October 22, 2016
We are home now and
have put our arms around all 4 kids and the 3 grands. Freezer and
pantry have been restocked and the yard mowed so now I'll take the
time to summarize the last two weeks of our travels.
After leaving South
Dakota, we drove through eastern Nebraska and found ourselves passing
through Omaha so we made a visit to Boys Town. The Visitor Center
there has the World's Largest Ball of Stamps on display. It
was started by some of “the boys” on a golf ball years ago.
While visiting the museum on campus, we met another “visitor” - a
captive bald eagle named Challenger. Very cool!
"He ain't heavy; he's my brother."
We also visited
Homestead National Monument and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
before moving on to Kansas. The exhibits really helped us understand how the Homestead Act shaped the history and settlement of the Midwest.
We hiked around this restored prairie.
Points of Interest
in Kansas (that also included geocaches):
- world's largest ball of twine in Cawker City
- geodetic center of North America
- geographic center of the lower 48 states
Travelers' Chapel
We shared a campsite with a flock of Canada geese...noisy neighbors.
carvings on a building in a small Kansas town
Not sure what this building is for but it caught my eye.
We made a stop in
Kansas City to visit one of Brian's former students and her family.
Brian and Leah
and attended two
geocaching events in Wamego, KS. We visited some historic sites in
Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas:
Brown v. Board of
Education National Historic Site in Topeka (powerful exhibits),
George Washington Carver National Monument [Brian taught at Carver
Elem. in Baytown during the 1990s], Harry S Truman's birthplace,
Fort Scott NHS and Fort Smith NHS.
Kindergarten classroom (circa 1950s) at Brown v. Board Historic Site - note the record player on the desk.
We drove the
Talimena National Scenic Byway from Mena, Arkansas to Talihina,
Oklahoma but were too early to see the fall foliage. We enjoyed a
pleasant night sleeping in our truck with the back open on Winding
Stair Mountain – no mosquito netting needed. After crossing the
Red River into northeast Texas, we spent our last night at
Daingerfield State Park.
Our last campfire of the trip - Winding Stair Campground, OK
We can't pass through Nacogdoches without visiting Mimi and Dusty - our adopted family while in college:
Once again, we feel
very blessed and fortunate to explore this country (and Canada)
together. Summary: 23,000 miles in 122 days, visited 12 states and
3 provinces, 16 U.S. and Canadian national parks and many national
monuments and historic sites. Home for now until we set off on our
next adventure.