Retirement Road Trip 2011: Day 60, Monday 10/24

486 miles, and camped at Wallace State Park near Cameron, Missouri.  My trip passed the 10,000 mile mark today.  The truck has rolled up 10,072 miles to date.

Bob Bailie let me know that there is a huge van Gogh reproduction in Goodland, so I had to check that out the first thing this morning.  Yep there is, and is was only a couple blocks from where I camped at the KOA.  The thing is HUGE with the total structure measuring 80 feet tall.  The painting is part of a world wide project called "The Big Easel Project."  Check out the link to learn more about it.  Its kind of interesting.

I jumped back on Highway 36 again this morning and managed to drive across the entire state of Kansas without ever touching an interstate highway.  The drive was very relaxing.  I like going through all the small farming towns.  It was nice for a change to compete with grain trucks and tractors for the diesel pumps instead of other RV's at the gas stations.  I enjoyed listening to the small town radio stations with the local market reports every hour.  In fact, on one station where listeners could call in song requests, over half the calls were from guys on combines.  When the DJ asked what they were doing today, the common answer was, "cuttin' milo."  I can just visualize these guys on their giant machines calling in song requests from their cell phones while navigating the fields.

Speaking of milo, the corn harvest and milo (grain sorghum) harvest was in full blast.  There were combines and grain trucks everywhere.  In fact, corn was being piled on the ground because some of the bins were full.

Zoey and I did discover an attraction quite by accident.  It is the geographical center of the lower 48 states.  I had read about it, and knew it was in Kansas somewhere, but had completely forgotten about it until I saw a road sign.  At a little park about four miles off Highway 40, near Lebanon, Kansas is the marker.  Unlike some attractions of dubious validity, this one is actually certified by the US Geologic Survey.

I've had people tell me that traveling across Kansas is boring.  To the contrary, I found it really interesting.  You just have to get off the interstate highway to see the real Kansas.

That's all for now.........