Captain’s Log – Star Date 07112009
Location – Lawrence KOA Campground, Lawrence, Kansas
Trip Miles – 2839.2
Report from Engineering – Right Front trailer tire badly worn; strong caution on blowout possibility given to us by a retired trucker at Stagecoach RV Park in Branson; change with spare immediately accomplished for $10.54 by Branson Big O Tires; road ready by 1000 hours. Three Cheers for Big O! Cleared for transit to Galaxy of Kansas!
Diesel Price - $2.56 per gallon raid
Weather – severe thunderstorms at night in Lawrence KS; hot and extremely humid during day; daytime temperature 92F, relative humidity 65 percent, heat index up around 110F… in short, WE WERE HOT AND SWEATING BUCKETS!

“Holy KA-TOOTS”, says the Commodore, using that expression she employs when particularly aghast, “this place is weirder than Berkeley!” Here we are, suddenly looking at young people with nose rings and tee shirts that say “Sarcasm – One of My Many Talents” ! The Java Break Coffee House has faux-leopard chairs and TV sets showing old Pink Panther movies! There is a hookah shop (!) and shirts that say LOVE on them! It looks like we’ve stumbled into a festering cesspool of LIBERALISM! The people around here even walk like liberals! This is too much! Barbara is now buying sunflowers and I must call my therapist!

Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas. The sprawling campus is very large and is home to the Robert Dole Institute of Politics, which boasts the world’s largest stained-glass flag and traces seventy years of Kansas and American history. This center is well worth the visit we made to it. Bob Dole has an interesting personal history. In World War II, he was so severely wounded he couldn’t feed himself for a year!

Lawrence has a bloody and turbulent history. This place was a violent battleground between anti-slavery and pro-slavery guerilla groups before and during the Civil War. This train of savagery culminated in the August 21, 1863 raid by William Quantrill and 400 pro-slavery raiders. In that atrocity, 200 men were killed and 185 homes were destroyed.

Our RV park is a very pleasant KOA park set in the middle of large produce fields – on one side there’s corn and on the other side there are soybeans! Lots of very GREEN grass around here!

We head up to Nebraska tomorrow. I think we’ll go by way of Highway 75 which runs north out of Topeka. Of course, I’ll have to run that by Edna, our navigation system. I don’t want to disturb Edna. When disturbed, she can be a real pain in the ass.

Yours in Air-Conditioned Comfort,
Captain Baldy