BLOOMINGTON EAST, KS

A little out of the way for a visit to Kansas City but Bloomington East on Clinton Lake south west of Lawrence KS worked for us. Our GPS took us on a more scenic route than was necessary but that was really a function of settings. We use Rand McNally RV7720 and I put in the RV information, length, height, weight, width etc. and the Rand should not route us on roads we would be illegal on. Hence the more scenic route. One route had a weight limit of 40,000 #'s and I have the GPS set for our Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, 43,000 #'s.

The CORPS park had 50A and water at the paved site which was easy in and out. The park is known to get busy but it was mostly empty when we were there. The sites are very level side to side and front to back.

Our main reason for this stop was to go to KC and visit the Arabia Steamboat Museum. WOW what a story. After some initial presentation by your tour guide there is a film about the Arabia and its discovery. After the film, on the day we were there, David Hawley who made the discovery was available to answer questions. The Q&A went on so long that our tour guide had to kick us out because another tour was waiting.

What a great museum. It has taken time to write this post because I am adding links and when I find one I begin reading it and have to remind myself to get back to this post.

After we had spent as much time as we wanted in the museum it was time to eat and we found Winslows BBQ there in City Market. We pondered the menu for a while and then ordered figuring a large late lunch would last well into the evening and we would find something light for an evening snack.

After lunch we browsed thru the City Market but didn't see anything we wanted to we decided to go to the WWI Museum. Well this being June 6 there was a lot going on. We never did find out just what was happening at the museum but there was NO parking without an uphill hike. So we looped around for a photo op and then headed back to the campground.

 Our next outing was a tour of Lawrence which we started at the visitors center where we saw a film on Quantrill's raid. Mom had said that some distant relation was a survivor of the raid by hiding in a cornfield. But I don't have the Genealogy work she did and what I could find on Ancestry.com did show that a branch of her family was  in the area.

Lunch in Lawrence. I had been told that the place to have lunch in Lawrence was the Free State Brewery. So that's what we did. Great food and excellent beer. 

Arabia Steamship Museum

Arabia Steamship Museum

World War I Museum