With the costly repairs of the damage to our motorhome from the invasion of wood-rats, we made the difficult decision to leave our planned summer location and not risk further damage. Our budget is such that we just cold not be comfortable with continuing in that same location. It happens that my favorite aunt & uncle have the family farm where she grew up, only ten miles or so away and that they were already housing us during the four days when we didn't have the motorhome, so we have chosen to take advantage of their hospitality and to stay here in our motorhome for a couple of weeks. We love this place and we have had such a great time spending time with my cousins from the days when i was a boy in this part of the country.

I grew up on a farm that is about twenty miles from where we are now and that has since been absorbed into a much larger farm, as is the case with so many farms today. We still have many friends and relatives in this area so we do enjoy spending time here and we also have so much to share with my family.

The area is very quiet when one is used to city life even though the road passes just next to where our motorhome is now sitting. Most days there is frequent traffic though here with sometimes as many as a dozen vehicles that pass by in a days time! It reminds me of the place where I was a boy, when we knew when the regulars went bay and so looked to see who it was at any time that a car or truck passed at some other time of day. And my uncle nearly always knows who it is when the go past. Everyone notices if a stranger happens along and it would be very difficult to do anything without someone watching you and making note. Having spent time here numerous times, all of the neighbors know us, our motorhome and even out CR-V. In fact, we traded cars last October and thus far two of the neighbors have stopped to ask how we like the new one.

The road is of gravel and not the crushed rock kind but rather of native chert and flint from the local streams. It is very durable but it also can do great damage to the paint on vehicles or to the tires if you drive too fast, so high speed traffic is just not an issue. Farm trucks and stock trucks are the fastest things on the road, and most of those travel at about 35 to 40 mph. Since it is country, most people have a dog or two and few of them are fenced in or kept tied. Muffie loves the area with rabbits to worry and all kinds of things to investigate. She has always enjoyed a ride and has now added a farm trailer and an ATV to the many vehicles that she has ridden. 

Since we have been here we have been able to help out with chores around the farm to repay our host and hostess for the utilities. We don't have sewer, but we have enough electricity for one air conditioner and we have water. We use the house for showers and we are quite at home here. I have helped with the mowing and tree trimming and several other small chores. But we also do a lot of visiting, reminiscing and  cruising the countryside to see the places where we spent some great times over the years.

My aunt lived on this farm as a girl and met my uncle when we was employed as a farm hand at the next farm up the road. They were married and then traveled the world as he served a career in the Navy, then returned to Kansas when he retired. There are days that our experiences here make us very tempted to return to this area when we stop or RV travels. If it were not so far to our sons, it would likely be a done deal!

The area is peaceful but far from boring. There are many things to do for those who like the country. Council Grove Lake and the local streams provide fishing, while wild turkeys, pheasants, prairie chickens and white tail deer provide hunting activities. If you like predator hunting, there are coyotes  that are not protected and hunting those is encouraged. For nature watchers the deer are not heavily hunted and so are seen frequently as is an occasional bobcat. 

Each Sunday night the county arts committee sponsors an evening of music in the city park in Council Grove all summer and there is a country music jam at Cottonwood Falls every Friday night. Neither one cost anything to attend, although the Emma Chase Cafe is the sponsor and many of us do buy our dinner there before the program begins.   The programs in the park range from country, to gospel, to even a clarinet quartet of Kansas University music professors.  At the Cottonwood gathering it is always some kind of country, with weeks varying from Bluegrass, to Country to Rock & Roll from the 50's and 60's.  The food is good at both cafes in town and it is a great place to meet new friends. This has become very popular all across the country and it is very common for a traveling entertainer to stop by if in the area and participate. Even a few well known musicians will be there on occasion. 

After two great weeks with my aunt & uncle near Council Grove, we have not moved back to Wichita, KS where we will be staying on the property of our good friends, Neil & Bennie Hollingsworth. They have now left the road and moved back to a house and so we will be staying in their RV port while we care for their new lawn so that they can do some traveling and visiting family on the west coast. We have been so fortunate to have made the kind of friends that we have since going traveling.