Prairie Dog State Park, Kansas

It sure was a pleasure to pull into a campground adjacent to a large lake, especially after driving through the plains of Kansas. As we pulled into Prairie Dog State Park we were treated to a scenic park with views of the large Reservoir.

We reserved a full hookup site with a concrete pad up on a ridge overlooking the lake. We felt sure it would be a great place to spend a few days. There was something else of interest to us at Prairie Dog State Park. Yes, it was the Prairie Dogs themselves and we were hopeful also to view a particular species living amongst them.

Prairie Dogs are known as a keystone species which is defined as an organism very important in defining the ecosystem. The Prairie Dog town was less than a quarter mile from our campground and was a fairly large colony. As the evening approached on our first day we walked over to see them.

While we enjoy watching Prairie dogs, our main focus was to see if we could find any burrowing owls. These interesting and somewhat comical birds live within the Prairie Dog town. While the owls can dig their own burrows to live in, they often repurpose abandoned prairie dog holes and colonize them.

Some think that they feed on the Prairie Dogs but they do not. Predators of Prairie Dogs are typically coyotes, ferrets and hawks. The owls actually live in a symbiotic relationship with the Prairie Dogs and they are such a delight to watch. While we also did a lot of hiking around the park, on the few trails that exist, our favorite was watching the owls. The two evenings we were there we took a lot of photos of them. What a great stop this was!

Rexford, Kansas

When we woke up in Raton, New Mexico, we checked the weather. Because of the forecast for storms we decided it was time to go. Our plan was to drive about 150 mi to John Martin Reservoir State Park near Las Animas, Colorado.

The Eastern side of Colorado is a stark contrast to the mountainous western side. We saw nothing but rolling planes and grasslands all around us. The campground at John Martin Reservoir was very pleasant with lots of shade trees and sweeping views of the lake. We enjoyed a walk around the lake as there was not much else to see in the area.

We once again cut this stay short and the next morning we moved on toward Burlington, Colorado. As we approached Burlington, we were having a hard time contacting the owner of the RV park we wanted to stay at.

We left several messages and texts and could not get an answer as to if we could come in early without having to pay a $10 early check-in fee. If I haven't mentioned it before, I hate parks who gouge people for miscellaneous fees at RV parks. Worse these additional fees are not mentioned on the website nor when we called to make the reservation. We found out by reading the very lengthy confirmation text where the fees were mentioned at the very end.

As we neared the town there was a Love's. We pulled into it to have lunch and see if she would answer our text or phone message. As we finished lunch and heard nothing from her, we decided that it was best to just move on, especially since the weather looked bleak for this town that night. We texted to leave a message we were cancelling.

As a result, our 125-mile drive turned into a 214-mile drive and we finally pulled into the town of Rexford, Kansas where we stayed at a park called the Shepherd's Staff RV Park. It's basically only about eight sites behind a religious retreat center with only one 50 amp site. It's a Passport America Park and $15 a night with full hookups. Check-in instructions were to leave a check in a drop box in front of the center and directions to the alley leading to the park.

Of course, we thought we had escaped all the bad weather in Colorado but a severe thunderstorm warning greeted us shortly after we set up camp. Fortunately for us the worst of it skirted around us. The weather the next day was supposed to be nice so we stayed one more day not only because of the price but we needed a break from traveling day after day after day, something we rarely do.

With nothing to see in the area we took this time to clean the RV and do some repairs. Our next stop will be Prairie Dog State Park in Norton Kansas where we plan to relax and enjoy not having to worry about severe weather!