6-14-17

Another rough night for sleeping. At 10 PM it was still around 80 degrees. The wind would blow but it never really brought relief. There was a chance of rain so we couldn't sleep without the rainfly. Our fan doesn't oscillate and brought little relief to our little 9*11 piece of the world. So we laid on top of our open sleeping bags and I eventually fell into a fitful sleep with lots of waking up to roll over. I looked at the clock around midnight. Around 2 AM I woke to the sound of people talking. We are not staying in a sketchy campground. It's a nice KOA near Kansas City. There's a family to our right from Oregon in a red Prius with a hamburger. Across the way is a couple who spent the evening playing catch with a baseball and glove.  Immediately to our left were two guys from California who have a tent with no rainfly and their computer and Subway 

Another rough night for sleeping. At 10 PM it was still around 80 degrees. The wind would blow but it never really brought relief. There was a chance of rain so we couldn't sleep without the rainfly. Our fan doesn't oscillate and brought little relief to our little 9*11 piece of the world. So we laid on top of our open sleeping bags and I eventually fell into a fitful sleep with lots of waking up to roll over. I looked at the clock around midnight. Around 2 AM I woke to the sound of people talking. We are not staying in a sketchy campground. It's a nice KOA near Kansas City. There's a family to our right from Oregon in a red Prius with a hamburger. Across the way is a couple who spent the evening playing catch with a baseball and glove.  Immediately to our left were two guys from California who have a tent with no rainfly and their computer and Subway

sandwiches they bought and ate at their picnic table. Next to them a pipe smoking guy from Columbia, SC on a cross country motorcycle trip to California and Oregon. Next to him is a couple in a tent with no vehicle. The girl wore a white string bikini top and pajama bottoms all evening. Both of them were too thin. This couple woke me at 2:00 this morning because I could hear them arguing and screaming at each other.  They were at it until about 3:00 when all of a sudden there was quiet. And finally I slept until 6:45 when the pitter patter of rain on the tent brought me right out of slumber. While we are prepared for rain, no one in the history of camping wants to take down a tent in the rain. I got up and showered and found Lorelei awake and packing up when I got back. We got everything put away and were lucky enough to not be poured on. We rewarded ourselves with Waffle House. Our first purchased meal. 

We were done and driving by 8:30, on our way through Kansas City to Topeka. We visited the state house, it might have been the nicest one and then stopped in to see Brown vs Board of Education. So amazing to me the people were so unkind because of the color of a persons skin. We have come a long way but still have a long way to go. Next we drove on the turnpike, one of several roads in Kansas and Missouri that are super nice but also have no one on them. Farm after farm rolled by. Then we landed at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve which is a 11,000 acre restored grassland. The have a buffalo herd and we hike out to see those. Not quite 4 miles in the Kansas sun had us ready for lunch and AC in the car. Another 90 minute drive and we were in Salina. We stopped to buy groceries to replenish our fresh items and then headed to the campground. It was a blistering 95 degrees at 7:00 PM. We plan to sleep without the rainfly again tonight just to have some cooler air. We made dinner of popcorn and salad. It was too hot for any other cooking. 

This post come from the laundry room where I'm washing clothes and enjoying the AC before settling in for the night. 

Lorelei wrote this poem on our walk in the prairie and I thought it was good enough to share:

Hill Prairie Poem

My pace quickened when I spotted the hill

But it seem to be farther, farther away still

My muscles ached and burned from the climb

But the view from the top, yes the view was sublime