At the Little House on the Prairie Homestead

Monday June 29
Thompson Lake State Park, South Dakota

My neighbors, Lisa and her Mom, who were camped at Thompson Lake were locals at deSmet, So. Dakota so they recommended someone in town to change the oil on Doodlebug. 

While that was happening I went into the local coffee shop and did some blogging. Lots of local activity there, the morning coffee clatches were in full swing. Also there was a little girl who was on her way to a 4-H horse show. I had seen them loading her Pinto pony in the horse trailer on the way in.

Her name is Madison, the little girl, not the horse.

Spent the rest of the day in the late 1800's at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead museum. I know it's a recreated village with buildings of the era moved there to represent the actual ones lived in by the Ingalls family, but it still gave me the feeling of being transported back to that time.

The sod house where pioneers would make their first home while fulfilling their obligation to live there for a number of years in order to be able to own the land. 

Pa Ingalls worked in town to earn money to buy lumber (since there was none on the prairie) to build Ma and his 3 girls a real home.

In the sod roof barn there were real kittens and a mama cat the kids were enjoying playing with.

A ride in a conestoga wagon out to the school house.

These college girls were visitors who have been fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books since childhood and were excited to be seeing all the history here.  

They loaned me one of the bonnets they had bought for a friend for this photo.

I think I would have made a good prairie woman....

This little colt and  his mama were just running around the place until he got too tired and had to take a nap.

Just the vast expanses of space gave the feeling of what it must have been like to live on the plains in those days.

I took the long walk to the church as much for the exercise as to feel what it must have been like to go those distances on foot with just the sky and the wildflowers and grass for beauty.

Inside the church was information on what brought so many people to this area...  

free land if they were  strong enough to stick it out. Many weren't.

Those who made a success of it did finally learn to make the land pay off.

One of the docents told me there are at least 3 or 4 versions of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life:

her official biography, the stories she told for her children's books, and lastly the TV show which seemed to draw the most interesting parts of all using quite a bit of artistic license.

Back at Thompson Lake I made friends with Lan and her cute Jack Russell puppy, Joker.

         A very fun, satisfying day.................

Lessons learned

Sunday, June 28

Fixing breakfast and feeling guilty about not finding a Catholic church for Mass like my Mom used to when we were driving to California on vacations.  Noticed I had left the driver's side and passenger side windows open all night! It was warm and I had wanted the breeze earlier. Too much hot tub...I've got to be more careful. That mass murderer might have been in the neighborhood.

Headed for deSmet, South Dakota, home of Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie. Very beautiful green rolling hills, some flat land.

So mesmerizing that I forgot to check my gas and noticed I only had 1/4 tank left and it was still pretty far to deSmet, so went back 10 miles to the nearest gas station according to my gas app on my phone.  Also happened to notice I needed an oil change 50 miles ago so will do that in deSmet. When will all of this become automatic?!  I need to find a cute young mechanic to bring along to keep his mind on this stuff so I can  just enjoy the trip!

After leaving Madison with a full gas tank and headed toward deSmet,  Gypsy (my GPS) told me when I get to a certain # road "a dirt road" she said, I should turn left on it and continue to Thompson Lake State Park where I had a reservation for the night.  I came to the correct # road (" a dirt road" just as she said), turned down it and the road was soon covered with weeds and I could see a few hundred yards ahead that it ended IN the lake! It was a WTF moment so I turned around, nearly high centering the Doodle and headed into deSmet where someone gave me correct directions for Lake Thompson saying "you have to be careful with GPS around here". Obviously.

So there you have it, for all of you who wanted not to see the sights, but to know how it really is on the road.

Independence and Kansas City, Missouri - half way across the country

Saturday June 27

Headed for Independence, Missouri and have reached the half way mark on the trip. If you can see the yellow hi liter on my map you will see I am now smack dab in the middle of the country having come 2000 miles in two weeks.  There are a lot of red dots behind me in the southwest which I will do on my trip home in the Spring.  Ahead is all of the early history of our country which I expect to take the next 11 months to explore.

