After all that Jesse James history, I realized that I had never been to Kansas. I also didn't know how Kansas was such a wild place. Kansas City was the starting place of the Oregon Trail and the Santa FeTrail. Towns are Dodge City, Medicine Lodge, Wichita. There were many fort here. There were Indian wars, Civil war battles, and Wild Bill Hickock. We didn't stop in Kansas City due to time, but my friend Pier says it has great shopping. It is known as a cattle city, larges stockyards....we saw hundreds of cattle in one of them. Can you say steak for dinner??
We drove south on I35 and said hello to Courtney's hometown of Emporium, (Sean's girlfriend). Then we drove through the Flint Hills. They are rolling hills that look like desert. Nothing there for miles, the soil is alluvial deposits. It is plains with grass growing and occasionally some wildflowers. Way off in the distance black dots, which are cattle, graze. There is no town for miles. It was a beautiful place though. It felt like I could touch the clouds.
Our goal was to was originally to camp in El Dorado, but the campground had very bad reviews so we ended up in the Walmart parking lot there. I noticed that Agatha was backfiring, and I knew that wasn't good, so we called around to see if someone could look at it. Interestingly most RV dealers don't service them, or you have to wait a week or so to get in. So we were referred to PRO DIESEL, AND Cory said we could come the next morning. so we did.
LIFE AT PRO DIESEL
When we pulled into the Pro Diesel yard, we were met by Cory, the owner and his little helper, a small rambunctious girl of about 2 years old, Reese. Cory started exploring the problems of the RV and I played with Reese. Her Mom, Kellie, works in the office. Cory tried several things and we were still backfiring. So we stayed in the yard that night. They hooked us up to electric and we read until it was dark.
The next morning, Cory worked on some gaskets and valve cover. He and his number one man, Jeff, brain stormed trying to figure it out. Still nothing stopped the problems. So we stayed another night in the yard. I spent my day playing with the kids, Reese and Ty, a Kindergarten age boy who likes rocks. And I met Cory's son, Garrett, who could be a future geologist. He is collecting rocks and wanted to know all about them. We gave him a quartz crystal and some others. He has a tumbler machine and was very curious about all the rocks we had collected along this trip. We found fossils, mostly shells and coral, right by the garage. We are collecting more rocks and will send him a bunch from New Mexico.
The next day Cory is stumped. No seems to know why this RV is backfiring and running rough. I felt so bad because clearly he was frustrated by Agatha. We were all frustrated. We took it on a night ride and he said there was fireworks-sparks everywhere. I was scared shitless. Cory called everyone in the area to pick their brains, and looked on line.. so it looked like another night in the yard.
This is how nice Kansas people are, particularly Cory and Kellie. They asked us to come over to their house so we could have a shower,(best shower ever) wash our clothes, have a real dinner, and sleep on their couches. Mike also was happy to see the 50" TV too!!! It was great fun, like a pajama party.
Saturday, Cory and Mike went to the shop, while I hung out with Kelly and the kids. Dakota, the dog, also had a buddy to play with, a young catahoula, named Diesel. They ran all over the yard, wagging tails and playing. Cory put a new set of spark plug wires and and something separate them and a new muffler. This seemed to work. Was it true, Agatha was fixed. Yes.
To celebrate Cory and Kellie bought pizzas for everyone. It was good, hadn't had a pizza for months.
Since it was Saturday and pretty late, we decided to stay and again we were invited back to the house. We had a great time, campfire and all and enjoyed talking. We watched a movie, as everyone, except Mike drifted off to sleep.
Sunday Mike and I made pancakes and eggs for everyone. We all enjoyed them and we said our goodbyes. Down the road we were missing those kids...
So if you are near Wichita go 8 miles east to Augusta, KA and say hello to our new friends. The nicest people in Kansas- Cory and Kellie at PRO DIESEL.
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