Buck and Janet's Adventures: Kansas City Skies

John Denver sang of the Kansas City Skies. As we left Branson on Tuesday, May 26 and traveled to Kansas, I observed the sky in Kansas. It seems closer to us, or rather maybe I should say, we seemed to be closer to it. I still think that as we're traveling to other states since we left Kansas. Buck says, "No," that's not true. ??!!

Before we arrived at the private campground in downtown Merriam, Kansas, we stopped in Baxter Springs, Kansas, to visit a museum. Our visit to The Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum, just off Route 66, was a real treat. One bit of history that we learned, was the "cow town" story. A cow town is a town where cows are herded for sale at an auction. The cows are brought in and allowed to feed for a few weeks in order to gain weight; thus, when sold, the cows will bring more money. During the "feeding" time the cowhands would go into the towns and spend money on food and entertainment. That helped support the town. Baxter Springs was the first "Cow town" in Kansas The town flourished with this concept until the railroad came through and changed the process of herding and selling cows. Many more historic eras were displayed at the clean and well-managed museum. The volunteers who served us that day took great pride in the museum and their heritage. We took pictures of Civil War, WWI, WWII, and Vietnam military dress, hand-made quilts, a sewing machine, rifles, etc from years gone by. We have shared some of these with you below.

The 2 1/2 hour trip to our campground was very enjoyable. The countryside is very green with pastures for cattle and fields planted for summer and fall harvest. And all the fields are very large, as is the equipment farmers use to till the land.

Walnut Grove RV Park was small compared to the KOA campground in Branson. Walnut Grove is packed with 5th wheels and tag-along camping trailers where men live during the week in the Kansas City area and return to their homes in their trucks on the weekends. This set-up works well for the men since they can cook their night-time meals in their campers. There's also a laundry for them to wash their work clothes. Much better arrangement than a hotel room.

Our campsite was the largest one on the property and we were still stuffed into it. But we were there only two nights, so that worked out fine. One of our "close" neighbors did not fit the mold I've just described. The couple was from England. They flew from there to Chicago and rented a Class C motor home (the motor home with the bed above the cab of the truck). From Chicago they went to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, stopped for a couple days in Kansas, and were headed to Branson. From there they will return to Chicago, turn in the motor home, rent a car, and head to Alabama to visit the man's relatives. After that visit they will fly from Alabama to England. Whatever works!

We had one full day in Kansas. That was Wednesday, May 27. So we headed out to the OZ Museum, about 50 miles above Kansas City. We were amazed. It was a very impressive museum. A vast amount of history has been preserved concerning the origin and history of The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the most well-known and commercially successful adaptation based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Barum. We toured the museum and bought some post cards to send the grandchildren.

On our return to the campground we took a side trip to Leavenworth Army Base in Leavenworth, Kansas. What a flash-back. Military police guarded the entrance and inspected the covered bed of our truck, soldiers in fatigues and dress uniform were all around, some coming from classroom buildings and some in formation. Military wives and some fathers were picking up the children from the daycare on base. Everything was clean and orderly and respect prevailed. One of the pictures below was taken on the military base.

Whoever said this, "Go West, young man, Go West?" I really don't know. But we did "GO West" again on Thursday, May 28 headed to Nebraska.