Day 61 -- Feedlots, farms and we are not "not in Kansas anymore"

Travel   From: Fort Collins, CO   To: Lovewell SP, KS   Distance: 443 mi (712 km)   Travel time w/brks: 8 hr 41   Distance since start: 13,113 mi (21,086 km)

Sunday 8/20/2006

We got up early and used the campground's bathrooms. Each one of us who went spotted lots of wild rabbits on the campground. It was quite foggy as we headed out. The humidity was high so I had to run with the A/C on just to keep the windshield from fogging up.

Sunshine and fog as we leave Fort Collins, Colorado

We had to go through central Fort Collins to get out on the small highway we were taking to Kansas. There was not much traffic out this early on a Sunday morning. After we had started to get away a bit from the Interstate south of Fort Collins, we ran into plenty of feedlots (places where farmers pack lots of cattle together and feed them corn, soy derivatives, water, growth hormone and antibiotics). Some of those places smelled bad. We drove through plenty of small towns along the way. Many of them looked like they had been good places but were in a bit of a decay at this point. We touched the tip of Nebraska for a brief moment and then got into northern Kansas. About 5ft into Kansas we stopped for breakfast. We had fun walking back and forth over the Nebraska/Kansas state line, since it also de-marks the boundary between two time zones.

Gunhappy Karl gets to pose in front of a tank as we buy fuel in Atwood, Kansas

We had not nailed a place to stay for the evening at this point. I wanted to play it a bit by ear. I was not completely sure about the road conditions. But we had one goal: to sleep in Kansas. Ideally, it would be easy to get into Nebraska and our next night's stay. When we drove through Kansas back in 1999 my impression of it was that it was rather flat. This time it also felt flat, at a high level, but since we were taking local highways instead of the Interstate, we got to drive through plenty of rolling hills. There were farms everywhere. This is definitely farm country. I studied the map a couple of times and decided we should try a state park called Lovewell Reservoir near the Nebraska border.

Entrance to Lovewell reservoir

This turned out to be a great choice. The campground had more than 100 sites and we had a choice between hookup and not. About 20 or so of the sites were taken. This place could be a nice location for an Airstream caravan stop-over. We picked a site without hookup by the shore of the lake. The lake was about 10ft below full since it was mainly used for irrigation of farms and there had not been much rain lately. It took a while to get us level with the trailer. The kids rushed out into the water and wanted to take a swim. Although Karl complained about the bottom being a bit muddy, it was still a great place worth coming back to. Perhaps much of the mud was an issue just because the lake was so low?

Boon docking by the water

Taking a swim in the lake (fishing boats zooming by in the background)

We enjoyed a great sunset after dinner. Since the black water tank was still not working, we had to walk a bit to get to the nearest bathroom. The kids used that to take a shower as well. The bathrooms were fairly new and in good condition.

Karl and Erik, trying to catch fish from shore

Campground   Name: Lovewell State Park, KS   Our hookups: none   WiFi: No   GSM service: No   TV Channels: Don't know   Cost: tbd/night   Reservation mode: Drop in

[Next day] [Previous Day] [Main] [Summary]

All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the Yukon Sky.