Flint, Smoky, Sand, and Bad

Hills, that is.

We are getting to see a great variety of hills in KS, NE, and SD on our way to the hills of our destination: The Black Hills.

The beautiful green Flint Hills of eastern KS are named for the abundant residual flint eroded from the bedrock near the surface.  Due to the rocky soil, early settles were unable to plow resulting in a predominance of cattle ranches.  This benefited the tallgrass prairies.

The stunning Smoky Hills of NW Kansas are a dissected plain covered in tallgrass and mixed grass prairies.  They consist of chalk, limestone, and sandstone rock outcropping.  The post rock fencing is a trademark of the Smoky country.  These hills take their name from the hazy mornings often seen in the region's valley.

The Sandhills of NE -- wow!!  These hills of are a mixture of lush mixed grass prairies and grass-stabilized sand dunes. The dunes were a National Natural Landmark in 1964.

The Badlands of SD is a National Park and well work seeing. They are rugged, unpredictable land caused by erosion and contain one of the world's richest fossil beds.

5-2-16:  Left Wichita today and arrived at Tuttle Creek Lake State Park near Manhattan, KS.  The state park is comprised of several state parks within Tuttle Creek Lake SP.  We stayed at River Pond SP below the dam.

David and Rocky by one of many huge Cottonwoods

Very beautiful with tons of tall Cottonwoods.  I'm so glad David planned this destination.  I can tell we will be able to do some catching up on our walking and bird-watching.

Baltimore Orioles

male and female

small Red-bellies Woodpeckers

Cormorant

the cotton from the Cottonwoods looked like snow as it was falling

can you see the pretty water snake --  his head is above water

5-3-16:  Got a nice walk in this morning before heading out to Flint Hills Discovery Center.  Already we've seen Baltimore Orioles, zillions of Goldfinches migrating through, various water birds on River Pond, plenty of Turkey Buzzards, and hawks. And though we couldn't see them, we can constantly hear red-bellied woodpeckers calling and drumming from high in the Cottonwoods.  Not sure, but maybe even a pileated at one point.

beautiful displays

various stages of the endangered tallgrass

Native American artifacts from the Flint Hills

Went downtown to visit the Discovery Center.  We'd been told by a very reliable source that this is a great place to learn all about the prairie.  It was a beautiful center with very good displays.  We felt fortunate to get there during the week because we had it all to ourselves!  Great suggestion, Linda Sue and Greg!

shout out to niece, Dara Goff

After visiting the center and seeing a little of the Little Apple (Manhattan), we stopped at Big D's to grab a burger to go.  This place has a great rep here and was suggested to me by the girl who cut my hair.

We drove over to one of the picnic areas at Tuttle Creek Lake below the spillway & enjoyed the beautiful day as we ate.  So glad we did because we saw a Bald Eagle flying around there.  He/she kinda had that portion of the sky to himself until the turkey buzzards got a glimpse of him.  Then he flew away with a few buzzards chasing him.  So we didn't get a pic.

Multiflora plant

deer print

extra long earthworm

David and I walked off that burger on the Eagle Pass Trail this evening. Pretty little hike that went through one of the eagle nesting areas.Although the rangers told me there is still some activity around that nest, we didn't even see the nest!  But judging by the location, I'm guessing the eagle we saw today at lunch came from that area.  During our hike we were serenaded by some chorus frogs and saw a pretty Eastern Garter snake.  The temps have been perfect and between this hike and a couple of good walks with Rocky, I've managed to get in 7.24 miles on my fitbit. Hopefully, I'm back in the game!

Flint Hills Discovery Center

nature trail behind the center

Historic Manhattan Depot - built in 1902

5-4-16:  Yesterday we forgot to get pix of the outside of the Discovery Center, so we drover back over and got that done.  There is a nice walking trail behind it and I went a little ways down that to get a shot of a really cute old depot that I'd seen from the highway.  Looks deserted, but is used for special events.

overflow spillway for Tuttle Creek Lake

all 18 gates were open during the Great Flood of 1993 -- it's first use

Then we drove around the lake and check out some more camping areas.  Many parts of the state park look barren and not too inviting. Sure glad David found the spot we're staying.

Got in over 6 miles of walking today.  I enjoyed lots of the same birds and a beaver or muskrat on my walk.  Couldn't see his tail, so I'm not sure.

5-5-16: Got lucky this morning!

Another beautiful day!

 Drove back in to Manhattan to do laundry this morning.  The laundromat was very nice and clean and had a unique system which I thought was smart.  Instead of putting coins in the machines, you buy a card for $5 increments and swipe that in each machine.

Afterwards we went to a coffee joint and I got a Snickerdoodle Latte because the server said that's his fave.  yummmmmm it was great!

