Made it through the construction zone and our stop for the night La Veta, CO.
A nice sunset 
It’s a cute town in the south eastern part of Colorado with views of the Spanish Peaks. We stayed at the La Veta Pines RV park. It’s a small RV park right in the “down” town area. When we checked in, I was given a list of events happening in the area that week. We noticed that they had a live theater performance put on at the local performing art center by the actors group. So, for $10/each we figured, why not. It was a short walk to the local market to grab an ice cream from their old fashion soda fountain counter and then a couple blocks back to the theater. Because of COVID restrictions the theater group hadn’t had anytime to rehearse for a play, so they had put together an improv show, “Excuse Me…is This Your Line? Or…Is It Mine?”. They did a great job with it and it was an enjoyable performance. Plus the $10/ticket made for a cheap date night. Made it back to the campground for the last part of Jumanji, the outdoor movie being shown. Will was a little concerned that a 4 year old boy was trying put the moves on me. For some reason, the kid wanted to stand and watch the movie right next to me and then taunt me with his last piece of candy.
We headed on to the high plains of Kansas or more specifically Historic Lake Scott State Park. And you maybe asking yourself, why? I guess you can also ask a group of Natives from the Taos Pueblo who fled the Spanish back in 1664 to this area. They came on foot about 400 miles and established a series of pueblos and also irrigation ditches to cultivate their crops. They were only here for about 20 years before the Spanish forced them back to New Mexico.
Found another interesting fact when visiting the partially restored ruins of one of the pueblos. In 1701, a group of Picuris Pueblo Indians fled from the Spanish to the Scott County area for a few years. Will grew up only a few miles from the pueblo, small world. One of the docents from the El Quartelejo Museum was telling us that current Picuris members have visited the area and the museum; the Pueblo still considers Scott City their home away from home. The El Quartelejo Museum is free and it has some interesting exhibits of locally found fossils all the way through exhibits of present day Scott City.
Model of Pueblo 
I still want to know, how this foot xray works
We also toured Kansas’ newest state park. which opened in 2019, Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park. This is a small park and there were only a few cars there. It’s a $5/car permit, but we had already had our permit from nearby Lake Scott. Honestly, if you’re in the area give it a quick look. There’s a couple of overlook trails you can take, but pass this up unless you have the time.
We also visited the Monument Rocks or Chalk Pyramids. This is also one of the eight wonders of Kansas, so how can you pass it up? These formations were left when the area was once the bottom of a sea bed that split North America in two. The formations are on private land, but they welcome visitors during daylight hours and it’s free.
The swallows love nest building
A fellow New Mexican
We also went to the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center. They have an impressive statue of Buffalo Bill on a buffalo hunt. Nice facility, but is more for hosting events than a tourist stop. They do have nice restrooms, free WIFI, and a picnic table. So, we took advantage of those and got some additional information on the area.
Buffalo Will 
Lisa Oakley 
The statue is twice life size.
Then we headed a few blocks to the Fick Fossil Museum. They have a number of fossil specimens found in the local area including some the 11,000 fossilized shark teeth found by the Ficks. I was surprise by the number of fossils that have been found. The Fick Museum has also has the oldest bones of mosasaur skull every found.
I liked this pencil collection 
We decided for our final day at the park to take it a little easy as we knew, we had a longer drive in store the next day. So, we took out our inflatable kayak on the lake for a couple of hours of paddling. The kayak is a recent purchase and gives us an opportunity to get out on the water. With the exception of a few fishermen on shore, we had the lake entirely to ourselves. It was hot and humid that day, so being on the water and enjoying a little breeze off the lake was nice.
This time you would find us in Lawrence, KS at the Clinton State Park. This park is huge and has sites with water and electric. This area has been experiencing quite a bit of rain and the mosquitoes were in full force.
The “Beach”? Well, maybe it got washed out with the rain.
Rain was foretasted for the next day and Will had mentioned something about touring Allen Fieldhouse at the University of Kansas, home of the Jayhawks. Kansas was one of the first states to adopt basketball as a collegiate sport and the University hired the inventor of basketball Dr Naismith as a coach back in 1898.
So, we booked a tour and upon arrival found out it was just us and our guide Kiera. They have some nice memorabilia in the Athletic Center at the start of the tour. Keira pointed out some items of interest and let us know that we were welcome to explore more after. The tour takes you back to see the stadium, the new volleyball center, the practice gym as well as gvies you some history on the University and the history of basketball itself. She also talked a bit about the “camping” process students go through to get better seats at games. The volleyball center was just completed in 2019. The practice gym was interesting as well. The court is outfitted with sensors and the players wear chips in their shoelaces and their basketballs are also outfitted with chips. This provides coaches with even more data to evaluate their players performance or would that shot have been better had they moved 6 inches to the left. Also, on display in the practice gym, is the center court from the men’s final four win in 2008. I did not even know that the winning school gets to keep that part of the floor upon winning March Madness. Also, on display are the 13 original rules of basketball. They were purchased by one of the University’s benefactors in 2010 for $4.3 million. That’s a lot of money for 2 pages of typed notes. Interesting tour and a great idea for a rainy day.
Practice Gym 
Volleyball Center 
The Rules 
At least they wore shorts over the onesie. 
We traveled through more rain and made it to Whittington, IL. Our site was at the Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park. The sites are very spacious and the white-tail deer are plentiful. The park sits on a portion of Rend Lake, a large water reservoir in south central Illinois. The park is also home to a resort/convention center that is currently closed. At first, we thought the resort had been closed because of COVID, but apparently, it was closed in 2016, because of mold. The cost to get the resort back to code and open is huge and the return on investment has thus far not been enticing to any new vendors. The place has an eerie look to it now, however, I’m sure it was something in it’s heyday and been a great place to enjoy the lake.
We enjoyed the bike trail, which weaves through the park. We also tried Uncle Joe’s, a BBQ joint in town. I enjoyed my brisket bowl, but I guess they are known for their fried bologna sandwich. A state trooper, who was having lunch as well, swears by them.
