091125 - 091525
Leaving the Four Corners heading Northeast, the sun was covered with clouds that extended getting darker on the horizon. The rain started shortly after driving through main street Cortez as I entered the Mesa Verde National Park. The weather app showed rain all the way to through the mountain range to Alamosa. I stopped several times because it was raining so hard and it was still raining when I pulled into
Del Norte Town Park. There was a fifth wheel already set up, so I pulled into the opposite parking space. Later a small trailer pulled in leaving room for only one more. Light rain continued through the night which kept any park activity to a minimum. I used the very convenient dump station on my way out, not bad for free overnight parking.
I left a little early because I want to spend some time at the UFO Watchtower just a few miles away. The place was deserted at 9am so I made my way straight to the geocache which was a real easy find among the UFO displays. It was just a box mounted on a pole surrounded by keys. The rest of the Watchtower was kind of corny but hats off the Lady that created a place to watch for UFO for $5 per person or alien. Apparently there is camping here, but I didn't see where? Learn l more at her un-secure website
http://theoriginalufowatchtower.com/ I dropped a $5 bill in the payment slot and went to find the other geocaches in the area. A couple o park and grabs later I was heading east towards Kansas.
I fueled up near Walsenburg CO on I25, but instead of taking the the interstate north then east, I stayed on the more scenic farm routes. I stopped
Smokey Hill Trail Marker, a roadside monument near Cheyenne Wells CO. Found the geocache and made some lunch. Refreshed, I continued on a NE course through the small towns, crossing into Kansas. I arrived at Atwood Lake Campground at about 1600 which was not a campground. It looked like a Permanent RV parking lot with no open spaces. I took off towards plan B, highway 36 to
Smith Center roadside park, a 2 hour drive east, but the Campendium App shows
Sappa Park Campground only 30 minutes east, so I checked it out. It was after dark before I was able to park right on the grass next to a electrical box with #1 on it. I tried to call the number on the sign, no answer, but I did find another sign that there is a payment box by the restrooms. I never found the restrooms, but I had a nice
overnight under a starry night.
In the morning I booked a site 67 at
Wallace State Park in Missouri then got back on highway 36 east for 349 miles. The drive was flat and steady 65 mph, down to 35 mph moving through the small farm towns then back to 65. I made good time and arrived at 1500, plenty of time to get settled before dark. The was no one else in this area of the campground, probably because it was dry camping, no hookups, perfect for an overnight.
I'm scheduled to pick up Lieutenant Dan in
Crown Point Indiana on Friday so I wanted to stay Thursday night close by so I booked Kankakee River State Park,
Chippewa campground in Illinois. This will only be a hour drive in the morning. Gives me enough time to have breakfast and take a shower before I leave. It was after dark when I finally found my space in a big park and just a few other campers. In the morning I discovered the park did not have showers, just pit toilets. Normally I would not care, but I booked this place because I wanted to shower before I go to crown point. So, I rigged up my outside shower and got ready to go pick up Lieutenant Dan. Thanks for reading my post, leave a comment if you have one.
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