Day 14 – July 2, 2019

The sun crept over the horizon filling the tent with light and warmth. Before long, it was baking like an oven. It was time to break down, breakfast and make a break for the road again.

Topeka, the capital of Kansas, was an hour away. We drove straight to the Capitol just in time for the 11 o’clock tour.

The Capitol recently completed a massive restoration. The plan was to bring the building back to its original glory and it succeeded. Long covered murals were revealed. Replica lighting was recreated to look exactly like the original gas fixtures. Woodworking, marble tile, bronze, and copper surfaces all cleaned up and restored. Even the massive outer dome was scrubbed so that the green oxidation was removed.

We had a terrific tour guide who led us to both chambers of the legislature. They are in session for only 90 days a year. We also saw the governor’s office and the Supreme Court.

Best of all, we saw the famous mural of John Brown, a man who fought to keep Kansas a free state back in the 1820s.

After a quick lunch at the van, we returned to the Capitol for the dome tour.

The dome tour was incredible. We started with 7 in our group. The tour began on the fifth floor. Our tour guide warned us we would be traversing several hundred stairs, most of them steep and narrow, to reach the top.

We climbed to the eighth floor at the base of the inner dome. The inner dome is purely ornamental.

Once above the inner dome, there is an eight story climb to get to the top of the outer dome. The area between the inner and outer domes was described as an attic. We lost a couple of fellow tourists at this point.

The temperature outside was 90 degrees. You can probably imagine how hot it was in the attic.

We then started the most perilous part of the tour. And we lost another tourist. Then there were four: Ashley, Kathy, me, and some other guy.

The final climb is like a kind of thrill attraction. So narrow. So steep. And nothing underneath.

A long bridge, followed by a spiral staircase and finally a door the opens to the cupola.

We were now 25 stories up. The view of Topeka seemed nearly endless. And the fresh air was much needed.

Ashley was a little sick before the tour but she decided to tough it out. We were all rewarded with a feeling of accomplishment. I don’t have fear of heights, but I have to admit I was a little scared.

After we climbed down, Ashley got her mojo back in time for our next stop.

Less than a mile from the Capitol is Monroe Elementary School. This was a segregated black school during the Jim Crow Era. This school was the focal point of the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education. It is now a National Historic Site administered by the National Park Service.

We watched some videos and checked out the exhibits while Ashley completed her Jr. Ranger booklet. Soon she had pocketed badge number 4 for the trip.

Our final destination was a campground north of Kansas City, Missouri. It’s a very nice place and just $18 per night.

The campsite is near a lake and a wooded area, and it is extremely beautiful.

Ashley and I took a twilight walk to the shore. Ashley found a firefly and then hundreds of fireflies. She was so excited. They were easy to catch. So she captured a few and released them.

We are clearly in the hot and humid part of the trip. I will have to stop mentioning it because I expect this is how it’s going to be for a while.

We got down to our air mattresses. The air was still and wet. There was not a cloud in the sky. No way will we get any rain tonight. I decided not to stake down the rain fly.