Traveling

Free camp at Hunnewell Lake, MO

We are on the road this week.  We left Maryland at 6pm on July 4.  Not a bad time to travel west at all.  The freeway traffic was very light.  We spent the night at the rest area just over the border in WV.  It was much cooler and drier up there so the late start worked out well.  I had a great parking spot next to a hill for the pet area where my dog could play fetch safely.


The next day, I stopped in Morgantown, WV to get some propane.  It only took 5 gals tho the gauge said it was 1/3 full.  Still, best to have plenty on hand.  Good price at $2.79/gal.  Then on our way west thru OH, skirting the north side of Columbus aiming for US 36.  We ended up for the night in Anderson, IN at a Casino.  Nice huge lot marked for overnighting big trucks.  We parked level next to a grassy verge next to a corn field.  Another great spot for the dog to play.


Wednesday
Onward west.  Got hotter and more humid.  We stopped midday at the Ernie Pyle roadside park in the far west of IN for a really good play/training session with the dog.  Lots of room for her to run and burn off some energy. She slept the rest of the afternoon.  We stopped in a great park about a half hour west of Hannibal, MO in Hunnewell Park.  Free camping, no services - not even a trash can.  We had the place to ourselves.  I was going to let the dog go for a swim in the lake.  I had her on a 50' rope (they said leashed only) but she took off after some geese and pulled me hard.  I took a hard nose dive into the ground.  Painful and none too pretty.  No swim for the dog.  I hooked her rope to the van and let her stay outside while I put ice on my injuries.  I turned the generator on and ran the AC all night because of the heat and humidity.


Thursday
Westward across humid MO, across the still flooding Missouri River at St Joseph, then the long, slow relentless climb towards the unseen Rockies.  I always think of the pioneers on that long climb.  Not knowing what lay ahead of the endless plains but the ever so gradual climb, up and down, up and down, but more up than down.  Its very green this year with lots of puddles and wet fields.  We made it to Oberlon, KS to another great free park - Sappa State Park.  Again, no services but nice and open, and best of all, free!  The dog got a lot of good running in off leash.  No posting of rules at this place so I guess there are none.  I saw a police car drive by so I guess they just show their presence to keep things safer.  There were a few people who walked around right before dark, then left.  I am again the only camper.  I can get cell signal here, unlike at Hunnewell.  It is much drier the further west we go.  I won't need the AC.


Tomorrow is the final push into Denver.

Sappa State Park - Free camp in Oberlon, KS