Our next stop on our eastward journey was back through Missouri to another state park. We'd stayed at a couple of nice MO state parks in the summer, but this one was a new one for us, Long Branch, near the small city of Macon. The park's only campground has 70 sites, most of which are reservable, so it's not exceptionally large, but the park itself is on a very large site with Long Branch Lake as its centerpiece. There are also hiking trails through the Chariton River Hills prairie. We arrived on a Thursday without reservations but did not need them this late in the season. We were able to select our own site and had a wide array of choices. There are electric-only (30 or 50 amp) and primitive sites here. We chose a 30-amp site that backed up to the lake (through woods) and was very private and farther from other sites than most. We had our loop to ourselves on our first night, though it partially filled up over the weekend. Our site wasn't very level, and it took some work and boards under our tires to get Pearl level, but the extra work was worth it for the privacy and serenity of the site. It was very dark here at night, and we slept well. There are no individual water hookups, but there are spigots scattered around the campground for filling your tank or water jugs, and there is a dump station. We picked up no over-the-air TV stations, but the Verizon 4G LTE signal was strong (4 bars). Here is our wooded site with the lake behind us. A Bubbling BatteryAs we were getting settled into our site after arriving at the park, we smelled something funny coming from the engine compartment. RVs can have funny smells at times, but this was definitely out of the ordinary. Barry took a look, and the water in our wet-cell starter battery was boiling! This was not a good thing. We had no idea how old the battery was and figured it was probably time to replace it anyway. Barry was able to disconnect it from our battery charger to stop the boiling, but he knew that would likely mean a dead battery when we went to leave the park in a few days. It was certainly worrisome as we had never tried to start Pearl off the house batteries. That is supposed to work, but if you've never done it, it's a bit scary. Worst case, we'd have to call our Good Sam Roadside Assistance for help. And a Bike Ride (but of course!)In the meantime, we tried not to worry too much about the battery, assuming things would probably work out in the end. We took a bike ride in the park and beyond. I was happy to see that they are restoring the prairie in the park. I guess all those Little House books when I was growing up gave me a special affinity for the prairie landscape. There are bikeable roads in the park (though they had the usual bone-jarring cracks) and nearby towns to cycle to on nice, rural roads. Our bike ride took us to Bevier nearby. It had some real small-town charm. This gorgeous old church captivated me and required an immediate stop for photos. I hope it is not neglected to the point that it falls down, but even in its paint-peeling and neglected state, it is beautiful. I did some research after the ride and found out that this was formerly the Bevier English Congregational Church. The building now houses the Bevier Black Diamond Historical Preservation Organization (black diamond because of the area's coal heritage). Here's a photo on Facebook of how the church used to look. Wow! We next pedaled east to the slightly larger city of Macon. I liked this house, all decorated for fall with colorful mums at the front stairway. And this beautiful old gate. Obviously the home behind it used to be something important in the city. Still beautiful, it was in somewhat derelict condition and with no sign, appeared to be a private residence now. I do hope that the owners are in the process of restoring this gem. As it is now, it looks a bit like a Halloween haunted house. Pretty but a little spooky! Stay tuned for the next chapter in our battery saga and for a visit to a very specially named town!
