The Trip Home - Follow the Yellow Brick Road

For those looking for the posts about my ride cross country, the last post was "Day 69."  What continues here is the documentations of our trip home.  You are welcome to follow along though it likely won't be as exciting. 

We didn’t get up too early after our late night in Nashville as we were not looking forward to the drive across the middle of America.  We figured we would get on the freeway and I70 and drive about 300-350 miles and just see where we feel like stopping for the night.  The RV continues to keep rolling along though it definitely surges going up hills and while accelerating (and I get the flashing check engine light) but on the open road with the cruise control set at 65 she just purrs like a kitten.  We prefer to add 93 octane gas (still holding on to Coffman recommendation) but since we left the east coast, the best we can find is 91 so I also add some octane boost.  Couple that with the injector cleaner that we started using back in Aurora and we have quite the additive cocktail mixed up every time we fill up.  It aint cheap either!  I typically add two cans of each additive and have to run the credit card twice.  Ouch!

After about an hour, we went through St Louis and had to make a stop at the Gateway to the West monument.  It looks really cool against the St Louis skyline and is huge (630 ft high and 630 ft wide).  Parking for the RV was a little tenuous as they had us park along the tilted riverbank and I thought for sure we were going to tip over.  We made sure to all get out on the high side just in case.   From there it was a very boring ride.  All those things you hear about nothing in Kansas?  Believe it.  There is nothing in Kansas.  We decided to go to Topeka.  That would leave us a day and a half of driving to get to Denver where we will have lunch with Cheryl's Aunt, Uncle and Cousins.  We used our harvest host membership again and stopped at 4204 Main Street Brewing.  Yes that is the name (and the address).  We figured dry camping made sense as we will be on the road again first thing in the morning.  The big concern was the temperature since we didn’t have 30 amp power for AC.  The forecast was for a “cool” night of 70 so we took a chance.  4204 Main Street Brewing is a very neat place with good food and an amazing outdoor area where Cheryl and I played corn hole.  As night approached, the temperature did not drop and it was still very warm and humid.  I did my best to build an air conditioner, but it was no match for 80 degrees and 80% humidity.  

After a long, sweaty, sleepless night, we were back on the road.  After only about an hour, to our delight, we saw a billboard for the Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego KS just 10 miles off I70.  Of course we HAD to go there.  Apparently, 15 years ago, a couple had a vast amount of Wizard of Oz memorabilia and decided to open up a museum in Wamego KS.  The rest of the town followed their lead and the town became an Oz themed destination (well, for people like us).  There is a yellow brick road, Toto’s Tacos and the Oz winery.  After our tour through the museum we did a little tasting at the Oz winery.  A charming place and the wine names that all have to do with the Wizard of Oz.  “Drunken Munchkin,” “Flying Monkey,” “Angry Trees” (you get the idea.)  It was a lot of fun.    

We had to hit the road (black, not yellow in this case) and get some miles behind us.  We all found our spots in the RV for the next few hours.  I was in the driver seat, Cheryl in the back and of course Zuri in her space in direct line of the AC.  

Cheryl found a terrific RV park (more like a gravel parking lot
with some hook ups) but it was exactly what we wanted as the electrical will allow us to run the AC and we will be here for less than 12 hours.  We only have 150 miles to Denver which feels like the West so we are getting closer!