TRAVEL DAY
From: Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area, West Beed’s Campground, southwest of Valentine, NE.
To: Webster State Park, Hilltop Campground, Stockton, Kansas.
Day 368 – Boy, 4:30 a.m. came too quickly this morning. We dragged ourselves out of bed. It was pitch dark out, but at least it wasn’t windy – yet. We were glad we did the dumping of tanks, throwing out of trash, and adding fresh water last night. A few less things to do. The girls were still sleeping when we got up. Usually, they’re the ones who get us up in the morning – climbing all over us in bed, or jumping from their shelves near the ceiling to the bed, or just running back and forth through the RV like a herd of elephants. When Rob put their food dishes down for them to eat breakfast, they weren’t showing much interest; they still had part of last night’s dinner left.
We departed Merritt Reservoir at 6:20 a.m. It was 45 degrees with a breeze and just starting to get a little light on the horizon. We’re sure the people camping a few sites from us appreciated our headlights as we drove out so early. We headed south out of the State Recreation Area. There weren’t many people out and about, just a few Deer crossing the road. The sunrise was beautiful and nice to see for a change. (I am NEVER up this early. We departed early to beat the wind.) We eventually headed southeast, then straight south again, at one point leaving the Mountain Time Zone and entering the Central Time Zone. The scenery in Nebraska was much of the same we’d been seeing – flat farmlands, rolling hills with large ranches, cattle and horses.
This wind was picking up again. We were glad we got started early. We made several stops along the way – got gas in the RV, a break for us and the kitties, etc. We crossed the border from Nebraska into Kansas. We were surprised that there were noticeably more trees in Kansas – who knew? Throughout NE and KS, we went through only a few cities, mostly small towns. It appeared that most people either farm or ranch, and in their spare time either hunt or fish. And the main crops seemed to be either corn or sorghum.
It was quite windy when we reached our campground at 1:20 p.m. (Central Time), 83 degrees and partly cloudy. We had made reservations at Webster State Park, not far from Stockton, KS. We checked in; we’ll be staying for 3 nights, and we drove through the State Park to locate our campground. We’d never been here before, in fact, we’d never camped in Kansas at all. There was a large reservoir, Webster Reservoir, and seven campgrounds were located around the lake. Our site, #54, was located in Hilltop Campground. It was situated on a hill overlooking the Reservoir, and only 3 campsites were occupied. The sites were large with some nice trees but mostly out in the open. We had electric and water hook-ups. There was a dump station and trash receptacles just down the road.
We were hungry and tired of being on the road fighting the wind. The girls were very happy to be out of captivity. They didn’t like the wind either. The weather forecast has the wind dissipating this evening. We had lunch, unpacked, and set up camp – grateful to be settled in without incident. Tomorrow we will visit Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge, the reason we decided to stay in this area.