Wilson, Kansas---Exploring

Bob parked the RV in a campsite we liked, then unhooked the car so we could check out the campgrounds at Lucas Park. After driving through all the parks, we decided to stay at Sylvan Park. Since we hadn't eaten lunch, we had an early dinner after we set up the RV.

 After a bit of a rest, Bob wanted to drive around and get a few geocaches. One of them was a virtual located in Lucas, Kansas, at the Garden of Eden. The cement figures were made by a retired Civil War Veteran in 1904. At the time he was 64 years old. 

 Just across the street from the Garden of Eden was Miller Park---a rest for the weary traveler. It was built in 1932 and moved from its original site on the west side of town in 1969.

 Also in Lucas was an exhibit of American Fork Art.

 Yes, it was of decorated forks!

 In the same plaza was the amazing bowl--made to look like a toilet bowl!

 I have to say Lucas was a very interesting small town. No wonder it is one of Kansas' Eight Wonders of Art.

Once we returned to the campground, we noticed that we were still the only campers in the place. Oh, well. Since we had been driving most of the day, we needed to get out and walk. About a 1/4 of a mile from the campsite was a hiking trail built by a local scout troop--Oak Bur Trail. Of course there was a geocache hidden near the trail. Off we went. We successfully completed the trail and found the geocache.

 The next day we drove up to the overlook and retrieved the geocache that was there. The view was excellent!

 We continued geocaching while staying at the Corps of Engineer Park. The town of Wilson is billed as the Czech Capital of Kansas. In town there was a large Czech egg. Unfortunately, the egg was not like any Czech eggs I have ever seen with beautiful colors and designs....it was black! Evidently after the egg was delivered in 2012, it was painted black and the painting was never completed.

 That afternoon Bob and I hiked the Rocktown Trail which was chosen by USA Today as one of America's 51 Trails.

 Most of the trail was rolling grasslands. That changed as we approached the lake. We could see many different rock formations.

 This one overlooked the lake, but there was graffiti everywhere. The stone was very soft and a lot of people thought they needed to leave their marks.

Our second night, another camper pulled into the campground. They were from Michigan, but we don't know if they were going north or south.

Wednesday the weather was windy and cold so we took a loop drive from Wilson to Cawker to Osborne to Luray and then back to the campground. Our first stop was at the double arch bridge. The bridge is made from limestone, known in this area as post stone. The bridge was in use until 1993 when the Kansas Dept. of Transportation straightened the  highway and built a new bridge.

In Cawker we visited the largest ball of sisal twine which was started in 1953. In 2006  it  weighed  17, 886 pounds!

From Cawker it was on to Osborne and the Geodetic Center of North America. The actual center is 19 miles south on a private ranch. And to top it off, there were two geocaches located here!

On our way back to Wilson we stopped at Luray to view the oldest log cabin in Russell County, Kansas. As we were leaving, I noticed that the other end of the city park where the log cabin is located had two RV sites with electric hook-ups.

 Most of the fence posts are made from post rock (since there are few trees in the area). Evidently an artist traveled through the area several years ago and carved four of these posts in Russell County. This is the only one we saw and we only saw this one because there was a geocache located behind it.

 The next morning, it was time to move on to Nebraska. Just before we pulled out I saw that we had a new neighbor in the site next to us....a turkey if I ever saw one.