Glad I brought along a lot of tunes and books on tape to get me thru the midwest where there's nothing but religious and conservative talk shows on the radio.


Arriving in Independence, Missouri you are thinking Truman Library and Museum, aren't you?  If you were traveling with me you might insist I see these places, which is why I'm traveling solo. My childhood memories of Harry Truman's presidency don't really warrant a visit here for me. Oh, I know after Roosevelt died it took great courage by Harry to make the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that essentially ended WWII. And for that alone I probably should honor his memory by paying a visit to his library.  Instead I'm reading one of his daughter Margret's novels Murder at the Kennedy Center. She is quite a talented mystery novelist and who can forget her classical piano playing on the Ed Sullivan show.  Or what that Ike's daughter?

I did swing by for a photo of Harry and Bess's place since I love old homes. Seems to be some construction happening with a cyclone fence around it.

Lovely neighborhood where Harry used to walk. The route of his walk is noted with large life size cutouts of Harry in his bowler hat on various streets. Was tempted to stroll along but was on my way for some good Kansas City barbeque.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. When I first arrived in Independence this morning I stopped to see Leila's Hair Museum. Probably the only hair museum. Leila Cohoon's collection of these fascinating pieces of art numbers 700 wreaths and 2,000 pieces of jewelry. My solo tour was given by Josie whose passion for the subject was obvious. The human and animal hair used was not always from the deceased. One large framed piece was done by a mother who included the hair of all of her children at different stages of their lives. It was a look into the way women's lives have changed over the past several hundred years from the time women could only be at home doing these home arts.

A way to record history before cameras. The earliest piece was from 1680. I don't like the overused word amazing, but this museum truly was just that.

Josie

                   And now to the real reason I came to Kansas City, the barbeque.  Found a DDD restaurant, Smoking Guns BBQ which gave me enough food to last several days. Excellent even tho I'm not much of a meat eater.

                 

Spent the night in a great rv park for kids, Camp Away RV park in Lincoln, Neb.  I miss seeing little ones and this place has many families. Sat in the hot tub for only a few minutes when in came 4 teenage girls who were members of a softball team playing a tournament. So we talked baseball until boyfriend talk took over and I left.

Down time at Atchison, Kansas

Friday June 26

A terrific rainstorm last night with lightning and thunder, very exciting! But I'm snug in my Doodle, finally I have a "room of my own".  Thinking of yesterday's challenge with the CO alarm, it occurs to me that people my age often find themselves at a loss to come up with a late adventure that doesn't involve romance. This trip is my late great adventure of my 70's and it won't be with any one man, but will be learning how to get along without anyone by my side.  I have my doubts, what am I capable of that I don't know yet?   What are my limits?  Am I equal to anything a trip like this could throw at me?

The first thing it has thrown at me is the frustrating inability to become proficient at the technology I've brought along. Without Bobbie's long distance tech help there would be no blog. Thx, Bobbie!

Spent the day in the Atchison, Kansas library catching up on blogs the last few days where there was no wifi. It's just like me to make a giant homework assignment of this trip. I want to remember it all so my kids can read it to me in the nursing home when I've long forgotten who I am.

The evening was in the Lewis and Clark State Park, again no wifi so had a quiet time of reading after making friends with the neighbors. A few friends have admitted to envying my reclusive roadtrip.  I can't help but think there is something wrong with solitude such as mine that can be envied by happily married women with children.

Amelia Earhart

Noon Thursday June 25

Same day as Willa Cather...since I was done in Red Cloud by noon, looked at the map and decided I could make it to Atchison, Kansas today to see Amelia Earhart's home.  It was only 211 miles.  I would be breaking my 230 rule but it would be worth it.

Made better time than I thought arriving at 3:30 so decided to do the self guided home tour.

Amelia Earhart's grandparents' home where she was born

Amelia's bedroom

Amelia was born and spent a lot of time growing up here because her father traveled a lot with his profession.




The surrounding homes in this neighborhood make this one seem humble.

Talking with the docent about my trip, she said I was a "modern day Amelia Earhart". I like that.


