First stop, Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Texas/Louisiana line.   The forecast is for the 80s over the next couple days.  We will see how the fishing goes.

After 4-5 hours out of Dallas I found a Walmart Parking lot for the night.  Early the next morning, on the road toward Louisville for that Friday arrival that was planned for Tuesday.  Made it to camp just before sunset but even still the spot I reserved looked much better online.  Needed all the leveling blocks just to get it close. And getting between the trees was a challenge by myself.  Settled in though, spent a couple of days visiting with Tammy and the nieces and nephews and family then it was on toward New York.

That is how many dents the poor Focus suffered in the Nebraska hail storm.  Kent dropped it off and they will have it a week to replace the windshield and repair dents ranging from dime to half dollar sized.  Mostly it is the magic paint-less dent removal thing they do with suction cups or something but the hood is bad enough that they are replacing it entirely.  We have a rental so it isn’t too big a deal but it doesn’t have a hitch so no boating ‘til we get our car back.  

Wow, they are huge!  The heat index is 110+.  Of course we have to have ice cream.  Our stop, Braume’s and we go for special fancy sundaes.  Mine – oatmeal cookie with lots of caramel, cinnamon, pecans and oatmeal/brown sugar crumble all over oatmeal cookie piece ice cream. Kent goes classic – brownie fudge.  It is super chocolatey.  Oh yeah, they both get whipped cream and Kent’s a cherry.   Delicious.  

Ginger and Gary meet us at the door…retired racing greyhounds.  Then they mosey back to their huge, cushy beds!  This feels much like a walk through any sports hall of fame built to recognize the greatest contributors to their sport.  They celebrate what they see as a loving respectful relationship between owners and racing dogs and claim the breed possesses a natural drive to run.  Dogs are inducted into the hall of fame based on their own speed or on their role as sire or dame (maybe this part is not quite like say a football hall of fame) contributing winning DNA to the pool of racing dogs.  They unabashedly explore and explain, with no small measure of pride, the entanglement of dog racing and wagering.  I have a bit of heartburn with the whole idea and was flabbergasted when their film says they adopt out 18,000 retired dogs a year.  It was interesting to see the perspective of the business/sport.      

C. W. Parker built all manner of carnival and amusement Devices.  Manufacturing took place in Abilene KS from the 1890s to 1911 and the Dickinson County Heritage Center in Abilene houses a refurbished machine (thought to be built in 1901).  It is different than any I have ridden on so far.  It is an older design and a portable one, these were for traveling carnivals after all.   The horses are not mounted on poles and they don’t go up and down.  Each hand carved horse is attached to a cam mechanism that rides on a track on the ground.  The horses rock back and forth. They have rebuilt an old band organ too..that makes the ride all the more authentic and fun.  I loved it!

The Heritage Center also houses a huge collection of early telephones, switchboards and even phone booths.  There is farm equipment, prairie log homes, tractors, fire trucks and lots more.  Eisenhower memorabilia loom large at this museum and at the huge complex next door.  Dwight D Eisenhower was born and raised here.  They celebrate their famous home town hero in a big way.

There is a great old merry-go-round too.  I have seen very few of these on our travels.     

Riverside Park campground served well as our base to explore the area.  Most notable characteristic, it is right beside their zoo.  We heard tiger roars most every evening and morning….meal time?

500,000 sandhill cranes make a refueling stop along the Platte River around Kearney Nebraska every Spring.  They aren’t here right now but we are checking it out anyway just in case we make it back some year to see the big show.  While we are here, we check out the local Firefighters Museum open house and Smokey the Bear’s 75th Birthday celebration, the Great River Road Archway, the Hastings Museum-Kool Aid was invented here, and we cruise through Central City and past Grandma and Grandpa’s old place.   

Between touristy stuff Kent takes care of a bunch of the motorhome hail damage.        

Riverside Park campground served well as our base to explore the area.  Most notable characteristic, it is right beside their zoo.  We heard tiger roars most every evening and morning….meal time?

Yikes, Plains weather!

A thunderstorm carrying huge hail, 2” diameter and larger, blasted through the area during the afternoon narrowly missing our campground.  Whew!  The sky cleared and the balloon glow went off spectacularly.  What a lovely end to a somewhat rocky day.  Then, BOOM, a crack of thunder brings me right up out of bed.  It is 2AM.  The sky flickers with lightning nearly constantly and in just a few minutes bang, bang, bang as huge hailstones hit the roof and the car parked beside us.  The noise is defining and the certainty of damage un-nerving.  The whole thing lasts probably 15 minutes.  A quick walk around confirms the bathroom ventilator is shattered.  Kent patches the vent with a bag and good ole duct tape and we are back to bed to deal with the rest in the morning.  Final count: three broken vent covers and the rooftop AC cover, tears in the slide cover, three cracks in the car windshield along with dozens of dents, and a handful of dents on the side and back of the trailer.  A bit of a mess but we are still road worthy and will deal with repairs as we move.