Beloit, Kansas to La Cygne, Kansas

We left Beloit thinking how lucky we were to find such a beautiful spot...and free. Rather than to retrace our route back to Hwy 36, we decided to meet up with US Hwy 24 a few miles out of town and head east. We're glad we decided to take the "old" US Highways...a great way to see the country. Very little traffic, great scenery and we could go at our own pace. The sad part, however, is that where the Interstates were built far away from the US Hwy route, small towns on the old highways deteriorate. We saw many such examples...boarded up motels, shops and gas stations where once thriving businesses once catered to tourists on once busy highways. We turned off US 24 and headed south on US 81. We were surprised by the rolling hills as we had thought of Kansas as mostly flat terrain. We made our way to Lenexa, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City for gas at Costco ($2.39/gal). Yes, you probably guessed it...we had a premium ice cream bar with chocolate and rolled in almonds at the food court there. Heading south on US Hwy 69 dusk was rapidly approaching. Richard pulled out his Guide to Free Campgrounds and found one just a couple of miles off the highway. We pulled in and were once again amazed at our good fortune. Linn County Park in La Cygne, Kansas was a huge park, very wooded, large open grass areas and right on a lake. In the morning, we went for a 30 minute run with Tinsel. It was quite warm already so Richard decided he and Tinsel would cool off in the lake. But cool water it wasn't. We think the water temperature was close to 90 degrees! Soon, a park ranger drove up in his truck and informed us that swimming in the lake was not allowed. At that moment we realized why the lake water was so warm....there was a huge coal fired power station located across from where we were swimming. After further consideration, we were relieved it wasn't a nuclear plant.