5-15-2024
H: 76°F L: 57°F
Fairway RV Park, Ellsworth, Kansas

We went to Wilson, KS, the Czech Capital of Kansas. We saw the World’s Largest Hand-Painted Czech Egg. It’s 20 feet high and 15 feet wide.

Next we stopped at a store which sells art, crafts, and food items from locals. There were Wizard of Oz statues outside.

Then we went to Lucas, KS which has a large grassroots art scene. Grassroots Art is defined as:

“Grassroots art is created by self-taught individuals, usually during their retirement years. Often driven by a vision, they work for many years creating an environment which is meant to be viewed as a whole. Many times the artist is inspired by seemingly useless recycled items. These environments are difficult to preserve and often deteriorate or are dismantled when the artist dies.” -Grassroots Art Center

Quirky and super creative type of art is what we found. We went to the Worlds Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. This fun museum is free and was started by Erika Nelson, an artist who offers her services to towns looking to create a world’s largest thing or other roadside attraction to attract visitors.

Next we explored the public restrooms in Lucas. The building is shaped like a giant toilet. There is a giant roll of toilet paper outside and the inside is covered in mosaics.

Art was everywhere in this town!

We also walked to Garden of Eden which was created by Civil War veteran S.P. Dinsmoor from 1904-1928. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The most interesting fact about this place is S.P. Dinsmoor’s body is on display in a glass coffin in a mausoleum he built on the property.

4-16-2024
H: 76ºF L: 56ºF
Fairway RV Park, Ellsworth, Kansas

We drove to Cawker City, KS and on the way there saw an old limestone house with a rusted windmill surrounded by wind turbines.

We went to Cawker City to see… The World’s Largest Ball of Twine! I wasn’t the only one excited to see it (Daniel had mediocre interest) because we saw a constant stream of people during the hour we were in the town. When we first started talking about taking Our Epic Trip, I said I wanted to see quirky things like the biggest ball of yarn so imagine how excited I was to find the World’s Largest Ball of Twine!

It actually has an interesting back story. In 1953, local resident Frank Stoeber had extra twine which he intended to gather and burn. Instead, he rolled the twine in a ball and didn’t stop until it was as big as his barn door. The ball of twine was placed on display in Cawker City in 1961 and in 1973 was awarded the World’s Largest by Guinness Book of World Records. In 1978, a man from Minnesota contested the World’s Largest title and won. In 1982, the annual Twine-a-Thon was started to regain the title. Visitors to Cawker City can add their own piece of twine making this an ever growing ball of twine and allowing visitors to be a part of history.

While getting coffee, we learned from a local man that his mother runs the store where you can get a free piece of twine to add to the ball; however, the store was closed during our visit because his mother was coordinating food for a funeral. He said he has seen the ball of twine in Minnesota and that it’s not made of pure sisal twine like Cawker City’s ball. We detected some rivalry.

Interesting fact about Cawker City: The town was founded by four men who played a poker game to see who the town would be named after.

On the way home, we learned of the passing of Daniel’s Uncle Al. Daniel really admired Al and we were planning on camping in Lake Tahoe near his house in October to spend some time with him and his wife, Darlene. We are still planning on visiting Darlene.

5-17-2024
H: 87°F L: 54°F
Double D RV Park, Park, Kansas

It’s a travel day! We traveled west to spend one last night in Kansas before heading into Colorado. Our campground is in the middle of nowhere in the tiniest little town. There was free laundry so we took advantage of that and washed everything we could find. We met a man in the laundry room who is from South Africa and here on a work visa for nine months. He works at a local farm.

Stats

Expenses:

• Tow vehicle fuel: $0
• Campsite: $115
• Camping memberships: $11.19
• Food: $5

Miles driven: 398.6 (202.8 kWh)

Number of people asking about the Tesla pulling the camper: 0

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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