When I got back to the Doodlebug, my CO alarm was going off and beeping red, the danger sign! Now what?! 

So I opened all the windows, checked for leaking gas and called a repair place. She suggested the battery was low, which it was because I had not stayed in rv parks plugged in the last two nights. So I drove to Warnack Lake where I plugged in and charged the generator and everything is working and the CO stopped beeping almost immediately. The difference between ordeal and adventure is attitude.  There is no wifi here for blogging, so fixed a sandwich and went to bed.  

Warnack Lake where I got recharged...............

Willa Cather

Wednesday June 24

Driving thru Nebraska saw a sign to visit the original Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, Nebr.

Why not?! 

Inside a family was visiting and listening to the docent. When she said the youngest pony express rider was 11, the man looked at his son and said "Some 11 year olds don't even know how to cut the grass!"

Spent the day driving to Red Cloud, Nebraska, the home of Willa Cather who wrote about prairie women in the early 1900's. Heavy rains the last few days had swollen the Platte River to remind me of the beginning of our Thames River walk in England a few years ago. 

The local RV park was full so it was serendipitous that I should end up in the Cather family home that has been converted to a B & B. Wonderfully filled with antiques, some of which were original to the home.  I'm told I'm in Willa's actual room!  Probably not in the bed with her actual DNA however.

Walked around the town a bit, had some dinner and sat on the front porch with my feet up pretending I lived here. There is one other guest, a mystery woman who has had her door closed all evening and later will be two men from the phone co. who stay here often. Haven't seen them either.

Went to bed and began to catch up my journal and blog.

Willa's and my room...........

Didn't get much done because at 10 pm sharp the electricity went off.  Guess it's time to go to sleep!

 

 

 Thurs June 24

Woke up at 7 am to the shrill loud sound of an alarm like an air raid alarm. I think it was just meant to wake everyone up. Can't be sleeping in these little towns. There's just SO much to do. Haven't seen but one of the other three people who stayed here last night. The guys must have come in late. Asked him if he had electricity last night and he said yes.  His room was right next to mine upstairs. Downstairs the electricity was all on. I can only imagine Willa didn't like the electronic devices I had plugged into her room!  No charging got done so I plugged in to an outlet in the antique dining room.

Had a nice chat with the neighbor whose little dog was named Marilyn. Don't remember her name. Headed into town two blocks away for the walking tour of Red Cloud.  The main industry in this town of about 1000 seems to be Willa Cather. A foundation was formed 20 or so years ago that maintains the buildings that are associated with her youth. Beautiful old bank with the kind of lobby most of us grew up with.

train station that took most of the young people out of town

Opera House which is being restored as the office of the Willa Cather Foundation

Seeing all of this makes me want to go back and read Willa's My Antonia or Song of the Lark

Colorado Rocky Mountain high

June 23

Spent the day driving thru some of the most beautiful Rocky Mountain scenery.  Only the Alps compare.

 John Denver's song kept running thru my head and when it was on the radio I turned it up real loud.

There was the usual road work which held things up a bit here and there.  All that bumping around created a nice mess in the refrigerator with the bottled ale.  I will not buy twist off caps again.  It's cans only for me from now on in the RV!

Interesting in Utah that when Ty was going to a party and went to the liquor store he couldn't buy mix there. Had to go to the grocery for that.  He said it's a Mormon thing.  Apparently you can buy hard liquor but don't go mixing it with anything!

 Stopped in Silverthorne, Colo for lunch at a Farmers Market and took my two tamales to a nearby coffee shop to eat where they had the best lunch spot out back near a river. Couldn't have planned it better.

That night intended to stay in an RV park outside of Denver but the only remaining spot didn't pass the test of a gadget Nacio gave me to test the electric outlet before plugging in.  Apparently faulty equipment in these older parks could damage my own electric wiring.  So it was time for that once a week motel.  Went to a nearby Ramada Inn only to find their wifi was down and I had a lot of blogging to do.  Ended up at a Comfort Inn ($129) but they had free breakfast!