David leading the way to the spillway

the 2 flood gates are wide open

really looks a lot like Lake Wright Patman's dam and spillway in Texarkana

36 steps back up

David and I got in a great walk over to the spillway this afternoon and got more pix.  Got in over 7 miles today.

And.....I got lucky for the 2nd time today!  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket. Nah.

unusual parking for the FHU

easy in and out though -- and shady

5-6-16:  David heard the Pileated again this morning before we headed out.  This has been a great visit and we'd def come back here.

Enjoyed going west from the Flint Hills of east Kansas to the Smoky Hills ---- I guess you could say the Smokies of Kansas.  I love the Smoky Hills.  Anyone who tries to say Kansas is not pretty (I used to be on that team), needs to see this area!

The miles and miles of post rock is so cool!

 And wind farms galore!

We stayed at an RV park in Russell, KS.

I'm thinking they should quite advertising miniature golf

unsweet tea

Nothing fancy, but not a bad place at all. Drove over to Hays and had "lupper" at Al's Chickenette.  David said that was about the best fried chicken he'd ever had next to Good and Plenty in Lancaster County, PA.  I'm not a fan of chicken, so I had chicken fried steak which was great.  We drove around a little while looking for Fort Hays, but the GPS was messing with us and we were tired, so we headed on back to the RV.

this rabbit thought he was hidden

Rocky sniffing out a tumbleweed

one of the miniature horses checking Rocky out

and Rocky finally seeing him

The Oil Patch Museum is right next to the RV park and on my walking route.  While I didn't actually visit the museum, I could see a lot of the historical equipment on the property.

Officers' quarters at Ft. Larned

5-7-16:  Fort Larned is a National Historic Site that has been on my radar for a couple of years.  My awesome hubs made sure to put this on our agenda before we headed north.  It's a wonderful fort that was established to protect travelers from Indians. (fellow Rv'ers, they do use workampers!)  I will be putting it on its own post.

We also found the Kansas Merci Boxcar in Hays.  This is our 3rd boxcar to see after happening upon the one in PA a few years ago.  The French sent 49 boxcars - one for each of the states in the US --  loaded with gifts that ranged from simple to extravagant in gratitude for our help in WWI.  Such a neat piece of history.  Not every state still has theirs.  And most of the contents of the boxcars are long gone, tho some have a museum along with them with some of the gifts.  Now we've seen PA, MS, and KS boxcars.

sunset with a storm approaching

Had the buffet at Maridy's when we got back to Russell.  Great spot!  We were watching the weather and nearly decided to leave and head on up to Smith Center due to all the tornado watches in the area.  But....... it calmed down and we stayed put.

5-8-16:  Left Russell and continued north through the gorgious "Smokies" on 281.  Saw a beautiful Pheasant running along the side of the road, and our first Bobolink (David may have seen some yesterday on the way to the fort).

Arrived Smith Center to get some work done on the camper. The appt is tomorrow, but they had a place we could plug in at the shop, and a lounge for showers, laundry, tv, wifi, etc. And because the weather turned bad again, we used the lounge for a tornado shelter for a few hours. There were tornado warnings and hail all around us, but we mostly got wind and rain.  Whew!

Sally, the owner

Victoria, left, gave us a very interesting tour of the mill.
The young girl, fresh out of collage, does the weaving here.

Fiber producers (animal owners) need to clean their fiber as much as possible before delivering it to the mill. After picking, washing, and drying, the next step at the mill is the dehairer machine.

both soft, but the one on the right is super soft

The alpaca fiber on the left is before it's been "dehaired" -- it still has guard hair and some debri.  The mill will actually bag up any guard hair that they accumulate and send back to the ranch.  Ranchers, tho they don't want to send a lot of guard hair to the mills, will sometimes use the returned fiber in their gardens.

Victoria told us they'd found interesting things over the years in fiber right off the farm: snakes, fish hooks, etc.  And they've spun some interesting fiber!  All kinds of wildlife and right now they have some Chow-Chow fiber awaiting the process.

fiber comes out of the dehairer nice and fluffy

carder

spinner

Jason, who used to work in a steel mill, is a valuable employee at this mill

Plyer

this one is creating 2-ply yarn

after going through the steamer, they yarn finally goes through a skein winder

the weaver will spend a full day or so threading this machine

but first, she will design a pattern on the computer

She told me she grew up sewing and got her degree in weaving at K-State.  I was impressed to see someone this age making a career of weaving!

Victoria said they were getting ready to go to a show in California

I enjoyed a litte browsing in the shop after the tour

the woven products were exquisite

this little unassuming shop in Phillipsburg, KS has a LOT going on inside

5-9-16:  Had breakfast at Paul's in Smith Center, then visited the Shepherd's Mill this morning over in Phillipsburg, KS.  The 2 alpaca farms we've visited (TX and KS) send their fiber to this mill to have it spun into yarn.  I guess there are just a handful of good mills in the US and this is a popular one.  I expected a big outfit, but it was rather small considering all they get done.  Victoria was gracious enough to give us a brief tour of the process which I found so interesting!

