The best laid plans...

Our first stop on our way west today was Lawrence, Kansas.  The town William Burroughs made famous just by retiring there.  The town called University City by some Kansassians (my word- not recommended for trying to impress a Kansas resident friend). The town was founded by die hard New England abolitionists before the Civil War, and was the sometime residence of John Brown, the bloody abolitionist. The town was also made famous by Quantrill's Confederate Raiders who burned parts of the town before a Union Army rescue could be mounted.  But for us the town was made famous by Conrad Henderson. 

Conrad is the keeper of the old Union Station, now City Visitor Center and a city library volunteer. He is also a proud German who taught German in High School locally until retirement. Don't let Herr Henderson catch you mispronouncing in Deutsche!

He and his wife visited their children on many trips to the family in Charlottesville, VA. and the family on the Pacific coast with stops at Estes Park to see a sister.  He knew Nederland well, James DeWalt, and made sure we knew how to correctly pronounce your home towns name Ned-er-land-e' with the accent firmly on the nonexistent e.

 We parted as I shouted "auf weidershen" and he yelled back "auf weider-SHEIN" with a friendly smile.

Topeka's capital dome peeks above some state
office buildings as we drive by

Conrad had prepared us for a lovely morning stroll to the center of old Lawrence. But when I went to the TOAD to get something out... you guessed it... battery DEAD. SO.  A few calls later and we were skipping the sites in Lawrence, Topeka, the state capital, and Fort Riley, the home of the US Cavalry Museum. Mona really missed seeing that one!

A tiny corner of this huge army installation
 as we saw it today.

Our destination was five miles east of Abilene, the town our families 26 solid hour long drive destination for the DeWalt family in several trips west that  began                                                                   (see the pic at the very top of all                                                 these blogs) in 1965.

Four Seasons RV Services was there where we met Rick, Billy, and Lance who opened a whole in their extremely tight schedule to give us another fix to our dying battery woes.

Turns out the original job done by Schaeffer's in Hamburg, PA, would have been fine on most cars but the Honda requires a small finesse, or workaround, for it's unique fuse box arrangement.  Lance had just worked on a similar problem only last week and he did it again on ours.  Thank you Jesus!

Tonight, as we put the TOAD down for the night she was purring softly as I tested her out. And so far we have no reason to suspect any steering mechanism damage from yesterday's driving with the wheel locked.  Continued prayer for that would always be appreciated!

 We rolled into town about 5:30 pm and opened the slides at Emmauel UMC along Old Historic US Route 40.  This 'first road' of the nation, started in Baltimore through Pittsburgh and west as the "National Road" during the French and Indian War.


We were hungry, and in need of a walk so we hiked the mile or so down 40 to the 1870's Brookville Hotel.  No, not Brookville PA, but Brookville Kansas, a few miles further west down the old trail from Abilene. The original hotel building needed too much work after several decades and Brookville was declining in population so the owners built this new one when Interstate                                                         70 came through close to Abilene.

The original Martin family is in it's fourth generation of ownership and they have had ONE item on the menu in all those 140 years.  Family Style Pan Fried Chicken with secret recipe cream corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, relishes the way Mama used to make of several kinds and fresh hot biscuits.  We couldn't begin to finish the whole chicken they fried for us but they let you take home whatever you can't eat, even though they are willing to get more of whatever you want from the kitchen till you drop over dead from closed arteries.

 Then we passed a Turkey Hill Convenience store on the way home... No! Its a KWIK SHOP. But look at that logo!  Well, Turkey Hill is owned by Kroger Foods, along with alot of other stores, but the logo is the same for all properties.  Well that's good because to me that new logo never met anything about Turkey Hill.  And this is why.


Globalization! Run away! Run away!

Well, we're living right across from the Abilene Cemetery tonight so that running bit may come in handy.

-Ken