Remember that when you leave this Earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received, only what you have given, a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. -St. Francis of Assisi

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Topeka, Kansas

October 19-21, 2016

Texas to Topeka, KS - over 800 miles in 3 days




Had a hitchhiker when I left Texas.

I was washing the exterior of the RV a few days before I left and saw these little frogs on the outside of the door
Guess they wanted to go to the fair.
                                                                                                                                       
Usually, I take my time traveling, stopping every few hours along the way, but I wanted to make sure I arrived in Topeka for the opening of the fair.  I left the gulf coast on the morning of the 19th and drove as far as Salado, Texas, 237 miles. 

I was following Google's advice to go straight north, up to I-35, big mistake.

I ended up paying an expensive toll and getting into a construction zone on I-35 and it was difficult finding an RV park, north of Austin, that wasn't full -  probably with highway construction workers.

I stopped for the night at TranQuil Gardens RV Park near the highway and started early the next morning to get some more miles in.

Salado, Texas

Thursday morning, I got back on I-35, but the construction and traffic was terrible and I was driving north into a storm that was headed south.  The skies looked terrible.  I exited the highway near Waco and took the side roads northeast towards Tulsa, OK. I avoided the rain and wind and even had some sunny weather. I stopped for the night at Tulsa RV Ranch in Beggs, OK (407 miles today) - there were some tolls on the Indian Nations Turnpike, but not anywhere near as expensive as the toll near Austin. 

I would not recommend either of these RV parks, except for an overnight stay. I know that many of you would just park up at Walmart for the night.  I like to arrive early enough to a site to walk around and stretch my legs - even if it's not a very scenic RV park. The Tulsa RV Ranch complex has a seasonal rodeo, steak house and grazing longhorns. There was plenty of room to get out and walk around.

I pushed myself today, so I would have a shorter drive on Friday, only 231 miles left to go.

Friday October 21, 2016

An easy, uneventful drive from Tulsa to Topeka, just stay on Hwy. 75.

After I exited the highway, I stopped at Walgreens to pick up a few snacks and then headed to the ExpoCentre.  Just like at most exposition/fairgrounds, they allow RV parking on the grounds.  Many of the exhibitors arrive with RV's, trailers or horse trailers.  
The parking is convenient at a reasonable price.  Some of the sites had electric and I saw a dump station at the end of the parking lot. I didn't ask if there was water available. 


When I arrived, I checked in with security and picked out a site, they needed to unlock the electric box and tag the site.


The Mother Earth News Fair was held at the Kansas ExpoCentre. I did not visit any other areas of Topeka during my time here. Everyday, I walked around the neighborhood, a hotel and a wedding venue share the parking lot.  There are some older, Art Deco style building, that may have been the original buildings of the ExpoCentre.

A suburban-like area has grown up around the center, I wonder if it the center was originally "out in the boonies", surrounded by fields.  


Home for the weekend, a nice corner site.




Techie Question: I use my iPhone for all photos.  I have 2 small cameras, but do not like to carry them around.  I am having problems with all of the photos that I took during the last few weeks of October.  I can not "share" them from my phone.  I get an error message and then I have to take a "screen shot" of the photo, crop it and then I can email it to myself.  When I copy all of the photos from my phone to my laptop, it skips those dates. 

Did I accidentally turn something "off or on" on the phone???

I notice now that these photos have an exclamation point a corner of the photo.

I am still on the Sprint network, with free roaming, I wonder if this has anything to do with it.  I am sure I was out of Sprint's zone during much of this trip and would have been switched over to Verizon's or AT&T's towers.


coming up:
-pics and info from the vendors at the fair
-visiting some of the Kansas Byways and Prairies on my way to Denver







2 comments:

  1. I highly recommend Hwy 281 as an alternative to IH 35 in Texas. It will take longer but you will drive through small town Texas and see beautiful country.
    JeffW

    ReplyDelete
  2. I highly recommend Hwy 281 as an alternative to IH 35 in Texas. It will take longer but you will drive through small town Texas and see beautiful country.
    JeffW

    ReplyDelete

Hi, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

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It is the sandstorm that shape the stone statues of the Desert. It is the struggles of Life that form a person's character ~ Native American Proverb