Monday, October 28, 2013 – Travel Day to Eisenhower SP in Kansas

What a crazy night! We were in bed before 10, but we both woke up abruptly when we heard some clunking and felt the RV shaking. When I looked out my window to the barnyard, where it was lit up like daylight anyway, we were surrounded by cattle munching the grass around us. Most had horns, and some even were longhorns, so between the horns and their swishing tails, we were getting good and thumped! Nothing we could do about it, and eventually they wandered off, so we got back to sleep after a while. They came thumping around again at 8:00, which forced us to get up despite plans to sleep a bit later, which was probably just as well anyway. We got up and quickly went to work packing up and moving out. We were on the road by 9:30, with stops at Costco so Hubby could pick up an earbud for his hearing aid, which he had lost a few days ago, grabbed a meal at BK (just missing breakfast), stopped at Tractor Supply for oats and senior feed, and finally at Walmart. From there we drove to the Eisenhower State Park near Malvern Lake. We stopped at the office, but were told to go select a site, then come back to register, which we did. Registration, like in so many state parks, was a complete pain in the butt. They asked for more information that anyone purchasing a week of camping should ever be forced to answer, including our Social Security number! I refused to give them that one, wondering what on earth they needed that for, and would you believe it had to do with finding deadbeat dads who didn’t pay their child support? Apparently they collect them, then submit them to another government agency who lets them know if there are any outstanding child support issues, in which case the state park is supposed to refuse to sell them anything! The clerk told me that in her 14 years, they had actually caught 3 people. Can you imagine, collecting all those social security numbers of completely innocent people, putting their identities at risk of being stolen, just because the court system is so pathetic it can’t catch up with three guys who owe money? Ridiculous! She also wanted Hubby’s birthday, and refused to let me purchase the camping without it! How I LONG for the days when all they did was say “how much” and all I had to do was pay them. This only seems to happen at state parks, but I honestly thought a state like Kansas would be a little less bureaucratic and a little more appreciative of freedom. Plus they made us pay for an annual vehicle pass, another way to pump up the coffers for no real reason. I really dislike state parks. I walked into that office in a good mood, and by the time I left (and it took over 20 minutes!) I was miserably, feeling like a criminal. No question, government is sticking its nose WAY too much into our lives. Anyway, enough of my rant. I got back to camp (Hubby was starting to get worried something had happened to me), and we finished setting up. None of the sites are very level, so we had to put boards down under the back wheels of the RV, and the corral that the horses are in is a bit on a slope as well. A little while later, another ranger came by and told me he had accidentally credited our account while he was giving a refund to someone else, so not to be surprised when it showed up, but that makes me REALLY wonder about how long they hang onto credit card numbers. I thought they were supposed to disappear right after a purchase was made, at least that’s what I have to do when I collect money through my merchant account. Anyway, at least he didn’t say anything when the dogs came out and said hello. We finally settled in for the evening, utterly exhausted, coming down from all our activities from the past week. The forecast is calling for rain for the next 2 or 3 days, so lots of rest and laundry are in order.