Great Platte River Road Archway Museum spans I-80

Dame's Rocket

Bachelor's Button

Prairie Roses

Baltimore Oriole

On the way back to Smith Center (about 30 minutes), we took a swing through Kearny, NE.  Lol. David knew of this wonderful museum on I-80 and we do have time since the camper won't be ready until tomorrow. We loved the museum and the walking trails on the premises.  It was the warmest day we've had so far and we had Rocky.  So after we walked him on the trails a bit, I zipped through the museum as fast as I could so I could check on him.

we got headphones which told stories throughout the museum

the "diner" had a lookout over I-80

Very interesting step back into the history of the wild west.

This part of NE claims to be the Sandhill Crane Capital of the World.  Evidently, we just missed them by a few weeks as they headed back north.

 David sure can find some cool stuff to do!

Had lunch at Runza's.  I'd never heard of it but it is a burger chain in this part of the country that reminds me of Culver's. It's Czech.

Came back and got a room at a quaint little motel in Smith Center where we'd stayed several years earlier.  It's plain, simple, and super clean.  And the rooms are cinder block which made me happy since we were dodging storms!

2011 - As Your Bladder Fills breakfast group at the Second Cup Cafe

2016 Table of Knowledge at Paul's Cafe

5-10-16:  We had breakfast at Paul's again. That's the best French toast I've ever had! There was a group of men eating there and I showed them my pic of the other breakfast club we ate with at the Second Cup a few years back.  They knew everyone in the pic and kind of filled me in on their wherabouts.  I was sad to learn that the man who sent the Echo Echo emails back then is now in a nursing home and not doing too well.

The man in today's group in the white jacket, is an amateur paleontologist and has found some great stuff in Kansas.  His site, angelfire.com/ks3/weather/index.html shows some of his finds.  Next time we are in the area we will be sure to pay his shop a visit.

the old Dutch mill had blades when we saw it in 2011

this snowball plant has an active Robin's nest in it with mom sitting on and it keeping guard

the "famous" Redman's stadium

the Excel factory where our camper was built

sadly, it went bankrupt about a year or so ago

After an all day wait at the Excel service center, we finally got away and headed back to Kearny for an overnighter. Saw wild turkeys, another pheasant, this time in flight, saw the Archway again, and barely beat a storm that dumped a lot of rain in the area.

Holiday RV Park in North Platte, NE 

shady spots

loved the grills around the park made out of auto wheels

not sure what this is, but it smells heavenly

subtle 50's retro

5-11-16:  After some deliberation as to whether to move on or stay another day and rest, we decided to go on to North Platte, NE.  Sooooo glad we did.  David found the cutest, coziest RV park there -- Holiday RV Park.  It is so 50's, 60's vintage, but not really trying to be. The wifi was decent, each site had it's own trash barrel (kinda nice not to have to go hunting for a dumpster and a place to throw doggie dookie away), the laundry room was super clean and super cheap ($1.25 for washers, $1 for dryers), and lots of nice lawn and pretty trees. We planned 2 nights there and we probably could've gotten very comfy there!  I give this place a big thumbs up!

5-12-16:  Since this is our only full day in North Platte, David and I got up and visited a few spots in town.  First of all, the city's visitor center.  They told us we, again, had just missed the Sandhill Cranes.  Bummer. They had a little bit of a hard time understanding me, so when I asked about the "ruts" in the area (as in the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail ruts), the lady at the front desk asked "you mean routes? " and pronounced it both ways.  So I spelled it and other ladies came out of their offices to join in.  It was funny.  But they all gave us some great info.  Even though the Buffalo Bill Cody Ranch is closed during the week this time of year, they said we could go walk around it.  They also recommended the Golden Spike Tower.

my man at Cody Park UP museum

The Challenger 3977 is one of 2 left -- the other is under repair in Cheyenne

built in 1943

big machine

firebox

my engineer

historic depot moved from Hershey, NE

walkway between cars

toot toot!

the employee gave us some good info 

these are the flags of the states where the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show visited

First stop was Cody Park.  It's a city park with a Wild West Memorial, free train museum, petting zoo, no-hookup campground, and ballfields. We spent quite awhile a the train museum.  It was wonderful and such a treat considering it's free: supported by the city and donations.

speckled Llama

this llama just wanted me to feed him

peacocks were strutting their stuff

We drove by the petting zoo but didn't visit it due to time.

