We left north Texas with no goal in mind other than ticking off capitals on the way to Chicago. And that is exactly what we have been doing.
Our first was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We were delighted to head in on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. The streets were deserted, and we were able to drive directly to the parking lot in front of the Capitol, where we could walk around and take photos.
Our first was Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We were delighted to head in on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. The streets were deserted, and we were able to drive directly to the parking lot in front of the Capitol, where we could walk around and take photos.
We left Oklahoma City, heading for Topeka, Kansas. We knew we weren’t going to make it in one day, so we took the non-highway route north. I loved it because we were heading through horse country, and in addition to every third vehicle or so being a horse trailer, we saw lots of beautiful farms. We ended up at a county park where we parked for $5. It wasn’t fancy, but it was quiet and peaceful and off the highway, and there weren’t any trains.
The next day we headed towards Topeka. We thought we could make it in a day, but we were still over an hour out at 4PM, and we were heading to an area where we had a lot of options for overnighting, so we decided to stop. We found a winery on Harvest Hosts, Wyldwood Winery, just off I-70. We pulled in just before 5PM, which meant we were just in time to buy a couple of bottles of wine, which turned out to be quite good. We met another couple of travellers who were heading west to Yellowstone, and spent a delightful couple of hours sharing stories and travel tips and wine before heading to our respective campers so we could all get a good night’s sleep before long drives the next day.
We were lucky; we were only about a half hour out of Topeka. We left the winery a little before 9AM, and, since it was the Monday of Labor Day weekend, we were able to park directly in front of the capitol building. We did our daily walk with the dogs around the capitol grounds, took a bunch of photos, and were back in the truck and heading for Lincoln in less than two hours.
The drive to Lincoln was uneventful, and we pulled into another empty parking lot in front of the Lincoln, NE, capitol building around 3PM. We took the dogs for another walk around the Lincoln buildings, and then picked up the phone to look for a parking space for the night.
Our first try was a state park about a half hour out of Lincoln towards Des Moines, our next capital, but the state park turned out to be more expensive than an RV park by the time park fees, camping fees, and whatever else they included were added up. So, we headed towards Omaha and found a nice little county park where the fees are $16 a night, which included electric and water. We don’t need the electric, but the water might be useful, and we might even decide to stay here for another day and get our laundry done.