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I already had a city park in Horton, KS picked out for a one-night stop as we headed east across the plains, but it was a bit off-route. So when we saw a sign for Stallbaumer RV Park & Campground coming up on Highway 36 in Seneca, I quickly googled it, read a few good reviews, and decided it would be a fine place to stop. Barry was tired of fighting Pearl's steering during a stiff crosswind, so stopping here gave him an earlier break. We pulled in right before 1 pm and had our choice of sites as there were only a couple other rigs in the park. This is a self-service place with the owners off-site at their lumberyard down the road but available by phone if needed. All instructions for checking in, fees, etc. are noted on a large sign as you enter the park. The park offers 30 sites total, 20 of which are pull-through. We chose one of the latter, accidentally pulling into a 50-amp site rather than a 30, but decided to pay the small extra charge and stay put, since we liked the site location, at the end of a row and with a grassy area right outside our door side. Great pond view too! Sites here have full hookups (electricity, water, and sewer) at a cost of $20/day for 30 amp electric, $3 more for 50 amp, and $2 for cable TV. We hadn't had cable TV in months so treated ourselves since our over-the-air antenna didn't pick up any stations. Verizon 4G LTE signal was good. A big plus of this park was the laundry room, which was reasonably priced, clean, and well-timed for us, as we really did need to wash clothes. There was also a bath house with showers, but we didn't check that out. I'm sure this place is busier during the summer travel season, but on this weeknight, no one came in after us, so we had no rigs anywhere near us. Sweet! The park also offered a nice play area in the grass for Paisley (unfenced, but no one was around) and was close enough to walk to downtown Seneca. From Wikipedia, I learned that Seneca is the county seat of Nemaha County and has a population of around 2000. The city was founded in the mid-1800s as a stop along the Pony Express route; in fact, a portion of Highway 36 is called the Pony Express Trail. The downtown area includes some attractive historic buildings. While I did laundry, Barry took a walk downtown and got some photos. There are a couple of museums here: a fire department museum and a military museum. We enjoyed our one-night stay in Stallbaumer RV Park. The only ding on the park was the number of bright lights in the parking area after dark (good for security but very bright through our window coverings) and noisy exhaust fans at the business next door, so we had to use earplugs for sleeping. Still, we would certainly stay here again if passing through the area.
Those who have been following our travels for awhile know that we actually lived in the Kansas City area for a year (minus some long trips) after returning to the US from Belize in 2013. So now it was time to take our motorhome, Pearl, through the state where we spent so much time in 2013-2014.. On the way to our destination, Lovewell State Park in the northern part of the state, we passed the geographic center of the lower 48 states, marked with this sign. Lovewell State Park is an 1160-acre park on the Lovewell Reservoir. The four-mile road into the park is paved but has bone-jarring cracks that shook us and Pearl up. Once we got into the park, though, we forgot all about that and just enjoyed the beautiful setting. There are four separate campgrounds within the park, but only two were still open during our mid-September stay. When fully operational, there are 23 full hookup sites, 13 with water and electric, 82 with electric hookups only, and 306 primitive sites. There are two dump stations, several showerhouses, water spigots, and both vault and flush toilets scattered around the large park. At the time of our visit, the park was lightly used, and most rigs were camped in the full hookup sites. Although some campsites are reservable, we went in without reservations, as usual, and nabbed a fantastic full hookup site in Willow South Campground. Our premium site right on the reservoir cost us $28.50 a night, which includes a $5 daily parking fee. We got lucky; for once, we got a site that was almost completely level, a surprisingly rare occurrence in our experience. Many sites that appear level on first glance are not nearly so after pulling in. This is a place to get away from it all. There was no over-the-air TV signal at all, and internet was marginal. Inside Pearl we got only a 1X or 3G signal, but moving our Verizon Mifi box outside picked up one bar of 4G LTE. At night, however, we could pick up one bar of 4G LTE inside the rig. Here is our site in Willow South Campground. There was another rig fairly close on our driver's side, but we had great privacy on the door/patio side of Pearl. Here is the best part of our site: an unobstructed view of Lovewell Reservoir. Gorgeous! During our two-night stay, we were treated to a couple of beautiful over-water sunsets featuring golden afterglows. The reservoir is home to huge flocks of seagulls and other seabirds. Morning and evening were their prime gathering and feeding times. We took a nice bike ride on the paved roads around the park and down the lightly traveled (but cracked) roller coaster of the four-mile rural road in. Along the rural road there were a couple of cemeteries with old headstones, always interesting to see. Another interesting stop was this old limestone schoolhouse on park grounds, now used for summer church services. We had a great stay in Lovewell State Park and were happy to discover this hidden gem. Next we move farther east in Kansas for a brief stop at a commercial campground.
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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