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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