Epic RV Trip -- OK-->Kansas

TUE 5/7.    SUPER DRIVE DAY -- OK--> Kansas City, KS  **oops** change of plans...  525 miles to Topeka, KS.
We left at 8am and beat the predicted bad weather--yay for nice driving weather!  We made good distance and got lots of schoolwork done on the road.  Piper studied state abbreviations today.
But... then we played a game of "what's that funny smell" as we pulled off the freeway to go see the Capital city Topeka.  We were just going to stop for dinner and head on to our campground, but ditched our reservation and made a frantic call to campgrounds in town predicting better luck finding a mechanic in the city.  We were not happy to find a leak in work we just had done 3 weeks ago (you know, to make sure we wouldn't have any mechanical trouble), but just like the candle in our wedding ceremony that wouldn't light, we problem-solved and didn't let it dull our spirits.   The kids had a ball at the KOA playground despite the giant rain puddle centered underneath it and mom & dad enjoyed a peaceful night before the rain rolled in.

WED 5/8: MH Fixed, short drive to Lawrence, KS.
We were so thankful to have quickly found a super nice mechanic and he worked on our MH first thing,  even scavenging for a part locally after ordering it to be delivered not till late afternoon.  It turned out to be differential fluid from a faulty seal; our shop back home felt bad for us and refunded the cost of repairs so that's good.  To pass time without our MH, we went out to brunch and utilized the public library for getting our schoolwork done.  We were on our way by early afternoon and thankful this was just a hiccup in the trip and we can move on.

This campground is about 30min outside the big city.  There are a lot of rigs here on their way to NASCAR this weekend (we will only stay 2 nights here since rates go up this weekend for it).  We spend some time this evening researching the next states and penciling in a rough outline of our route on the calendar.  We have to decide whether we do Nebraska now or on the route home.   I googled a few places and found a gorgeous state campground just a half hour inside the SE corner of the state on the Missouri river as a potential destination.

The kids are earning their PE credit by staying active at each campground.  They are either staying outdoors while Chris is doing his school or they have to be quietly doing their studies inside.

THUR 5/9 
We used our morning to figure out tomorrow's plan, play, and get schoolwork done.  Chris made a call to the campground in NB...of course we can't get a reservation, but the super nice woman on the phone gave us confidence there would be ample sites available for "walk up" (first come first served) so we decided that would be tomorrow's plan.   After enjoying the brisk fresh air and the KOA zipline outside, Addisyn came in to get some history and math work done.  Chris was able to sit down and work for a few hours too.

We drove into Kansas City for the afternoon/evening.  That means we missed out on museums before  closing time, but we found some interesting and educational sites on our own, and then found the city light district for dinner.  Appreciating the culture of each place we visit, we took a friends recommendation and were lucky enough to eat at "Joe's BBQ" for dinner.  One difference in traveling by MH than staying at a hotel in the city is you can't just walk around town from your hotel room, so we had a half-hour drive on the turnpike back to camp.

What we learned here: Kansas City is BBQ capital, it rains a lot, rain causes potholes, the state animal is the Buffalo, the state insect is a honeybee, it's "the Sunflower state" (state flower)--all their highway signs have a yellow sunflower background, and it is the center-most state of the contiguous 48.