A Lot of Words to Tell You Nothing Much Happened

It was a late start to the day (something about having to finish and post my blog, which I was adamant had to be done before she was allowed to do anything else).  Then it was an uneventful 4 hour drive to Kansas City, where we stopped to... you guessed it... get my Pawsport stamped! Yup, you know its all about me!

That was a pretty cool mall, with number of stores we could have easily spent hours (and big dollars) in, but we managed to get in and out fairly quickly, and without buying anything (not even in B-a-B).  We did, however, see a very cool two story carrousel INSIDE the mall; no we didn't ride it, although I would have loved that.

Since it was already 4pm, we decided to get out of Kansas City before rush hour (sound familiar), and to only go as far as Topeka, as the next KOA after that (Salina) was 3 or more hours away, and most of the KOA offices close before 8pm, so it wasn't worth the risk.

Wanda had done us well so far today, so we plugged in the new KOA address and were soon on our way again.  We were happily travellling down the highway at a break-neck speed of 75mph (120 km/hr for those of you who need the translation).  No, Clare wasn't speeding - that was the speed limit!  And for the first time since we left home, I actually noticed that most people actually kept to it.  Maybe Clare wasn't pulling my leg about what "speed limit" means after-all.

Then Clare got a bit of a shock when she passed an exit and saw the sign "last free exit".  I was extremely confused, but Clare figured it out quickly.  My buddy Wanda was sending us on a toll road with no warning whatsoever!  Ok, OnStar people, we probably would have taken it anyways, but it would have been nice to at least KNOW it was coming.

Things continued fine the rest of the way to Topeka, and I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have a day without an adventure at all.  Nope, Wanda didn't let me down.  We easily followed all of her directions, including the one that took us onto a highway, and as we saw the KOA to our right, Wanda proudly announced "you have reached your destination."

Umm... ok.  Are we supposed to drive over the guard rail, into that really big ditch, through their fence, and into their park from here?  There was a big sign on the KOA property telling us to take the next exit, so we did.  Unfortunately we didn't know where to go next.  For those who aren't used to KOAs, they often have really good signage to get you to their locations, so when Clare didn't see one, she turned right but was soon driving up a country road with no clue where we were going (oh Clare wants me to add a piece of info she's learned since then - some states do not allow them to put their KOA signs on road signs, so if you're ever trying to find a KOA and none of their signs exist, follow the blue camper/trailer signs; apparently they are nation-wide).  Why she had to make me add that, I have no idea, but whatever ;).

Once again, she got to press that little blue button, and told him what had happened.  I gather he looked at a map and had no idea where to take us either (I've since looked at a map and can see why - apparently the roads to this campground don't exist lol).  Anyhow, he called the KOA for us, did a conference call, and the owner kindly talked Clare all the way to the gate (well, he did that after helping us figure out where we were!).

Now, here comes the good bit.  He didn't have any regular Kamp Kabins left, and as there is a storm coming this way, Clare really didn't want to set up her tent (I didn't want her to either).  He then offered her the Bunkhouse for the price of a regular Kabin (which sleeps 6, has a fridge, microwave, A/C, cable tv etc).  Basically its better than a hotel room, and about the price of a cheap dump motel :).

Ok, you know you're in tornado alley when the shiny printed map of the campground includes, in bold red text, the location of the storm shelter, and the radio station to listen to for alerts.  However, we aren't likely to need it, since he explained that the Bunkhouse is the old storm shelter.  Its set into the ground with concrete walls.  He did point out though, that if we did have a storm and we didn't want to be alone, we were welcome to join everyone else in the basement of the main building.

It's probably for the best that we didn't go further today, as we've learned that there are tornado warnings in Colorado (and one has already been confirmed), and while we are far from Colorado, that weather will move this way next.  Hopefully it breaks up long before it gets to this side of Kansas!

If you need Visa or MasterCard to buy a soda, perhaps you don't need soda??

Well folks, that's all she wrote for today (what a strange expression, although not entirely untrue in this case as it is a "she" typing for me).  Not very exciting I know, but I seem to have managed finding enough to write about anyways.

Until tomorrow...
Whatever!