Since campsites on state parks are at a premium on weekends, especially on holiday weekends, we had made reservations for 4 nights at this campground several months ago. Even at that, we got the very last spot available. Here’s a picture of our campsite before the weekend crowd arrived.
For the holiday weekend, the place is covered up with folks and there are kids on bicycles everywhere. We wondered how many miles got put on the bikes over the weekend. Everybody is having fun - camping, cooking, swimming, playing games, socializing, having campfires -- America on Memorial Day Weekend!!
On Saturday we drove about 50 miles north and visited Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge. We were a little disappointed that all the water fowl are gone for the season, but it was still a very enjoyable day. We drove the auto tour through the NWR a couple of times and added a Yellow Warbler, an American Redstart, and a Ring-necked Pheasant to our bird list. Also saw a big ole’ crawdad and a pretty thistle.
On Sunday we went to the First Baptist Church in Atchison, KS for worship services and then spent a very enjoyable afternoon watching all the folks in the campground having a wonderful time.
We’ve mentioned before about the back roads in Missouri and how we like to ride them looking for birds. We actually had to drive this one in the motor home getting to this campground (due to a detour because of a bridge out). It was a little like a roller coaster.
Monday was a Happy Memorial Day!! We took it easy all day - made use of the campground laundry and watched the mass exodus of the weekend crowd. Late afternoon the place is almost deserted.
We have been gone from home about 3 weeks and are just now getting to the point to really start following the Oregon Trail. We extended our stay for one more night at this park and today we went to Independence, MO, which is the unofficial starting point of the trail, and visited The National Frontier Trails Center. Not only did they have lots of information and displays about the Oregon Trail, but also the Lewis & Clark, the Santa Fe, the California, and the Mormon Trails.
Not far from the Trails Center is a huge Mormon complex. It’s obvious they have lots of money - here is a picture of their temple.
Tomorrow we’re finally heading out on the Oregon Trail.
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