Last night we pulled into what looked like a promising disperse camping site in Nebraska. There was a sign for Bass Strip Camping, perched along a river, all the reviews had been promising too. But, lo and behold, a small, fold wooden bridge sided with rusty metal bars (you know the old, old bridges that all have those geometric rusty or green metal things around them) stood between us and the strip of camping sites we could see from the highway. The sign said “Up to 3 Tons”. Our van alone was 3 tons. Tim was not about to risk sinking the van in a river after everything else we’d been through, so we went back to the gas station to see what the locals had to say.
“I drive my camper across that thing all the time,” said a scruffy looking man in a bandana. “It’ll be fine. My camper would be heavier than yours.” He even offered to come with us after his shift ended, to “be there for us” in case something went wrong. Not sure exactly how bandana man was going to be helpful if our van and camper suddenly broke through a bridge into a river… but it was kind of him to offer. Tim decided to go for a second opinion. This man had never personally gone over it himself with anything our size and he kindly talked through the possibilities with us…. asking us to let him know if we did try to cross bc he wanted to be there to see it. Apparently there’s not much going on around here in Nebraska. But he did assure us that camping on this side of the bridge should be fine. We were deterred by the “No Unauthorized vehicles” sign and the other one about “Beware, animal traps set”. Since I hadn’t seen many other options for camping in the near future, we decided these were the lesser of the two risks and pulled into the strange gravelly area with some kind of fenced in pond in the background. It definitely wasn’t the prettiest spot we’d slept, but it was an upgrade from a well-lit Walmart or rest area where we’d be sandwiched between unfriendly looking semis. It could have been worse.
The next day we had fun planned. Since we are kind of stuck in the Midwest until Saturday morning, we’ve been trying to make our way to our meeting place in Arkansas while also trying to keep everyone happy and cool. It was supposed to be hitting the 100s the further south we went so it seemed like the only thing that made sense was to find a lot of water to play in. After a lot of searching, we discovered a really inexpensive gem in Salina, KS - where we’d stayed in the Tractor Supply parking lot on the way up. It was a bit out of the way from our original trajectory, but bang for your buck, it was worth it. Otherwise the options were $40 a person full blown water amusement park or $7 a person sad little pool with two slides and a kiddie pond. This one hit the price mark of the cheap pools, but had 5 slides, a large kiddie area, a wave pool and a lazy river. It seemed too good to be true, and I wondered if it was severely run down or something, especially considering the appearance of Salina, but it was actually extremely nice. We had a full day of fun and the kids were pleased with the treat.
We also had a really awesome camping spot. I found Ottawa Fishing Lake just outside Salina and it was really beautiful. Tucked away down a dirt road in some really old trees, we had a free spot right on the water, in the shade and all to ourselves. A little breeze off the lake and the wild noise of the cicadas traded for highway noise, it was one of the best spots we’ve found so far! So not what I expected after driving through miles of grassland.
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