Kansas is wider than you think

June 14 – It was quietly peaceful when we got up this morning.  A beautiful day out after a scary night.  We ended up pulling both slides back in and I slept on the couch and Bill in the bed.  The RV was rocking and thankfully I was so tired I finally fell asleep.  The RV closest to us didn’t have a good night.  The awning had been rolled up at dark but was totally hanging down this morning.  No one was there.

Former Town Hall

There was no major rush today as it wasn’t a terribly long day ahead.  We headed west and saw the giant ball of twine again as we passed.  The weather was nice, no wind, and VERY little traffic.  Our first stop for the day was a tiny town, Nicodemus.  The town is a National Historic Site.  Only 15 people live there.  After the end of the Civil War, Blacks were at a loss as to homes, jobs and starting a life in general.  Reconstruction offered them the opportunity to head west and develop their own all Black town.  Since most were former Southern slaves with mostly farming experience, they felt they could farm the land grants being offered to them.  300 settlers were recruited from Kentucky.  They traveled west by train and then walked 35 miles to the newly platted Nicodemus.  Some turned around once they saw the area, no trees, rivers, nothing.  They lived in homes dug into the ground until they could build proper homes.  The town was prosperous and grew to over 600 and then word came that the railroad would not being coming through their town and it slowly dried up due to the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.  A huge “reunion” of sorts is held every year and many ancestors of the original settlers come back for the event.  The National Park Service owns 5 buildings in town.

We enjoyed the video there and talking with the park ranger.  Most of the residents are elderly and are all descendents of the settlers.

It was time to continue west so we didn’t stop again until we reached our destination for the day, Oakley, KS.  We got parked at the only campground in the area but at least the sites are big and level.  It’s literally right off the interstate.   After lunch we went into town. 

Makes Bill look really small

We stopped first at the Visitor Center which boasts a huge statue of Buffalo Bill shooting a buffalo.  The story is that this is the area where he and Bill Comstock held their famous buffalo shootout competition.  Cody shot 69 to Comstock’s 46, thereby becoming “Buffalo Bill”.  They had some interesting information there about him and provided information about other points of interest in the area.

We missed the post office yesterday as it’s hard to park the RV in towns, so we stopped today to mail the faulty SD card back so we can get the new one to get our GPS system running.  After that we visited the Fick Fossil Museum.  The Ficks were ranchers in the area whose hobby was collecting fossils in various locations in the area.  They had a huge collection in their home and allowed visitors to come and see what they had found over the years.  When the people got to be too many and stopped by all hours of the day, they asked the city of Oakley if they would have a place for the collection if they donated it to them.  So the city library is one half of the building and the Fick Fossil Museum is the other half.  Over time other residents have donated fossil finds and when they have traveled to other places they have brought back items and the collection has grown.  It was one of the most famous fossil collections in the country. 

Once we complete the museum Bill saw the library had a book sale so we “had” to go see what they had.  He got 2 books and I got 1 for $2.25.  That’s a good deal!  We stopped at the grocery in town for a couple of things then came home.  Right after we got in an RV like ours but a longer one parked right beside us.  Bill and the guy both were out at the same time washing the fronts of the RV’s.  They are heading back to Indiana.

I did 2 loads of laundry and some mending while Bill was outside.  I made chicken and dumplings for dinner.  We have our plans made for tomorrow so guess we’re good to go!