5-6-2024
H: 71°F L: 54°F
Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, Kansas
Another day in paradise, another tornado watch – although we only saw a few storm clouds.
5-7-2024
H: 80°F L: 46°F
Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, Kansas
We got some bad news today – we have to take our tent down because of state ordinance at the state fairgrounds.
We ended our day with a drink at a local dive bar and talked to some locals about the area.
5-8-2024
H: 77°F L: 53°F
Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, Kansas
We explored Wichita today. We started by exploring The Village, the steampunk art of Gary Pendergrass which he has displayed in the side yard of his house. He welcomes visitors and it’s free. Wow, we loved how he turned ordinary items into art!
Next we went to see The Troll and The Keeper of the Plains. The Troll was installed by a local artist to encourage a more walkable city. It is on a nice trail next to a river.
We got some groceries at Costco (we can not have enough organic no salt seasoning!) and then we got vegan soft serve ice cream at Sunflower Cafe & Collective. They had a lot of different toppings (all vegan). The co-owner started VegFest in Kansas.
5-9-2024
H: 76°F L: 50°F
Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, Kansas
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise.
We stopped at a thrift store named Two Old Cranks. I found a cute dress and Daniel got to talk to the lady at the desk about being vegan.
5-10-2024
H: 78°F L: 50°F
Kansas State Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, Kansas
We visited Strataca today. It is a salt mine which has been in operation since 1923 and has 150 miles of tunnels. The salt was found by a man drilling for oil. This deposit of salt goes all the way to New Mexico. The mine is still in operation today but mostly pulls out salt used on roads.
We took a double-decker hoist down a 650 foot shaft to the mine. We enjoyed a museum on the history of the salt mine. There are also some movie memorabilia on display because a large portion of the old mined areas are used for secure storage by Underground Vault & Storage which has been in operation since 1959.
We took a tour of an area mined in the 1940s and 1950s. They left their trash down there because the hoist they used was so tiny they didn’t have room to take it back to the top. There are old dynamite boxes which they used to make walls to block off some of the shafts so they could direct the flow of fresh air being piped into the mine.
This mine is where Virgbacillus sp. 2-9-3 was found. It is possibly the oldest living organism on earth – 250 million years old!
The US government was interested in using this mine to store nuclear waste so they did a study of how fast the mined area fills in. This mine closes at 1 inch every 500 years. That wasn’t fast enough to store nuclear waste so the government chose a mine in New Mexico which closes at a rate of 1 inch every 4 years.
We had a great time and spent 3.5 hours down in the mine.
Stats
Expenses:
- Tow vehicle fuel: $0
- Campsite: $150
- Camping memberships: $18.65
- Food: $397.76
Miles driven: 291.4 (154.8 kWh)
Number of people asking about the Tesla pulling the camper: 0
Contact Happy Vegan Campers!
Happy Vegan Campers are traveling the country and building a passive house! Any suggestions on places we should visit or questions about our house? Love our recipes? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment at the bottom of the page or send us an email: happyvegancampers@gmail.com
