I don’t know
what it is about every time we try to head north it is like the truck is
terrified to leave the safety of home.
This time we
made it all the way to the gate of the campground before the truck decided it
wasn’t going to restart after we stopped to read the check in info on the empty
gate host cabin.
It turned
out to be an air in the lines problem again and after what seemed like an
eternity it finally did start and we were able to move on into the campground
and into a fairly shaded pull through campsite one of the camp hosts
suggested.
It had water
and 50/30 amp electricity, but no sewer and was $24 a night. What we weren’t told was there was a $3 fee
for each block of time you rented a spot whether it was one night or 14 you
paid a $3 registration fee. They also
offer no discounts and of course have a graduating cost depending on what
amenities you are getting. Our rate was
$24 a night.
We were on
campsite 2 in the Quail Run campground.
Right on the corner of the road and a very easy to access campsite.
Fairly level with a gravel drive, no real pad to mention, just a gravel curved
pull-thru that you park on. It seemed to be very firm, and when we had rain it
didn’t create a problem so all was good.
The site is
a bit unusual in one way. This is an
older campground with the state of Kansas slowly adding more and more 50 amp
sites, but to avoid having to re-wire everything they are putting the 50 amp
boxes on the passenger side of the trailer, opposite the driver side lower amp
electric box and the water hook-up. So
you end up with your water on one side of the camper and the 50 amp electric on
the other no matter which way you come into the pull thru.
This means you may need either a longer hose or a longer
extension cord for your electric depending on which way you pull in. Luckily we were able to park just right on
the pad and not have a problem with either. Folks whose utilities hook up in
different locations on their rig than ours may have a bit of a problem.
We have a good view of the lake from our campsite.
While
getting into the campsite and setting up we saw Canadian Geese and deer. This felt so much better than those in town
parking lot campgrounds for relaxing.
Another
thing that seems a bit different here is all the undeveloped land between
campsites that is apparently being use for prairie hay production. They had recently mowed and from the way it
looked the balers should have been coming soon.
I like the idea that the grounds were producing a useful product that
didn’t detract from the natural beauty of the place.
Our first
day at the campground we started trying to pull in NBC on our over the air
antenna because the Olympic opening ceremonies were scheduled to start in two
days. The opening/closing ceremonies are
some of our favorite parts of the Olympics. This was the first we had try to
use the already installed but partially broken antenna on the camper since we
started traveling in May. TV simply
isn’t that big a priority with us.
After much
discussion when we realized that due to some problems with the antenna NBC
would only come in badly pixalated we decided it was time to break down and get
an antenna. The one for the camper has some
damage to it and the rotator doesn’t work well.
Instead of
buying and wiring in a regular camper one we chose one that mounts on the
camper window at Wal-mart. Gary
installed it that night.
We were
thrilled. It has a better picture than
our satellite system had on the farm, is very thin and compact and Gary didn’t
have to get on the roof to install it. A
major win in our book.
At this
particular location we could not get ABC with it, but we could with the camper
system. Since the Olympics are on NBC,
which was super clear it was a great investment for $60. A new one for the camper would have cost far
more and then would have only been wired for the bedroom (why do they do that?)
We could
have found a sports bar to watch the Olympics opening ceremonies at, and then
again for the closing and the events we want to watch in between, but we would
have spent far more on food doing so.
Plus now we have an antenna for when we do want to watch tv, which we
don’t do very often anyway.
I will admit
there are a few shows like NCIS I do miss, but without Tony…maybe not as
much. If Abby ever leaves they have lost
me as a viewer.
We had
planned on going to Cowtown and a historic
museum on our second day there but woke to thunderstorms and cooler temps. Since both the museums have a lot of outdoor
displays and the forecast was for storms all day we opted to hang around the
camper and catch up on blog posts, video editing and other chores. Then to enjoy the Olympic opening
ceremonies. Leaving the museums for another
day.
We did visit
Cowtown the next day, but decided to save
the museum for another trip since we had decided to move on earlier than
originally planned.
So the day we visited Cowtown we drove around and took a photo of a couple of sculptures that caught our eye.
While at El
Dorado we were alone most of the time, even with the weekend the park didn’t
fill completely up. When we boomeranged
back due to truck problems we were literally the only ones other than the camp
hosts there on that Tuesday night.
We
originally tried to leave on Monday, but once again had a valve stem break so
we went to Meineke, in Wichita to get the brass valve stems we had been looking
for all along and finally found at Oreilly’s in a small Kansas town. Unfortunately, by the time we found out from
Sam’s Club, who couldn’t/wouldn’t install the stems that it was Meineke we
needed to go to they were closed.
So we
boondocked overnight, with permission in Sam’s parking lot. Even though it was August it wasn’t too bad
that night until the rains hit and we had to close the windows,
Naturally,
while Meineke was checking the tires they found we had a rear seal going
out. So we went ahead and had them fix
that, verifying the work would be warrantied, this turned out to be very
important about a week later.
10 valve
stems and the rear end work turned out to be a two day job and that is why we
ended up back at El Dorado campground back
in site 2 on Tuesday night. We didn't even disconnect and then took the trailer in Wednesday for its part of the valve stem work and we finally got on the road headed further north thinking our worries were over.
As I
mentioned before we were the only people there, but there was abundant wildlife
and Gary got some great photos and video.
All in all our stay there was comfortable and pleasant.
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