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We left Dodge City this morning and spent the day driving home. We got in around 3:30 this afternoon and I'm ready to leave again. Although it was extremely hot up in South Dakota, they posted their hottest July in recorded history this year, but there was not a lot of humidity. It is in the high 90's here in Oklahoma but the humidity is terrible. We just took the very basic things we needed from the coach and then locked it up. We'll get out there tomorrow morning to finish unloading.When we left home, a week later than originally planned, we had a pristine swimming pool in the backyard with a brand new liner. Our neighbor's son was to take care of the pool for us as he did last summer. It appears that the area has received much rainfall while we were gone because all the grass and shrubs are lush and green and the pool is full. Unfortunately the water in the pool is also very green. It appears that our neighbor boy has not kept the chlorine level up and the algae has taken over. My job is now cut out for me as I start pouring the chemicals to it to get it back to the condition it was in when we left home. As stated in previous blog entries, oh the perils of home ownership.
The Sou
th Dakota part of this trip is behind us. We left out about 9:00 am on Thursday, August 2. Went south to Nebraska where we spent the night in North Platte. On Friday we continued south to the Gunsmoke Campground in Dodge City, Kansas. This is a very
nice place on the west edge of Dodge and, as the name would indicate, everything there is based on the old TV show, including Chester Goode's grave next to the main gate.
We spent Saturday touring the old downtown area along Front Street. An annual celebration, called Dodge City Days, was in it's last week and the town was full of people. The highlight of this celebration was a PRCA rodeo. We went to the old Boothill M
useum where there is a mockup of the original Front Street of Dodge City of yesteryear. We got there just in time to see the reenactment of a major gun fight and control of the town by outlaws. This was happening outside at about noon and the heat was terrible. The show continued for over an hour. After the show we were able to walk the boardwalks of the old town. The museum is housed inside these buildings. We did stop by the Longbranch Saloon but did not find Matt or Festus.
On Sunday we drove out east of town to visit the original Ft. Dodge. Many of the original buildings are still there and still in use
. The fort is now the Kansas Soldiers Home where many older veterans live. The old barracks buildings have been converted to apartment type housing plus there are many small houses and duplexes on the grounds for married couples to live. The building pictured was the original fort hospital. It now houses a clinic operated by the Veterans Administration.
