OCTOBER 24:
Laundry time rolled around again, so first thing today I headed into Independence, Kansas to Tidy Whities. (I don’t know who picked that name, but I LOVE it!) It was very clean and nice, with a good sitting area, TV, and vending machines. I was able to get a little work done while I waited, then with everything loaded back up, went looking for a hair and/or nail salon (the time had come for some maintenance). Unfortunately, the places I could find open could not take walk-ins today. After several attempts, I asked one of the salon owners why no one seemed to be working. She said “It’s Neewollah week!” It’s what??? This tiny town has the largest festival in Kansas around the end of October every year. Neewollah (pronounced knee-a-wall-a) is halloween spelled backwards. It began in 1919 and has been going really strong since the 1950s. It is a week-long celebration that includes parades, carnival rides, the crowning of a queen, music (the “big” name this year was Lee Greenwood), and LOTS of food trucks. (MW LOVES fair food!) This is such a big deal that the schools actually close on Thursday and Friday. Wow! Thankfully, she said she could fit me in at 9:30 AM tomorrow, so there is hope for the haircut.
After the failed search, I headed over to Braum’s to have a bite for lunch and get a little work done. Then it was back out to Penelope to put the clothes away and make up the bed. MW did a little cleaning, took a walk, and then relaxed outside, enjoying the weather. With the chores complete, I wrote in the journal and relaxed a bit. A Grand Design Reflection pulled past our site and parked around the corner, so I decided to talk to the owners on the way to get firewood. Rick and Nancy were in the middle of setting up when I walked up. They are really nice and had owned their fifth wheel for a little over six months. It is the fifth one they have owned, and they had no complaints. Nancy asked us to come back by for a tour once they finished setting up. We headed over to the boat launch area where there was supposed to be some wood to scavenge. Turns out it was large piles left from a flood, so it was easy. We took a load back to the campsite and relaxed a little more.
Bacon Brownie Bite
Later we headed out, popping by Rick and Nancy’s on the way out. Rick was there, but Nancy had disappeared, so we told him we would come back by on the way back. We headed back in to Independence to stock up on supplies, and surprise, surprise, hit the food truck alley. LOL We were surprised at the huge number of trucks and options; more than we think we’ve seen at any other street fair. We walked around and sampled a bit. The coolest one was bacon-themed. They had won lots of awards at the Kansas State Fair. MW tried a burger there, and I had a hot dog. The best, though, was a brownie ball that is wrapped in bacon, then frozen, then flash fried (to cook the bacon), and drizzled with caramel and sea salt. It sounds gross, but tasted amazing! Winner, winner! Shout out to Bryan Bennett, owner of Back Street BBQ, Burgers. Check them out if you see them at a fair. There was a hard rock band there that had a great sound, but they had the mic turned up so loud on the pedal drum that it interfered with the guitars. Too bad.
Back Street BBQ, Burgers
Back at the campground we visited with Rick and Nancy for a bit and got the tour. Their fifth wheel is 35′ and had three slides. It was HUGE inside! She gave us several pointers for looking at new ones, including making sure that you can access the refrigerator when the slides are closed. That is something we had never thought of and is important since we stop and make lunch a lot. I’m glad we ran into them. They come to this area every year at this time so that Rick can hunt with his son. (The son has a bow hunting show on the Outdoor Channel, but I can’t for the life of me remember his name. Rick helps him with the filming.) They also filled us in on why the campground is full this weekend. The entire park becomes one big halloween party this weekend. (We are glad that we are leaving tomorrow!) After visiting for a bit, we headed back to Penelope to relax a bit and turn in.
OCTOBER 25:
This morning I headed into town to get my hair cut and nails done at Reflections Salon. Lindsey was very nice and did everything herself. With the maintenance behind me, I headed over to McDonald’s to use their wifi and get a little work done. While I was sitting there a crew of folks came through that were clearly “corporate” inspecting the recent remodel. I struck up a conversation with one of them who happened to be the owner of this and eleven other locations. He was in school administration when an opportunity arose to buy two locations, so he and his wife jumped on it. He said they enjoy it and that it is a good company to work with. He also said that all McDonald’s are getting a wifi upgrade for faster service, which is great for those of us popping in to work.
After a few hours, I headed back to Penelope. Last night it started raining, and today it is grey and drizzly, so it is definitely an afternoon to stay in. I worked on weeding out pictures for a bit (I take thousands and keep hundreds.) Later, MW had leftovers, and I had cereal for dinner. We watched a movie and caught up on a little Dark Shadows.
