Fort Collins - 2015 - Travel Day

Well, today has had some great things as well as some disappointments.  We left about 8 am.  Our first stop was a picnic breakfast at the rest stop between Topeka and Manhattan.  We could have stopped somewhere else but I didn't want to get started on fast food too early in the trip.  We had a Fiber One breakfast bar, strawberry tube yogurt (Grandson didn't like it because it wasn' GoGurt. Oh well, we liked it.), half a banana, and either orange or tomato juice.  A pretty decent breakfast picnic. We stood knowing we were going to be in the car for a period of time today.

Next stop was Mushroom State Park.  The rocks were fascinating.  Not as many as I thought there would be.  We had to drive 1.5 miles on gravel road.  My husband loves me lots because he was willing to do that in our bucket list car.

Even though I included quite a few photos, we were not at Mushroom State Park very long.  Maybe 20 minutes.  

From here we headed on down the road to find a place for lunch.  I hate to admit it but food on a trip is fairly important to me.  We decided that we would arrive in Hays about lunch time.  I consulted Trip Advisor and decided that their number restuarant choice sounded very good.  It was Gella's Diner and Lb. Brewing Co..  We ordered smothered bierocks and their homemade root beer.  I must admit, very tasty.  

From here we headed to Castle Rock and Monument Rocks in Gove County.  We headed to Castle to discover that we would have to travel at 15 miles on gravel road.  Neither one of us was willing to do that.  On to Monument Rocks.  Same thing although less mileage but 5 or 6 miles.  Just not worth getting all those rock chips on our car.  Headed to Oakley and our reservation at the Sleep Inn.

Sleep Inn is very nice.  I believe it is fairly new.  Actually, I am quite surprised.  Not a lot of people here but it is Sunday night and this is Oakley, Kansas.

Once again, we chose to eat at the number 1 restaurant according to Trip Advisor, Cap'n Jack's Pub.  It is associated with High Plains RV camp.  It is where you can go to eat fish in the middle of the plains.  We ordered a meal that had fried calamari, fried cod, fried shrimp, and fries.  I thought it was terrific.  I really wanted  to try the crab cakes which is their specialty but it was just too much food.  James and I shared this and it was the perfect amount.  I would certainly recommend it as an eating place as you travel through western Kansas.  

Tomorrow we head on to Fort Collins.