Day 13-June 13, 2015-Kansas Day 1
Drove 218 miles in 5 hours to Norton, KS. Temperature inched its way to 80, overcast til the sun came out at noon.
We’re still on Highway 36 only now it’s gone down to one lane each way. Still a nice road. We passed towns like Home, KS (Motto-“There’s No Place Like Home”), Marysville, “The Black Squirrel City” and Cuba. Fields are more like black mud puddles, nice rich black soil but flooded. Some corn fields but mostly wheat. Very little traffic, it’s Saturday so no trucks. Sometimes we’re the only ones on the road.
Took a short detour through Lebanon, KS, “The Geographic Center of the Lower 48 States”. Nice stone carved monument, small chapel, a picnic table and a great view of the plains. Grass was just mown and it smells great.
Arrived at Prairie Dog State Park about 3:30. Wonderful Park. It’s a Wildlife Park, 6500 land acres, 2100 acre reservoir for boating, fishing, a beach, hunting, cabins, an archery range, adobe home, 19th century one room schoolhouse and abundant wildlife. Sites are big and grassy with a nice covered shelter and picnic table. We have a good view of the lake and open fields. Only six sites in our area so we have lots of space. There are other campgrounds with sites closer together but they look like they’re for seasonal campers. Harry read for a while, I watched clouds change shape, listened to and watched the birds, orange tanagers, bluebirds, fat robins, wrens, meadowlarks, woodpeckers, etc. and listened to the trees rustling in the breeze. AAHHH!!!
After dinner we took a ride to the lake and saw mule deer, turkeys, quail and rabbits, rabbits everywhere. Prairie Dog State Park is named for, what else, the prairie dog town on the campgrounds. We watched them from a covered picnic area in the middle of their town and had to be careful we didn’t step in one of their holes. They popped up and down, barking and chirping at us and at each other. The sun sets late here and at 10:00 PM there was still some light in the sky, but later we gazed at what seemed like millions of stars, some brighter than I’ve ever seen.