June 1 – 4
After our night at Picket Wire Canyonlands, we headed east. With the temperatures and humidity levels rising, we decided to stay at campgrounds with electrical hookups so we could use the A/C to at least cool off the camper at night.
We stayed at a municipal lake campground at Lake Coldwater in Coldwater, Kansas on Sunday night.
Lake Coldwater in Coldwater, KS
The sites had electric and water hookups around the only lake in southwest Kansas that allowed water sports. We reached our site for the night and found someone else in our spot. Jon talked with the owner and it turned out that he had just parked in the wrong spot by accident. Since we were only going to be there for the night, it didn’t really make any difference to us. We just parked in his spot. You can see his camper in the background.
We were set back from the lake by a row, but you can still see the lake. We set out chairs to face the lake and just enjoyed the surroundings.
It was amazingly quiet, especially since there were a lot of campers parked in the area. There just weren’t any people in them. We assumed that most people stayed parked here for the season; coming and going when they had time. The campers that were occupied seemed to be of the type owned by transient workers. There is a lot of petroleum work in the area. They tended to come back to the trailers and disappeared inside.
After a rainy and windy night, we started off. To save time, we decided to eat breakfast out.
During a brief time with an internet connection on our drive, I downloaded:
It recommended a couple of places in Coldwater for breakfast. We headed to the Timber Wolf Inn. Well, the restaurant was at the location, but it was now called the Blonde Grill.
We were game. The menu was very innovative and the food was great.
Jon chose the Hot Pepper Bacon Waffle – One Crispy Corn Waffle with Bacon, Jalapenos & Cheddar Cheese.
I chose the Huevos Divorcadas – Two crispy tortillas, meat, beans, 2 eggs, cheese, red sauce, green sauce & sour cream.
They were both fabulous. If you are ever in this part of Kansas, I would highly recommend stopping here.
We stopped in the middle of nowhere KS for lunch.
We made it to Joplin, Missouri on Monday. We stayed at Zan’s Creekside RV Park which was right on Shoal Creek. It was kind of a strange place. To get to the campground required a number code to get through a gate behind a bar & grill. But it was a nice spot. This was the view from our campsite.
It was pretty close to a major road. Fortunately, the noise quieted down after a short time. On the other side of the creek was a public access area. We walked down the creekside for a little way. We sat in our chairs and watched people drink, sunbathe and tube down the creek with small dogs in their own tube. Here is a view of our campsite from the creek.
You can kind of see our camper from here. There weren’t very many other people at the campground. We had a quiet night.
We stopped at Bull Shoals Lake in Theodosia, MO for a brief lunch. We’ve been eating cheese and sliced meats for lunch.
We stayed at Lake Charles State Park near Pocahontas, Arkansas.
It was kind of a strange place. We took a walk around the campground. There was some kind of group camp for teenage girls. I was glad that we weren’t sharing the bathrooms with them. The park had a Yurt that you could rent in additional to two RVs. We had strange neighbors that came and went at all hours of the night.
We drove into Tennessee the next day. We saw someone doing tricks in a biplane during the drive.
We stayed at Floating Mill Park on Center Hill Lake near Cookville, Tennessee. It is part of an Army Corp of Engineer facility
We needed a campground with a laundry this night. Plus, since we still weren’t used to the humidity yet, we also wanted one with electricity. This campground had both. We were able to get a spot with a great view of the lake.
The camp had a washer & dryer at each bathroom facility. It meant that I had to hang out and wait for it to finish. I finished it off just in time to get back and enjoy the sunset.
Off to NC tomorrow.