Abilene KS

Today we rode into Abilene to take a ride on the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad.  It was a nice relaxing almost 2 hour ride in farmlands which started along Old Abilene and the county museum.  We rode in the yellow AIR CONDITIONED car rather than the open HOT gondola cars.  Mama didn't raise on fools.

Here's the engineer checking the train tires for proper inflation......just like I do on our RV and truck.

We also got to see a gunfight, here's the boys standing around an open air bar at the bar for some refreshments.

Here's the sheriff on the march, one down a few to go.

But this is what we have after a few words are spoken in anger...…

Here's a real Abilene log cabin constructed in the 1800s.  I think our HitchHiker is roomier, certainly has more windows.

At 5pm we met all the rally attendees at Bellview Hotel & Restaurant for an excellent family style chicken dinner.

Pony Express rally

Yesterday was the opening ceremony lead by Lyle and Mary.  They served ice cream with lots of toppings and cupcakes.  We know Lyle and Mary, Mike and Meredith and Gary and Laura from other rallies.  There are 13 or 14 rigs here and all but two are HitchHikers but they use to have one.

Today we went for a short ride around Milford Lake and into Junction City and stopped at a monument to the Buffalo Soldiers.

The monument honors the black soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments stationed at Fort Riley in Junction City.  They fought in the western US, Spanish American War with Teddy Roosevelt and in WWII.

Curtis Creek COE park rally

We made the 191 mile trip from Chanute to Junction City, KS arriving at noon to attend a local Pony Express HitchHiker chapter rally at Curtis Creek COE park.  We arrive a day early and Lyle and Mary's rig was here but they were gone.  A little while later another HH arrived and had trouble getting his Big Foot to level their unit so I introduced myself and gave Ed a hand.  After manually leveling it I set the new level into it's memory and it worked.  They will have to wait until the next move to see if it works again.
We aren't impressed with this COE park after one day; our site will be shared with another RV, the power didn't work at first but suddenly did, it's only 30 amps, we have to use extension power and water lines to reach the pedestal and spigot, at night there are thousands of little bugs that can get inside, and I just had an AC power failure. 
There are 4 units here now and the rally starts today so several more will arrive, we'll know at least 3 other couples so many folks will be new to us.

I sure hope our incoming neighbor knows how to back in, I just might move the truck and bring in the slides to be safe! 

 

Steve & Susy in Chanute

Steve & Susy have stopped in Chanute for a couple days on their way home to Kansas City for a visit.  Unfortunately they will be here longer than planned.  When they went inside their HitchHiker the kitchen cabinets pulled away from the ceiling so they are now waiting to be squeezed into service for a necessary repair, at least it happened in Chanute.  I screwed up again and didn't get a picture of them.  We certainly spent enough time visiting and eating out at the Mexican restaurant and Opies.
We also made an unplanned stop in service, I couldn't raise the over the air antenna.  Daryl said to stop by on the way out of town Tuesday morning and he's take a look at it.  We arrived at 8:30 with donuts and left at 8:45 after he climbed on the roof, loosened it up and lubricated it.  Judy will be happy now that she can better view the local channels.