First Leg-Driving and then driving some more.

Obligatory leaving the driveway photo.
At least one out of three of them smiled appropriately. 

    Twenty minutes after I arrived home from a teacher's conference, the Munschs hit the road for Kansas. 

    Every year we plan a day to leave on vacation and  almost every year, we leave the day before because  we're just so excited we can barely stand ourselves.  This year was no exception. So instead of leaving the following day and driving for a million hours to Oklahoma, we took off a half a day early and "turtled" in Kansas. Excuse me. It wasn't actually a turtle but a tortoise. Turtling the camper for us is when we park and don't pull out the bedroom slide or unhook the camper from the Suburban. This provides for minimal work in the morning when leaving early. Anyway, this was not strictly a turtle job as we did pull out the bedroom slide, so the boys decided that this was more of a "tortoise" situation. Don't ask me how they came to that conclusion. They just did. 

    So, pretty big news right off the bat-did you have any idea that the construction through Sioux City was complete? It only took like two decades, but I-29 is wide and luxurious. What a pleasant surprise and a positive start to the trip. 

    Anyway, Kansas was okay. The reservoir we were staying at was flooded and so it smelled something terrible. It's sort of funny when we go on these trips and we just stop at one place, we totally judge the whole state on that one experience. So in our minds, Kansas is flooded, smelly, and humid. But they do have beautiful sunsets.

Very sunsetty in Kansas. Please note that taking a decent
picture of this crew is an extreme exercise in patience
and perseverance. Even then someone is usually doing
something ridiculous. 

    The next day we didn't have far to go to get to our stop in Oklahoma, on the account of leaving a day early, but we couldn't check in until 4, so we decided to find a Bass Pro Shop and an Academy Sports so I could do some shorts shopping. Hot tip--go to Academy first. You may not even need Bass Pro Shop.

    Oklahoma, it turned out, still smelled weird and was humid, but seemed less flooded. Shortly after dropping the trailer we decided to go find the "natural falls" after which the state park is named. We quickly found an unworn, but marked path and headed toward the sound of falling water. 

    The trail was steep but results were fairly quick taking us almost directly to the sound of falling water. However, this monstrosity could not be the alleged natural water fall and was actually a concrete damn holding back a ton of gross green moss covered water. Irritated, we persisted down the trail, taking note of the fish darting about in the now clear turquoise stream. Eventually there was a twisted, somewhat unstable looking bridge crossing the stream and the Munschs obliged it by crossing. 

Rickety bridge that bounced when we walked across. 

    On the other side of the foot bridge was a spectacular grotto complete with a deep aqua pool that danced from the dripping water above. This alone would have been worth the hike, but around the bend was an even more beautiful grotto, five times as large, and the promised natural falls. While not the biggest or most elaborate falls I have ever seen, these falls were pristine and delicate, flowing over and from within caverns on the moss and vine covered rock face. A good hike indeed. Well done Oklahoma. 

Pictures never do these things justice. It was absolutely magical. 

    The next morning was an early one, hitting the road by 6 on our way to the Mississippi Delta.