May 5, 2014.  Three weeks on the road!  It seems like a nanosecond and also a lifetime.  I think we will be back in Atlanta on Friday, so this adventure is in the top of the ninth inning.

I learned two things today that really surprised me.

1.  The Kansas campground lady told us that last week during the tornadoes, campers were stranded there for three days, as the DOT closed the highway due to winds up to 75 MPH.  Brad says that the power of wind is the factor of the cube of the wind’s speed!   You can see how something like that could flip a semi (and did).  I’ll bet those stranded campers were thankful for the steakhouse,  laun-dro-mat, putt-putt golf and Cap’n Bob’s Brew Pub (which I forgot to mention is also in the campgound).

2.  Kansas is NOT all one big flat farm!  We had a really short drive today (135 miles) because Brad found a place on the state park website last night that he really wanted to see — Wilson Reservoir, smack dab in the middle of Kansas.  I was a little discouraged, as I am like a horse heading for the barn — ready to get back to Georgia; do we really need to spend two nights in KANSAS?  But demonstrating the quiet subservience for which I am widely known,  I didn’t pitch a fit.  It pays to be a mouse!   As we turned off the interstate at the appointed exit for Wilson, we found ourselves in high (for Kansas) rolling hills and beautiful trees — mostly cottonwoods, I believe.  There are two campgrounds here; a Kansas State park and a Corps of Engineers park.  We had reservations at the State park, but missed the turn and wound up at the other.  It was breathtakingly beautiful; endless acres of rolling grassy hills edging the lake on this brisk sunny day (and only one other camper that we could see).  The gate lady pointed out that we had the wrong park, but invited us to drive around and look and said we could come back if we liked it better after seeing the State park and could choose any site we wanted.  I made up my mind to do that, as I could not imagine anything that wonderful anywhere else.  I was wrong!  The site Brad had pre-selected for us at the State park was on a grassy ledge overlooking the beach in the shade of a grand cottonwood tree, and totally isolated.  Not another camper anywhere in sight.  It was like being in a Grace Kelly movie — Monaco in the middle of Kansas, but without all the flowers and dangerous curves.

Wilson Reservoir is absolutely gorgeous — clear bright blue water with whitecaps in the center and small gentle waves at the shore, due to the constant wind.  The basin of the lake is smooth rock with the appearance of yellowish lava.  (The water is low this time of year, as it has been at all lakes we have seen on this trip, which makes for great wandering along the shoreline.)  We sat on the wide rocky beach outside our front door and waded out into the lapping waves.  Brisk, but not too cold!  The sand (0r rock) has the consistency of hardened brown sugar; solid enough to walk on, but you can crumble it in your hand with a little effort.  Doris loved it.  She chased sticks for a while and then spotted some ducks in the lake and lit out after them.  Fortunately they can swim much faster than she can, so she came back empty-muzzled.

We arrived here at 1 pm due to the short drive and relished having the whole afternoon and night in such an idyllic place.  We drank an entire bottle of Champaign for lunch with rat cheese and crackers, while Brad beat me to pieces at Canasta.  I just taught him how to play last week and he already out-strategizes me.   Time to make up some more rules.

We went for a hike on the Dakota trail here in the park.  As the sign did not indicate how long the trail is, we stopped after a goodly while and walked back so we would be sure to catch the sunset over the lake.  I hope the pictures do it justice.  If not, just imagine it like it was.

I am thankful for this day.  One of the best Mondays on record.