Southwest Kansas Sunrise

Beautiful Southwest Kansas Sunrise........ahhhhhhhhhh

Goodbye Wichita Hello Liberal, KS.

 Wednesday morning bright and early we left Wichita and McConnell AFB for the western plains of Kansas. We headed to Liberal to check on Sheryl's Aunt who was moved here earlier this month. We are here for a week and playing by ear after that, if all goes well we may head towards Colorado Springs for the rest of the month before it gets too cold. We found a nice little RV park just outside of town, very clean and well kept, of course it's just a large gravel parking area with hook-ups carved out of a farmers field.

Of course the big news of the day.....Wednesday was Sheryl's birthday and just as beautiful now as ever. We decided to celebrate with dinner out, which can be a challenge in small town America, as you never know how good the local places are. In the RV Parks brochure, the Branding Iron Restaurant, was recommended for the best steaks in town. Steak sounded good, so we rolled the dice and gave it a try, even if it's located in a motel. The only thing we can say about the steaks was WOW, were they good!!! and one of the best steaks we've had in years. The place is pretty much what you would expect in a small midwestern town and well worth the trip. So we highly recommend this liite place, should you find yourself in Liberal, KS. during the dinner hour to stop in for a steak dinner. You won't be disappointed, and you won't break the bank either.

So, as we settle in here for the week, we'll see you back here again...............

Roadside Flower Market, Wichita, KS.

Took a little road trip into rural Wichita in search of photographic inspiration. I was having no luck until I spotted this local roadside stand selling flowers and pumpkins, the colors just screamed at me so I had to stop. These were some of my favorites, you can also see the rest at my Flickr Site HERE

We leave Wichita tomorrow and head toward Western Kansas. Sheryl's Aunt was moved there, so we are going to stop in for a few days to see how she's doing. From there, no plans as of yet, depends on where the winds blow us...........and in west Kansas that could be anywhere....lol

So until next time, I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and we'll see you then.

Keeper of the Plains, Wichita, KS.

 In downtown Wichita, spanning the Arkansas River, is the Keeper of the Plains Monument and Footbridge. Each evening the monument lights up with fire from several cauldrons placed around the statue making for a pretty spectacular sight. Last night I took a ride downtown to capture the event and work on my night photography.

The monument area is quite impressive, two foot bridges span both the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers at their confluence. In the middle is a display of the plains Indians.

Friday, we took a little day trip back down to OKC for a doctors appointment, but in true Lehmann fashion we had the time mixed up and missed the appointment. Lucky for us it was only a routine exam that could be rescheduled. All was not lost as Sheryl was able to have her hair done by her favorite stylist. Scrappy also had his hair cut as he was looking a little scruffy. We also managed to wrangle some of our kids together and meet for dinner. It turned out to be long day as we didn't get back too Wichita till close to midnight, but a good day out all in all.
 The bad news in all of this, is Sheryl managed to catch a cold during our time out, so she is feeling miserable and trying her darnedest to recuperate on the couch. With any luck I can avoid catching it also, so until we meet again.......................see you then!!!  

Wichita to Hugoton, KS and Back

Monday, Sheryl and I took a little overnight trip to Hugoton, KS. We were helping to move Sheryl's Aunt to a facility a little closer to her home. We had two choices, pay a medical transport company a crazy amount of money to do it, or take her ourselves. We chose the latter, it also gave Sheryl and her quality time to visit together, so it was a good trip and all went well.
Now to the photo above. Kansas is known as the Sunflower state, however in all Sheryl and I's time there we have only ever seen them growing wild. So, as you can imagine the scene above really surprised us as a couple of farmers were growing large crops of them. It was actually quite beautiful, bright yellow sunflowers for as far as the eye could see. With the drought we were glad to see some farmers taking advantage and finding alternate crops which do well and bring them more income.
Just a quick note to give you a rare but beautiful view from far western Kansas. We will be in Wichita until the 25th and then start making our way to the western part of Kansas for a bit. So until later, take care and we'll see you back here again.

Duck, Duck, Ducky???

Here in the RV park, we ran across something you don't see everyday. Our neighbor has a pet duck, yes, that's right, a pet duck. We hardly ever see them out , so when we did, we just had to inquire about the ducky as we call him. First as you can see, Scrappy is fascinated with the duck, each time we go out for a walk, we ask Scrappy where's the ducky? He get's so excited and takes us right over to the little pen where they check each other out. Ok, back to the story, The husband is getting ready to retire from the Air Force, so they bought a travel trailer for the transition. While they still had their house, each of the kids got to pick out a duckling (4) with the intent to raise them for a bit and then release them to a pond with other ducks. 2 were successfully released, 1 passed away and our little friend just wanted nothing to do with being released and wouldn't leave them. So here they are at the RV Park, they attempted to release him again in the pond here, however...............while swimming in the pond something bit his foot, out of the water he came and back to the RV he proceeded refusing to go back to the pond and is now afraid of water......lol. Yes, you read that correct, a duck that's afraid of the water, we just thought that was hilarious!!! So in the, we thought we'd seen it all department, we were proven wrong!
Other than the duck saga, we have been visiting Sheryl's sick aunt as we can, helping get her affairs in order and just keeping her company. We are here for another week or so, then we;ll be off to SW Kansas, as here aunt will be transferring to a facility closer to her home. We'll help get her settled in and then be off to points unknown for a bit before we have to return to SW Kansas to put her to rest. A bittersweet time in our life, as we were happy to be given the all clear to travel and travel we did, but needing to handle the issues here at hand.
That's it for now and until we stumble across the next interesting thing to come our way, we'll see you back here before long!!!

McConnell AFB, Wichita, KS

 With the A-OK from the doctors, we were finally able to leave OKC and hit the road once again. Our destination, the McConnell AFB FamCamp in Wichita, KS. We are here for a couple of weeks while Sheryl visits with a very ill aunt, The FamCamp is pretty new, situated beside two small catch and release fishing lakes on one side and the old golf course turned outdoor activity are on the other.

We took off from OKC on Sunday, but not before spending a little Grandma/Grandpa time with our little Clara. It was good spending time in OKC again, but it sure was time to leave as our travelin shoes were gathering to much dust. Now it's time to explore the area and see what we can find.

Take Care and see you back here next time.

OKC at Night

The sculpture changes to several different colors and straddles I-40. The last shot is of the Devon Tower downtown. There are several more photos showing the different colors of the sculpture at my Flickr Page which you can find Here

Enjoy and we'll see you next time!!!

Kayaking Lake Draper, OKC, OK.

 With Sheryl out of town for the weekend, I needed something to keep me entertained. Heck, why not get one of the kayaks wet. Of course my purpose was two fold, to test out the new kayak rack, and of course to paddle around the lake for a while.

The lake is pretty big, with several little finger coves branching off the main lake. The great part about kayaking is the ability to get way back in those little coves with just inches of water.
I was only out for a few hours, but it sure felt good to get out on the water again. The new rack worked well, and hopefully, it will do just as well with both yaks on it and zipping on down the road behind the motorhome.
Tonight I may head downtown to photograph the city lights, I'll let you know how that goes. So until then, take care and see you back here again.