We loaded the car and headed out on our next adventure, a road trip to the northeast. We spent our first night in Kansas, at the Meade State Park a little south of Dodge City, Kansas. This park is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the flat farmland of Kansas. The park has a fairly large lake and offers swimming, fishing, hunting and camping. They have a number of RV hookups with electric and water $26/night and nice shaded tent camping as well for $13/night. We took a quick bike ride around the campground and saw a turtle, snake, rabbit and a turkey. Lot of wildlife in such a small area. Took a short nature hike and also saw a few deer. The main shower area was really clean, but the water never really got hot. Closer to the campsites are the pit toilets which also have a sink. Thunderstorms roared through the camp that night. So, that made it a little rough to sleep, but we managed to stay dry.
Got a later start then we wanted the next morning, so with another threat of rain we opted for a hotel in Columbia, Missouri, a couple of hours outside of St.Louis. We knew that we wanted to spend a half day or so in St. Louis. We took the Bud Lite Tour at the Budweiser Brewery. We paid $10/each for the longer tour. They also offer free tours every 30 minutes, but we chose the other tour as it was slightly longer and offered Will more free beer. While waiting for the tour we were asked if we had time to participate in a survey. So, for 10 minutes of our time we got 2 $15 gift cards to use in their Biergarten or in the gift shop. Cool deal! The gift cards paid for our lunch and we went home with a 6 pack of gluten-free beer. On the tour, we saw the world famous Clydesdale horses. It takes about 45 minutes to get 1 horse ready for any event. That’s almost 5 hours, just to get the team ready to ride. Each horse must meet certain requirements to become a Budweiser Clydesdale. Four white socks, chestnut color and the white blaze on their nose are the main characteristics. A lot of beer gets produced at this plant. Just one of the holding tanks where the beer is aged would take someone drinking a case of beer a day for 137 years.
Next up, the iconic St Louis Arch. Got $3 off per person with our National Park pass. Took the tram to the top and checked out the views. It was a beautiful clear day in St. Louis. There is also a movie about the building of the arch. It was interesting to see what a mass undertaking it was to build in the mid-60’s. The museum is said to be quite nice. It was closed when we were there as they are in the process of renovating it and is set to reopen July 3rd. Headed out of St Louis for our night at the Eldon Hazlet State Park in Carlyle, IL. This park sits on the banks of Lake Carlyle which is Illinois’ largest lake. There were many open camping sites and we got a great one at the end of a point overlooking the lake. The primitive site was only $8. Best deal yet.We were able to build a nice campfire for the night, which helped keep the bugs at bay. They have a few hiking trails and looked like some nice lake fishing. No swimming is allowed in the lake, but they do have what looked to be a nice big pool. Unfortunately, the pool hadn’t opened yet for the season.
On to Mammoth National Park. This is home to the longest cave in the world. Currently, they have mapped 412 miles of the cave and they keep adding miles. Checked into our campsite and after setting up, took the bikes out to explore a little more. They had a nice hiking/biking trail that follows along the old railroad tracks that brought visitors to the park in the late 1800’s. The biking wore both of us out from a combination of the hilly terrain and the humidity. The restrooms are clean and have flush toilets, but the showers are manned by the camp store concessionaire. So, you get a 4:30 minute shower for $1.50. Yes, folks I have always thought that I took fairly quick showers, but now I have solid proof. I didn’t have to add extra quarters for more time or anything. The following morning we had booked a couple of the cave tours before we had to head out to our next destination. We did the Frozen Niagara tour which takes you to the most scenic formations that Mammoth has. Mammoth is mostly a dry cave so there aren’t many of the stalagmites and stalactites that you associate with most caves. This tour was short and didn’t offer a lot of information. I’d choose a different one, if you have the time. We also did the Historic Tour. This tour was quite good. It starts by taking you through the historic entrance of the cave, which was used by Indians over 2,000 years ago. This tours takes you through a narrow section called Fat Man’s Misery, up the staircase to view the over 200 foot Dome, and walking over the Bottomless Pit. There are other tours which go through the Historic Entrance, so I would say chose one of those tours as we found it to be really interesting.
Again with more heavy storms predicted we found a hotel for the night in West Virginia. Driving out the next day, we made a stop at the West Virginia State Museum in. Charlottesville. It is a well done museum starting from the prehistoric times and how WV came to have such large coal deposits. Then the exhibits moved on to the home setters and the Civil War and how the WV was vastly divided on which side to fight for the north or the south. At that time, they were part of Virginia and most residents became unsatisfied with the way they had been treated by the capital in the eastern part of the state. WV felt isolated because of a lack of roads and eventually these issues led West Virginia to become it’s own state in 1863. The exhibits were really well done and gave you a feeling that you are walking through time. Also, this museum was free.
