After several days in Kansas at the really beautiful El Dorado State Park we are on our way south again.

I really liked El Dorado State Park - the sites are quite large, there is lots and lots of open land so you don’t feel like you’re in a parking lot and it’s right on the water. Deer cruise through in the evenings and mornings giving it that whole warm and fuzzy.

But don’t try to pet the deer - wildlife is wild.

The site we had was pretty typical with water and power along with a picnic table and a standing-height kitchen table with a metal pole and hook for your lantern plus a fire pit. All the sites are near water, a big open field or a stream.

Other than during our class there was darn near nobody here so it felt like we had this large space all to ourselves.

However our final night in Kansas was a blustery one with some pretty intense winds and the most rain I have ever seen at a single time. At one point I peeked my head out the door of the trailer and it looked like Niagara Falls is was coming off the roof.

There was also some hail as an added bonus but it didn’t seem to be sufficient to cause damage, thankfully. Hail is something I am concerned about as we have alllllll those solar panels on the roof of our Rockwood Mini Lite.

Before we turned down for that windy, noisy and shaky night we got to spend one more evening with our Girl Camper friend Dee and chose to go back to Stearman’s. That place is pretty neat but the winds had started to pick up already so all the planes were tucked in for the night.

After checking for hail damage, there was none that I could find, we headed out toward our friends’ house in Oklahoma.

I have written that this new-to-us Ram 2500 is such a more relaxing truck to drive with the trailer simply because it is better able to control the trailer but I was fighting the rig the whole way out of Kansas and into Oklahoma.

Bummer - didn’t get to go

Downtown El Dorado, Kansas is a really quint town with some beautiful brick buildings. This is one of those towns that’s been around for a century or more and, as such, is a great walking town.

There’s also a Kansas Oil Museum which is a tribute to the past and present of oil production in the region. I love vintage machinery and signage and vintage filling stations and I should have prioritized some time here, but I didn’t. But that just means I wouldn’t mind coming back to El Dorado, Kansas, staying in that same state park and strolling downtown El Dorado and going to the Kansas Oil Museum.

Funny thing to me - I speak enough Spanish to get by and I know how to say “El Dorado.” El duh-rah-do. But here they say el do-ray-do. I guess it’s like Amarillo, Texas which should be ah-muh-ree-yo but they say ah-muh-rill-oh.

We’re spending the night at our friends Bev and Dave’s house in their yard and fellow California escapees Stacy and also Dave, who were the first of our circle to leave, got together to share stories.

Whenever I spend time with these two Daves my stomach usually hurts because we laugh so much. We haven’t seen them in over a year but things haven’t changed and that’s a good thing.

Water parks

Before we left Texas I knew we’d be off-grid for a few days here and there. I don’t like keeping water in the holding tank of the trailer because I’ve heard some stories about tank failures and, well, why risk it? We do keep a few gallons in the tank to flush the toilet and that sort of thing but I don’t keep the tank all that full.

Our indicator has four lights so we keep enough water so that the first one or two are illuminated.

Anyhow, I had filled a couple of the Wolverine water bags in Texas before we left and they were still in the back of the truck. When I got to Bev and Dave’s I finally got out the drill pump and transferred that water into the trailer. Two of those bags turned on one more light on the indicator panel so now we’re good, especially if we use the Geyser Shower System instead of the traditional shower, as we plan to.

I’m still very pleased with this way to tote water and using my electric drill that I carry for the stabilizers to pump the water works so well.

Last night as I stepped into the trailer and powered open the slide room it made me think how wonderful all this is. I have hot water, heat, air conditioning and a great bed that travel with me. I have a nicer tiny house than many of my ancestors could even dream of. This whole RV lifestyle is pretty freaking great and modern RVs are truly wonderful. Sure, sometimes we have a fiddly bit here and there but, overall, this ain’t half bad.

I guess this was a pretty uneventful day even though a black cat crossed my path but I’m good with that. I like being able to sit here and tell these stories and, for those of you who read them, thank you.