Laundry, BBQ & the First Official Caravan Night
📍 Weston · Fort Leavenworth, KS
No long drives today! It was laundry day.
How much does it cost to run a load? $2.75 wash, $2.75 dry. I used the quarters I had been saving — 44 of them. Thought we could use the card we were given, but it didn’t work, so quarters it was. Two good loads done, but that was 3.5 hours between changing the sheets (least favorite chore) and the wash/dry/hang cycle for the “doesn’t go in the dryer” pile.
I was ready to go at 0713 — but the laundry room was locked. My karma: the maintenance man came by and let me in. The code I had been given turned the light green but didn’t open the lock.
BBQ in Weston
Finally on the road, heading toward Fort Leavenworth to find the Buffalo Soldiers Museum. First stop: barbecue.
Broccoli salad with sunflower seeds, a little purple onion, and dried cranberries. So good.
As we turned to leave Weston, I spotted this set of signs. My favorite: Beers to You. You had to look closely to find the Police Station. And the murals here were beautiful — the jail?
On the way out of town, signs marked that we were following the Lewis and Clark Trail — the same path pioneers would later follow to forge the Oregon Trail. I’m shooting from the window and don’t always get to the camera in time!
Fort Leavenworth
We followed directions to the Buffalo Soldiers Museum — but when we arrived, the visitor center looked like a DMV office on the inside. Turns out they were screening everyone going into Fort Leavenworth — the federal prison. IDs checked, questions asked. All just to enter the area, not necessarily the prison itself.
But now, when you hear that someone is in Leavenworth, you’ll have a picture of what it looks like.
Driving around the area, you can see why some settlers chose to stop here. Lots of green grass.
Curious ads along the road — I tried to look it up but nothing matched.
The First Official Caravan Night
In the evening, all caravan members met at a local restaurant for dinner. Chicken fried steak portions filled the plate — I had enough left over for two more meals. And the cinnamon biscuits!!! We all walked away already looking forward to breakfast with one of those biscuits and a hot beverage.
Service was great. We exchanged information, met new friends, and sat through an orientation meeting for the trip. These leaders are organized. Every rig received a 2-inch thick binder outlining:
- All the stops along the route
- Jobs along the way and cooking duties
- Descriptions of each stop
- Caravan activities in a yellow box
- A whole chapter on NPS audio tour guides for the places we’ll travel through
Looks like I’ll be doing some studying every night!
Posted at a church today:
Hate divides.
Love unites.