Inching Eastward....

My father, Art, who passed on in 1978 at the age of 54, loved SNAP-E TOM Tomato and Chile Cocktail, and whenever I can find it I buy it, because, father like son, I love it too.  It has become harder and harder to find it in Southern California.  When we were living at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park for a year we found it at the local Stater Brothers Supermarket in Rubidoux, CA.  On our 7.5 month journey we have found it once, or twice, but not for several months now.  BUT, yesterday before we departed Russell, KS we decided to take a walk, which we need to do, over to the local IGA Market (Independent Grocers Association), not necessarily to buy anything, but it was a nice turnaround point for our 3.2 mile walk.  TLE always goes to the juice isle first to see if they have SNAP-E TOM, and what do you know, they did.....I was not expecting that in Russell, KS.  Well, of course we picked up 6 cans for the road.  If you've never had it you should try it!

We returned from our 3.2 mile walk around 9:50am, and after TLE took her shower we got on the road around 10:15 and continued our eastward trek to Salina, KS where we left I-70 and picked up I-135 south toward Wichita, KS.  We continued to lose elevation, and at the end of the day got down to 1,600'.  The temperatures are a little warmer in south Kansas....high 80's, than they were back in Russell, but the air is dry, and you can feel Fall in the air.  

We began to notice a change in the terrain as we moved south from flat farm land to rolling hills with much more forestation.  We had a slight cross wind for the first 70 miles into Salina, but when we turned south it became a tail wind again!  Love that tail wind!  On this day we had only traveled 127 miles when we exited at Newton, KS around 1:30pm.  We did stop once about 30 miles into the day to wash the windshield (which I had forgotten)......we were driving into the sun the first part of the day, and the bugs who had committed suicide on our windshield the day before were making it difficult to see.  One thing we have noticed about Kansas rest stops is they all, so far, have had free dump stations.  So many states have closed   dump stations at most, if not all of their rest stops in the Interstates.

Our travel day was brief because I had some work that needed to get done.  We dropped anchor at Payne Oil RV Park.....another kind of funky place, but for $20, and full hookups with 50amp it was great....both A/C's were humming for a few hours until it cooled down, plus TLE did a couple of loads of wash, so the 50amps came in very handy.  For dinner TLE made me the best Tacos ever!  I am always amazed what she can do in a small kitchen.  I enjoyed my Taco dinner whilst watching American Pickers.....a show I have come to really enjoy....I find myself looking for "Rusty Gold" wherever I am.

We'll be moving south Saturday to Sand Springs, OK where we will sit for a couple of days just outside of Tulsa before heading down to Muskogee, OK to visit fellow Newell owners Ron and Pam, who have offered full hookups.

I guess today is the first day of Fall, and there is a cold east wind blowing as I write....thanks for stopping by!