LAWRENCE, KANSAS

Friday morning, April 8th, we left Arrow Rock, MO and hit I-70 west, took I-470 & I-435 around the south side of Kansas City, and then took Kansas Hwy 10 west to Lawrence, KS. It was an easy 130 mile drive and we checked in for the weekend at (this is hard to type) Clinton State Park on the west side of Lawrence. We had reserved a campsite and it turned out to be a good one - spacious with a lake view. When making advance reservations on the internet it's kind of like buying a "pig-in-a-poke" - you never really know what you're getting.

This is a huge state park, about 1500 acres on Clinton Lake and it has over 300 campsites spread over two separate camping areas. Friday afternoon we rode all around the park and checked it all out. They have a beach, a couple of day use areas, a Disc Golf Course, bike & hiking trails, and of course a marina on the lake. There were also a lot of ducks on some of the ponds in the park. It's always fun to ride around and see all the camping units other folks have. There were a couple of interesting ones here!

Saturday morning (a brisk 35 sunny degrees) we went out for breakfast - found a really good restaurant named "The Big Biscuit". Had a great breakfast, but I was disappointed in the drink -- I asked for "sweet tea" and the girl just looked at me funny and said, "we have iced tea". Oh well, water worked just fine. In the afternoon we went exploring on the Santa Fe Trail. Hwy 56 runs across Kansas and roughly follows the trail - we'll be on it for the next several days. Saturday, we backtracked along the trail and checked out a few of the points of interest. There was "Black Jack Park" where the trail had come through and the ruts from the wagons are still very evident. There was also another crossing a mile or so away where there were also still visable ruts. They call them ruts, but actually it is just a big swale in the earth 30 or so feet wide. We also stopped and checked out the historical markers at Gardner Junction and Elm Grove Campground.

As in Missouri, this whole area (and I reckon the whole state) is huge farm country. We saw this guy working the big field with this huge rig - got me so excited that we stopped at a big John Deer dealership. Don't reckon I could afford one of these monsters.

We also saw evidence of another guy who probably couldn't afford a new tractor either!

Friday and Saturday were both sunny, but chilly and very windy. There was warm front and a big thunderstorm that came through before daylight this morning (Sunday) and the temperature had warmed up. It was only 57 early and got up into the high 70's later today, but stayed partly cloudy. We went to Heritage Baptist Church about 5 miles from the park for a great worship service, then went out to lunch at "El Sol" Mexican restaurant - very good! We had been wanting to see the movie "God's Not Dead #2", so we found a theater where it was playing and went for the mid-afternoon matinee. Great movie - highly recommended! Even though it was chilly and a pretty windy couple of days, we've had an enjoyable weekend here in Lawrence, but tomorrow it's time to move on. We're heading west on Hwy 56 - following the trail. Next stop - McPhearson, KS.