Cheney, Kansas

We left Colorado early Sunday morning and listened to Mass as we drove through the countryside, a beautiful, bright blue day in what would be our first stay in Kansas.

This day was all about the drive. We deviated from our original plan of taking HWY 70 and staying at a Harvest Host golf course in Salina, Kansas.  Instead dropped down to take highway 50.  It was a two lane highway instead of a major freeway and was very scenic.  We were told by some fellow campers to avoid HWY 70 unless we wanted to buy a new set of tires.  Apparently it's really rough.

So we spent 9+ hours on the road and were very happy to arrive at our destination at Cheney State Park in Kansas.  We sat down and had a couple of "not your grandfather's" root beers.

When it was time for dinner, we found out that our Jackery 1000 lithium battery pack was no longer functioning.  Bummer!  It was 2.5 years old, 6 months past the warranty period.

That meant that we couldn't cook our dinner or make coffee in the morning.  Longer term, it meant that we wouldn't be able to easily boondock in places that had no electrical hookups.  In the voice of Marvin the Martian, "That makes me very angry."

So we had cereal for dinner that night. It was hot, 90 degrees, so that was just fine with us.

Fortunately, the next day I called Jackery and they offered to mail a replacement unit to Melissa's house, free of charge!  Talk about backing up your product.  We were ecstatic!

Because it was so hot, and we had no power, we gave our new MaxxAir fan its first big test.  I had installed it just before the trip.  It worked extremely well, keeping us cool so we could sleep.  It was the best modification ever!

While we were at Cheney, we:

• Walked to the beach and were surprised to see fresh water clam shells
• Saw Orioles for the first time, beautiful bright orange and black birds, just like the baseball team.  Coincidentally, the Orioles beat the Mariners  3-2 that day.  (Sad face.)
• Watched the bunnies frolic in the evening sun
• Listened to the hoot owls in the trees
• Watched a gas powered hang glider cruise around right above us

We enjoyed a restful night's sleep after a long day of traveling.