Railroads and Major Highways

I came to the conclusion some years ago that nearly all RV campgrounds are near major roads and there will be a railroad somewhere close by. The road may be a major county road and the railroad may not be used much but it will be there. I know that there are exceptions to the rule but by and large it seems to be that way. This campground we are in is only a hundred yards from Interstate 70. It is screened by trees so there is very little traffic sound that penetrates to here. But I had not seen or heard anything that would indicate the presence of a railroad. Several nights ago I was laying awake just thinking when I heard the whistle of train somewhere in the distance. It made me feel good that everything was the way it should be. Being content I drifted off to sleep. A few hours later I was again awake and I heard the whistle again and I know that a smile crossed my face. A couple days later we were traveling along I-70 and I saw that there were quite a few railroad tracks that parallel the highway for a distance. So once again the trend continues.

With going to my high school reunion, visiting with my siblings, spending some time visiting relatives and seeing the grandchildren of friends and family I have have several comments that seem to be running along the same vein. In different way the same questions have been asked, “How did I get to be so old?” or “Where have all the years gone?” I suppose that every person at various times of their lives wonder, “What happened?” John Lennon wrote a song which said, “Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.” I would like to modify that to “Life is what happens while you are making plans about what to do with your life.” I think that every person has aspirations of doing more than they end up doing in life. Most youths go into the world thinking that they can be the catalyst that will improve the world and it is not until they reach an older age that they find out the world does not want to be changed. Some time in there it is desirable for them to come to the realization that they can be valuable just improving a small portion of their own lives and the few people they come into contact with. I hope that I have been a good influence for some people along the way. I can name many that have been a good influence upon me.

While we were still in Texas we bought some solar powered lights. We bought several types and sizes. I have been thinking that it would be nice to have some setting by our motorhome when we stopped. But how do you stick them into concrete, or blacktop or gravel in some of the campfrounds. The solution seems to be to invert a red clay flower pot and stick the shaft through the hole in the bottom, which is now the top. I have done that with one light and it seems to be a very good holder. It should work on any surface. We also have a color changing solar flower that we place by the windshield during the day and then take into our bedroom as a nightlight when we go to bed. We don't need the light but it is pleasant to wake up and see it in the corner of the room,

By the time anyone reads this we should have left our camp in Topeka and be heading west along I-70 headed towards Denver. There have been many times that we have traveled that distance in 12 hours, but this time we figure it should be about 7 days.

I have said that I would add to this some of the places that I have traveled to and think that they would be desirable for anyone to visit. So here is the first one. Eventually there will be 1001 sites, most have not been even selected let along having been written about. If these ever become a book they will need to be put into a better logical order that that in which they were written.

No. 1 – Chalk Cliffs or Monument Rocks



In Gove County, south of Oakley, Kansas and north of Scott City, Kansas is the very first National Natural Landmark in Kansas. It was designated a landmark in 1968. Multiple names are used for this area, Chalk Pyramids, Kansas Pyramids, and Monument Rocks, which is its official name, are ones that have been used to describe this area sometimes referred to as the Badlands of Kansas. Eighty seven million years ago, during the Cretaceous period this area was an ocean which extended from the present day Gulf of Mexico north through Canada. This ocean was filled with calcium shelled microscopic animals, giant oysters, sharks, fish and reptiles. As the larger animals died and settled to the bottom they were covered with a thick limey ooze of dying microscopic shelled creatures from above which settled down like snow. With the passage of time additional layers of sediment created thick beds of material that eventually became chalk, which is a soft limestone. The geological formation, the Niobrara Chalk, is named after bluffs on the Missouri River near the mouth of the Niobrara River in northeast Nebraska. The Smokey Hill River, which has little water now, once had enough flow to carve the chalk deposit into spires and cliffs that are up to seventy feet tall. As the years passed windows and doors were formed. There have been thousands of excellent fossils of sharks, shark’s teeth, fish, and reptiles found in the Niobrara Chalk formation. Monument Rocks was a spiritual location for the Native Americans. It was a landmark for the Butterfield Overland Stage. Ft. Monument was established nearby to protect the Butterfield Trail.

Till later this is Uncle Duck