and "poof" they were gone.

I stood there for a while watching the stars come out and hoping for another surprise. No other surprises, so inside I went to see what radio stations I could pick up. This campground is mainly a layover on the way to St. Louis. I'll leave here Wednesday morning. It is a nice place to rest. Although I didn't explore anything, it was Good Day. :)

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.

Getting caught up (sort of) and Random Thoughts on Things

Location: Lewis and Clark State Park; Onawa, Iowa (16th - 19th)
Location: Lewis and Clark State Park; near Atchison, Kansas (19th - now)
(click pictures to enlarge)

This is a catch up blog so that is the reason for the two locations at the top. Yep, both campgrounds are called the same but are in different states. To add to the confusion, the present campground is located in Missouri but the nearest decent sized city is Atchison, Kansas.

I stopped in Onawa to receive a mail drop from my son which was delivered on time. I also wanted to visit the Lewis and Clark museum and keel-boat located right in the campground. I was disappointed on both accounts. The museum was closed and no reason was stated on the closed sign. I'm assuming they knew I wanted to see it so they just closed it down. :). The keel-boat replica was outside but was roped off from getting on board. There were no workers anywhere around the museum or the boat. Come to think of it, there weren't any workers in the campground either. It was a self-registration system to enter the campground and I don't recall seeing any workers during the 3 days I stayed there.

The campground was nice and I got a campsite right on the waters edge. The water is an oxbow lake from where the Missouri River changed its course over the years. The campgrounds name is legit since Lewis and Clark did camp within the state park boundaries during their trip up-river.

Lewis and Clark State Park
IOWA

Lewis and Clark State Park
IOWA

Some geese that stopped on their
way south



There is always a nice bench

The keel boat replica that I couldn't
get onboard or ask questions
because no one was there for the
3 days I stayed.

 Since there wasn't anything to see in the campground I decided to drive to Nebraska which was only about 5 miles away. I wanted to see the Missouri River and anything else that presented itself. I found a little dirt road that led to the river and it looked like an old abandoned boat ramp. No one was around but I got the sense that some people were living in the woods nearby. I didn't see anything, it was just a feeling.

The Missouri River between
Onawa Iowa
and Decatur, Nebraska 

The bridge that goes across the Missouri at that location used to be owned by a local bridge commission that charged tolls. The tolls had been in place for many decades but stopped within the last few months when the states took possession of the bridge. It is one of those bridges that make my butt pucker when I cross it. It reminds me of an old bridge across the Red River at Coushatta, Louisiana. The bridge deck is an open grate deck that rattles like a chain being dragged. I was glad to be back on the Iowa side.

This is the last time I will ever cross
this bridge
 

Since there wasn't much to do at the campground or the surrounding area, I mainly just took it easy. It is beginning to seem like I may be doing that at this campground too. Oh well, I needed to rest up anyhow.

Lewis and Clark State Park
MISSOURI

Lewis and Clark State Park
Missouri. (nice shade tree)

While going around the park, I was
on the edge of a storm so I took
a picture of an angry sky



An expensive textured concrete
walkway in the park. It was built
on the 200th anniversary of
Lewis and Clark's trip.

Honoring the men in the Lewis
and Clark Corp of Discovery

A "thinking bench" overlooking
the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas.
(birth place of Amelia Earhart)

Now on to the Random Thoughts on Things:

1) Concrete Pavement should be outlawed and never built again. It is only smooth for a very short time immediately after construction. It becomes rough very quickly and stays that way for the remaining decades of its life. Unless the roadway is put down on bedrock, it is unreasonable to expect a rigid concrete pavement to stay smooth. As the ground moves below the pavement, the concrete will "bridge" it for only so long before finally permanently deforming. Once the concrete gets rough, it is very expensive to fix so most states put a Band-Aid repair on it and wait. The worst thing that can happen is to overlay it with Asphalt thereby creating a composite pavement. The composite roadway will stay smooth for only a year or so before all of the imperfections of the unlying concrete "reflects" through to the riding surface. Composite pavements should also be outlawed.

2) Putin of Russia is showing his Cold War side again. It is like he is jealous of the attention being given to ISIS, so he is doing things like "fake bombing" runs from the north, making statements of being able to take over countries, etc. And our current administration does nothing and says nothing about it. I guess we finally know what the President meant when he told Putin that he would have more flexibility in his second term. Shameful.

3) I have ate at Chinese Buffet's all during this trip. Why do most of them all taste the same? I like them, but just wondering.

