Springfield, MO to Abilene, KS

We were up at 7 a.m. this morning and quickly checked the weather on TV. We found out that there was more severe weather heading this way. We also learned more about the damage and deaths in Joplin, MO from last night's tornado - now 116 people are dead. Springfield is 70 miles east of Joplin and people here were finding items from Joplin that had been carried here by the storm. It's just heartbreaking to see the devastation there - our thoughts and prayers are for everyone who have been touched by this tragedy.

We left the campground at 8:30 and the storm clouds were getting closer to Springfield. We took US-60 west to SR-13 North and quickly found a Phillips 66 station we could get in and out of easily since we were down to 1/4 of a tank of gas in the RV. We paid $3.679 a gallon there.

As we were leaving the gas station, it started to rain and kept raining for most of this morning.  By 11:30 we saw a Wal-Mart Supercenter at Clinton and decided to stop there to fix an early lunch. We quickly changed our minds about fixing lunch when we saw the Hardee's across the parking lot from Wal-Mart. I had their Swiss & Mushroom burger with curly fries and Mike had the original burger with fries. Afterwards I walked over to Wal-Mart to get a few things we didn't find at the last Wal-Mart and then we headed north on SR-71 to I-435 at Kansas City.

From May Travels

From I-435 we took SR-10 west through Lawrence, KS; we saw some nice older homes there, but I couldn't get any photos of them. We decided to take US-40 west instead of taking I-70 which is toll road between Lawrence & Topeka. We connected with I-70 just east of Topeka and drove just north of the city.

From Kansas

Parts of I-70 follow the original paths of the Oregon Trail and California Trail and were marked by road signs.

From Kansas

By this afternoon the rain clouds were gone and we saw blue skies and sunshine. We had always thought of Kansas as being flat and seeing miles & miles of plains. But we were traveling through beautiful rolling green hills known as the Flint Hills.

From Kansas

We passed by Marshall Airfield on Fort Riley and got a photo of the water tower there.

From Kansas

We arrived here at Four Seasons RV Acres just west of Abilene a little before 5 p.m. We drove 312 miles today. I had called this morning and made a reservation for tonight. After checking in at the Shell gas station (which is next to the campground), we were guided to our campsite. On the way we saw a duck crossing sign, the ducks waited for the golf cart leading us to pass and then walked across the road in front of the RV.

From Kansas

We are in site #23, a pull-through, with full hook-ups (50 amp). There is cable TV at the site, but the reception was poor and the channels were limited. Mike set out our portable satellite dish for tonight. We are paying $14 for tonight (Enjoy America rates) which is half of their regular rate.

From Kansas