Buffalo Bill Cody had this house built in 1886

the chairs and hand rail on the front porch are made from horsehoes

spring cellar, storm shelter

David taking pix

several of these bird feeders throughout the ranch

Scout's Ranch Barn built in 1887

mill that was likely turned by horses

notice the little prairie growing on the roof

many Cottonwoods lined up nicely

tons of these bathouses on several of the Cottonwoods

David got a good stable pic through the barn window -- kinda fancy schmancy

shout out to Pam Goff -- she loves these things

The Spirea all over the ranch and the roads of the Midwest is gorgeous

Next we drove out to the Buffalo Bill Ranch.  Wow!  So beautiful. Tho we couldn't enter the bldgs, we totally loved walking around the ranch.  There were an abundance of red-headed woodpeckers & lots of bathouses on the ginormous Cottonwoods.

land tortoise

some sort of early food heater -- kind of a crockpot theory

fox tv cam

i can remember laying on these x-ray machines at Dr. Kemp's office in Texarkana when I was a kid

tons of knitting, weaving, sewing paraph

see the "crazy" quilts on the wall?

Accordian like instrument

my  fave history at this museum -- you must google

hundreds of ladies from the area were dedicated to this causse

this book is for signatures of veterans visiting the museum who were actually at the canteen during WWII

replica of historic North Platte

love this house

Robin on her nest

I actually had a lunchbox like this when I was in elem school

finally got him where I want him

guess he didn't realize the door was open

Around the corner from the ranch is the Lincoln County Historical Museum.  They have tons of great history there!  As I was leaving, a couple coming in asked me if I was from Idaho (they'd seen a car with Idaho tags and they were from there as well),  I said "Idaho?" and they both laughed and said "no.....that wouldn't be you, would it?'.  Only one word and they picked up on my accent!

Golden Spike Tower

besides trains, we watched this farmer at work from the 7th floor

on the 8th floor, Rodney -- retired from this UP rail yard -- explained what we were looking at below in the yard

the museum has a new Orphan Train corner

It is going to be hard to compete with the ranch, but we decided to go ahead on over to the Golden Spike before calling it a day. Bailey Yard is the largest classification rail yard in the world.  The 2nd largest is in Johannesburg, South Africa according to Rodney, the tower docent.

Here they sort, service, and repair locomotives and cars going all across North America.  It is owned and operated by Union Pacific and named after Edd Bailey, former UP president. The yard has 2 humps (used to sort cars), 200 tracks totaling about 315 miles of track, 985 switches, 766 turnarounds, and employs over 2600 people in North Platte.

we could actually see a little sand blowing in the Sandhills

the Sandhills includes some prairie that is good for grazing

beautiful hills

5-13-16:  We left Nebraska, today -- Friday the 13th.  As we headed north on Hwy 83, we drove through the beautiful Sand Hills, which are exactly that!  Sand hills that are stable because of the grass and trees growing on them.  You can see the sand blowing from time to time as you drive through, and now then you might see a little dune.  They are so beautiful and provide some good grazing land for cattle and horses.

We noticed so many beautiful lakes, ponds and rivers in Western Nebraska.  Most are spring-fed.
I was pleased to see tons of marshes which provide some good habitat to waterfowl.

As we crossed over the South Dakota line, we entered the Rosebud Indian Reservation.  Somewhere in NW Nebraska, the time zone changed from Central to Mountain.  But around here it went back to Central.  The truck clock automatically changed back and forth.  But it took me forever to get our phones changed to Mountain time and now it's back to Central.  Oh well, I'm sure it'll change again.

Sure enough, just outside of Murdo, SD on I-90, it became Mountain time again.  We stopped between Murdo and Belividere at a KOA for the weekend.

It's a nice park with beautiful scenes around it, but he wind is blowing fiercely and howling.  David said it may be the first time he's heard so much howling wind in a place with no trees!  The temp was 46 with a windchill of 39 when we arrived shortly after lunch.  Brrrr. Love it!

Badlands

5-14-16:  Today we drove through the Badlands National Park.  Breathtaking!  Pictures will be on another post. We were able to see our first Mountain Bluebird, but couldn't get a pic.  Such a great color of blue. Other birds we saw included magpies, meadowlarks. We saw our first Bighorn Sheep today!  There was a group of females sunning on a rim across from one of the lookouts.

On the way out of the Badlands, we saw miles and miles of Buffalo Gap National Grassland which included miles and miles of prairie dog towns! Amazing!

5-15-16:  We are just enjoying the KOA, doing laundry and birdwatching today!  This morning I finally got to see the baby Killdeer running around.  The adult birds have been going crazy as we've walked around and today I see why.  They are protecting at least 5 or 6 babies from us and a variety of birds that seem to be keeping an eyeballing them.

Tomorrow morning we will leave here and head on to Spearfish.  So looking forward to our gig there for the next 4 months or so.


Much love from the north land,

 Bill Cody, Rae Wilson, and Bailey