May 20 to May 24

It was a nice stay at the KOA in Goodland Kansas on Tuesday night. It was our first KOA of this trip. They offered an all-you-can eat pancake breakfast. The owners are Polish from Chicago, and they were very friendly. We also talked with a couple from Arizona who were parked next to us and were eating breakfast at the same time. After breakfast I got Toby out of the RV, and as he walked ahead of me I saw that my hairbrush was stuck in his fur on his right side. Guess who had been sleeping in my bed? Right after we left the KOA we saw a huge easel on the side of the road with a Van Gogh 'Sunflowers' painting on it. It could be seen for miles. It was an exhibit by the Rotary Club and there was a visitor notebook to sign, which we did. We drove most of the day through flat and rolling prairie. We saw an underground house, and a road runner ran across the road in front of us. We stopped at the Prairie Dog State Park, but it was early in the day and there was not much to see, so we didn't stay. There was a prairie dog village, but only one was out, and he really told us off. I had never heard one talk before. There was also an adobe house that was a landmark, and a lake for boating, fishing, and swimming. Charlie wrote to David about the park...”There were a lot of people that live in the RV section. There were swings, gliders, toys and other outdoor stuff around alot of the RV type trailers. I wouldn't want to stay in them in the winter. Most RVs are very uncomfortable and can have all kinds of problems when the weather gets below freezing for very long. Imagine, you come home from work and all the doors and windows are iced shut. There has to be other inexpensive ways to live this far north”....Charlie wrote about the RV Park we stayed in Wednesday night...”This is one of the funkier RV parks we have stayed in, but its okay. The bathrooms, showers, laundry, pay phone, sitting area, and a big old chest freezer full of the owners old looking odd food, are all crammed into an old mobile home. It has been rebuilt inside to fit in the 3 bathrooms and a large laundry room in the back. When we got here an old guy was sitting on the front porch of the office/house. He was sitting in an old glider supported by springs and a metal frame and covered with bedding. It looked like he sleeps out there all day waiting for RVers. I told him I had a Passport America membership, and he just said that will be 12 dollars. I gave him the money, and he gave me a postcard with rules, camp layout, and cable channels on it. At every other RV park I have had to fill out a motel registry type form or wait for someone to type a bunch of info into a computer. Maybe he forgot. He is pretty much deaf too. I hope he remembers I paid. I know, I'm gonna get old too.”.... Thursday morning we drove on to Abilene Kansas and visited the Dwight D. Eisenhower Center. A Visitor's Center, the Presidential Library, a museum, the Eisenhower homestead, and his burial site are there. The Eisenhower homestead was especially interesting because it remains as it was when his Mother passed away in the 40s. All of the furniture and even the books in the bookcases are the same. We watched a short film about DDE in the Visitors Center, which told about his entire life. Also, Eisenhower was a big baseball fan. There were letters on display in the library that had been sent to him from baseball personalities. A letter from Jackie Robinson dated May 13, 1958 was very impressive. He challenged Eisenhower on his statement in a speech in which he said that they need to be patient. He suggested to Eisenhower that “...you unwittingly crush the spirit of freedom in Negroes by constantly urging forbearance...”. It is a powerful letter. I went to the web and found it, and learned that Jackie Robinson wrote to every President between 1956 and 1972 stating they did not go far enough to advance the cause of civil rights. I was glad we went to the library, though other than the baseball display we didn't see anything else there. On Friday morning we arrived at our friend Steve Weiland's home in Leavenworth, KS. It was good see him again, he looked the same as he did two years ago when we were on our last trip. Steve fed us well at lunch, and then fired up the bar-b-que and fixed corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, and chicken for dinner. Steve is a great cook and added lots of good seasoning to everything. Charlie's shaggy beard was driving Steve crazy, and so he gave him a trim. Charlie couldn't see what was being done to him, but I assured him he was looking good! Charlie decided to trust both of us. Toby made himself at home. Steve has a dachshund that is 16 years old and deaf. Toto was upset at our arrival but she learned to ignore Toby, and she was very sweet. Steve has a nice deck and a big pretty backyard, so Toby and Toto were in and out constantly, just like at our house. After dinner we watched a blue ray movie on a gigantic TV with surround sound. Not what we are used to...Steve had to go to work Saturday so we left in the morning when he left. We drove on into Missouri and Charlie got tired so he took a nap at a rest stop. Then we kept going and stopped early at an RV Park in Missouri just ahead of a big thunderstorm. It was the first rain we have had on this trip, and it really came down for an hour or so. We didn't have wifi or cable so we watched the Blues Brothers DVD. Charlie slept during most of the movie though. On Sunday we went to the Bonne Terre Mine and took the walking and boat tour. This lead mine is a place Charlie has wanted to visit for many years because you can dive there. There are five levels, and the three lower levels are flooded. There is also water in part of the second level which is open for tours and scuba divers. The diving could be a lot of fun, but it would be a long walk up and back with all the gear. They do have tanks and weights at the entry point, but you would still need to have a full wetsuit or drysuit, all the other gear, plus a camera. There are 58 steps, plus a long path on an incline. Pretty daunting after a dive. The cost per diver is $65 with a guide. There couldn't be much to see underwater except rocks, tunnels, and various old mining equipment. Someone did try putting a bunch of bass in there about 8 years ago, but only one survived. They named it Bonnie for Bonne. The fish were brought in from a fairly warm and well lit pond, so it is amazing the one survived. Bonnie hangs out right at the diving entry area where she gets fed regularly. The walking tour began at the mule entrance. Before the mule entrance was created, they took the mules down in an elevator and they stayed down there until they retired. They were well treated because they were valuable, but were usually blind when they came out of the mine. At the end of the walking tour we took a 14 passenger pontoon boat powered by an electric motor. It was a short ride from the diver's entry/exit point and the boat toured around the flooded open areas. We got dripped on a lot. To get it down there, the boat had been lowered down a large shaft. At the end of the boat trip we met up with a couple of divers at the end of their dive. Besides lead and water, there are calcium build ups and there are a few other minerals that add color to the mine. Cobalt was there but it was pink. Mining tools were left behind and they are rusting and adding to the colors in the mine. We were allowed to touch everything, unlike tours in natural caverns. The mine is huge and supported by large pillars left by the miners when they dug it out. I bought a magnet at the shop and a couple of other things. Then we drove for a few more hours and had dinner at The Branding Iron, a place we had been 2 years ago. Then we went to the Cape Camping & RV Park in Cape Girardeau. We also stayed here 2 years ago. We are parked next to an RV very similar to ours. See pics....