TWO PEAS AND THE POD: CEDAR BLUFF STATE PARK (KS)

MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
STOP #285

What a boring 180+ mile drive it was today. We saw 100 times more cows than people and cars today, which is not all that unusual in rural Kansas. The last hour of driving was even on a route that is touted as the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway.

The byway is supossed to be wonderful to travel on in the springtime, due to the abundance of roadside wild flowers. Today they must all still be underground waiting for spring to start, because we didn't see any of them.

Cedar Bluff State Park is rated as one of the top state parks in Kansas and I can see why. Not only is the campground well maintained, it is huge and the park completely surrounds the Cedar Bluff Reservoir that was created when they dammed the Smoky Hill River in 1951.

There are two separate campgrounds areas located on the lake with multiple loops and several locations with cabin rentals. It's obvious they also offer seasonal campsites to those residents who wish to have a "summer home" to enjoy on the weekends.

Sadly, like all water locations in the region, the levels are extremely low and have been for quite a few years, as evident in the photos.

When I booked this site it was listed as a 180-foot back in site. I thought, "that can't be right"!
And it wasn't, it's 186 feet because I "very accurately" paced it off myself upon arrival.

You can see on the right where the water "used to be",
along with the boat ramp that leads into the grasses.

But our site is very wide and nearly level, so it'll do nicely.

TUESDAY - When Tricia got up early this morning to do her daily walk I also was up so I could drive the 37.5 miles to the Ford Dealership to get an oil change and make ROVER as travel ready as he can be for the trip to Alaska.

Also while I was gone Tricia began cleaning the dust and dirt from the inside of THE POD that has accumulated while we've been traveling the gravel backroads for the last few weeks. It's been coming in through the floor where there are holes cut to accommadate water lines, solar panel wiring, and propane piping. As well as entereing in the refrigerator vent. The factory caulking has dried, cracked and fallen away from most of these locations.

We've been discussing solutions to help remedy the situation, like spraying in expanding foam insulation. Anyone else have any suggestions?

WEDNESDAY - The winds have finally died down around here so we're going out to see the rest of this huge state park. There are cabins and more campsites on the southern shoreline of the reservoir that we haven't seen yet.

Right away I realized you have to travel 3.5 miles down a gravel road to access these campsites so we weren't terribly interested is booking over here next time we visit. The sites are more rustic and spread out, but that gravel road, no thanks!

There is an overlook site we saw on the campground map that mentions a wonderful view of the reservoir, something that doesn't exist on the lower northern shore where we are camped.