We left Bass Pro Shop and headed toward Wichita KS to start our westerly trek 

We booked a site at El Dorado State Park in El Dorado KS. A bit of an odd situation when we arrived at the camp ground entrance, which turned out to not be the entrance for our loop that was 1/2 mile down the road. The person at the check in booth said we had to turn around, not an easy task for us. Steve did it with Chris pulling back tree branches to make the turn. We turned into the correct campground which was empty except for the camp host, who wouldn’t open the door. With no map and the site numbers facing the wrong way Chris had to hike around  the campground to find our spot. 

It was a pleasant site with a good view of the lake.

Wichita is the most populous city in Kansas and appeared to have an abundance of French restaurants and patisseries for some reason according to Google, always a big draw for us, so being driven by our stomachs we ventured into the city.

Wichita appears to have been an hub for entrepreneurship, White Castle, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steak-burgers, and Pizza Hut got their start here

The first Pizza Hut.

We went to Cafe Bel Ami, a French bistro for lunch, which turned out to be no more French than we were. Presumably having “au poivre” sauce on the menu constitutes French cuisine. We tucked in anyway.

Delicious apple/pear bread pudding for dessert

Chris went into a patisserie / bakery for a French baguette and came out with 2 sub rolls.

Overall  we found Wichita a little unappealing. Maybe it was the guy at the museum who had Chris pay $8 for Steve to use the bathroom.

We captured a really nice sunset at the campground.

Wait for it

Wait for it..

Wait for it..

TA DAH!! The end thank you…

We drove through most of Kansas at least from the NE to SW. and we learned that 88%of the states land is under agricultural production, corn, wheat, sourgum etc  We’ve passed so many family run farms and ranches, there are 58,000 farms. Average Farm Size: 781 acres, but it’s very flat

Another short jaunt of about 90 minutes, brought us to Pratt KS. and Burt’s RV Park. Robert met us at the entrance in his golf cart and escorted us to his sister Rose’s RV park, Seidel’s RV Park & Campground just down the road, as the size of our RV was a better fit there. They were a very nice couple and shared the history of their property with us, which been in the family for many generations.

An assortment of chickens Guinea fowl and peacocks wandered around

We left Pratt and started for our next stop in Liberal KS., until we spied a food truck on the side of the road with plenty of space to park

These gentlemen were very friendly and Chris enjoyed a brief conversation with them

Chris dodging traffic

A little visibility issue, still in Kansas. Doing less driving each day doesn’t get you very far.

This was probably the first storm we hit since New York and this didn’t last long

Another Harvest Host stop. Mid-America Air Museum

We’ve dealt with several parking spots where there were trains and whistles nearby, but being on an active runway was a first. We thought it was just a museum and none of the reviews mentioned airplane traffic, at least it wasn’t busy.

They had about 200 planes inside and out. This was where pilots were trained during WWII for the B24 Liberator, as it was an army airfield for a few years.

Some of these planes were so small, some were experimental and so many had been built for people traveling for business, Beechcraft airplanes were built here for many years before it became a museum. Both of us coming from London and NY rarely considered that people in these areas would have to drive hours to a city big enough to take them where they needed to go

A very handy way to get to the office..

This was an open air glider, so many examples of flight..

There are a few outside, they had moved overnight, so presumably they had been out for a flight in the evening.

Next place to visit in Liberal was Dorothy’s House & Land of Oz (Not really as the movie was shot entirely at the Sony studio in Culver City CA)

it was a while ago that someone from Kansas attending a convention asked an attendee what he expected to see when visiting Kansas, he said Dorothy’s house. It didn’t take long for a local entrepreneur representing Liberal to take on the project, someone donated a house that replicated Dorothy’s. and now it’s a great roadside attraction.

They have 4 different “Dorothys” who escort tours through the house and down the Yellow Brick Rd

“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”, so it’s time to blow this Lollipop Guild stand.

Back to our return journey