4) The woman at a Long John Silver's restaurant I ate at the other day wanted to stowaway in my RV after I told her I was full timing in it around the country. There have been a couple dozen or more that have expressed the same thing. Of course, there have been some that thought I was crazy, but the crazy opinion is still in the minority.

5) The blog is averaging about 75 page views per day and from countries all over the world. I want to stress to everyone that comments or questions are welcome and encouraged. I am open to suggestions on how to make the blog more informative and interesting.  

6) I have reservations at another state park in north central Missouri for early next week. I am completely undecided on which direction to go from there. I'm considering going to St. Louis or dropping down towards Branson or even over into Illinois. I guess I'll decide whenever it comes time to decide.


Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.

Pipestone National Monument and goodbye to Minnesota

Location: Split Rock State Park; Pipestone, Minnesota
(click pictures to enlarge)

The reason I stopped at this point in Minnesota was to visit the Pipestone National Monument. Pipestone is not only a town in the state but it is also the location of rock quarries that American Indians have been using for thousands of years. When the local tribe agreed to give up their land to the U.S. in the 1800's, they were wise enough to add a stipulation that they could quarry the pipestone forever. Pipestone is a soft rock that American Indians use for making pipes. The pipes are smoked during all kinds of ceremonies. They had a very high value within the tribe. The stone was traded with other Indians as far away as a thousand miles.

The softer pipestone is under the harder red Sioux Quartzite. To get the pipestone, you have to remove the topsoil, then break up and remove several feet of quartzite to expose the 1 to 3 inch thick pipestone layer. Even using modern hand tools of today, it may take weeks or months to expose the pipestone. The U.S. Congress was wise to set the quarry location aside by naming it a National Monument in 1937 which prevented any quarrying except by American Indians.

Tomorrow is  moving day and I'll be leaving Minnesota. It has been a good state. I've seen a nice museum, the beginning of the Mississippi River, the Kensington Runestone (which I haven't posted about yet), an old home place and finally a unique and sacred location to American Indians. I will be following the geese who are heading south for the winter. I'll be in Iowa tomorrow.

Pipestone Visitor Center

A typical individual quarry location.
The rock in the middle is the hard
quartzite that must be broken up
and moved to the side to prevent
the sides from caving in. The
pipestone is only about 1 to 3
inches thick under the quartzite

This is the 1 mile trail around the
area. You can see the quartzite
wall in the background.

It is a nice walk with interesting
sights. Even a bench to rest and
think if you need it.

This gives a good view of the
quartzite wall

The path winds around fallen rocks

These stairs take you to the top so
you can see what is called the
Oracle. It is a place on the rocks
that look like a face.

The Oracle. (can you see it?)

Nice picture

Interesting path location



More interesting path



Winnewissa Falls

The creek downstream from the falls

Stairs to the top of the falls

Looking back at the falls

Can you see the "old stone face"?

Three Maidens information

The Three Maidens. It used to be
one large boulder that broke
into pieces sometime long ago.
The boulder was carried by a
glacier to this location
all the way from Canada

This is one of the Thinking Benches
in the campground. It was a calm
and peaceful evening.

This is the lake in the campground tonight.
It has been a great campground.

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.

Split Rock State Park (best yet)

Location: Split Rock State Park; Pipestone, Minnesota
(click pictures to enlarge)

Well, I'm at another campground. I arrived at Split Rock State Park around 1:00 pm today. This is the best maintained of the four Minnesota state parks that I've stayed. I have a nice campsite about 100 feet from a nice looking lake. My only complaint is that I had to use two layers of leveling blocks to get level. It is a small complaint because I think I could have moved around a little and found a level spot but was fine with the blocks.

I will be seeing the Pipestone National Monument tomorrow. My last day in Minnesota will be Tuesday when I head south to Iowa.

I drove around the area and walked around the campground this afternoon to get the following pictures.

This is the topography of deep
south-west Minnesota. The rolling
hills were a result of the glaciers
from the last ice age

This the campsite right after I set up

The lake in the campground.

Another view of the lake

A Thinking Bench near my
campsite

I heard geese honking overhead
and then they flew by heading
south for the winter. I'll be following
them soon.
 

The sky made it look better. A few
geese in this one too.

Picture of Liberty from one of
the docks of the lake

Liberty again

This is a section in the campground
that is undisturbed prairie. This is
what the land looked like when
the pioneers first got here.

This is the information on the
prairie section of the park. It is also
for Roy Nugent since it shows
the wildflowers in the area.

 

I saw this house on the hill with
a nice looking sky so I took a
picture.

Another Thinking Bench near
the dam

This is the dam on the right and the
bridge on the left. They were both
built by the WPA from the
Depression era.

 

Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road