"The Strange Grave of John Milburn Davis"

   Roadside America is a very cool enterprise that publishes a book/website providing descriptions of and directions to odd and unusual locales along the highways and byways of our great country. We have the book (and access to the website, of course) and have made use of it several times during our many excursions. There are several such "curiosities" dotting the landscape along Kansas' Rt.36 - along which we motored today. 

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   John Milburn Davis loved his wife very much. So grief stricken was he upon her demise that he commissioned a sculptor to create life-size marble likenesses of himself and his dearly departed wife of 50 years, Sarah, at different stages of their life together. The final scene is of John seated beside "The Vacant Chair" where Sarah would have sat. Very sad. John was a wealthy man but spent his entire life savings on the creation. Reportedly, his heirs were not amused.  

 

   Mt. Hope Cemetery in Hiawatha, KS is just a few minutes off Rt.36 and well worth the minor detour!     I love this kind of stuff.

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       As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, today's destination was a small town park in Belleville, KS containing a handful of first-come-first-served RV sites. I also mentioned in my previous blog how disappointed we were in Beacon RV Park in St. Joseph where we spent Sunday & Monday nights. As a result, I didn't have very high hopes for Belleville's Rocky Pond Park - but to the degree Beacon fell woefully short of expectations, Rocky Pond Park far exceeded them. It's a beautiful little park on a lovely little duck and pelican inhabited pond. Who would have thought a perfect little RVing oasis such as this existed in a tiny off-the-beaten-path Kansas prairie town?

   There are no attendants. No office or rec hall... just this...

   $20 placed in an envelope and deposited in the slot gets you a very spacious 50 amp, water & sewer equipped overnight parking spot. The website on which I discovered this place stated there was a dump station but that sites were equipped with water & electric only. No sewer. Imagine my delight when I spotted that wonderful 3" metal-flap-covered orifice at the back of our site! It's the little things.

  We like this park so much we've decided to spend 2 nights. Tomorrow we'll take a drive into town to do a little grocery shopping and check things out. Also, there's another Roadside America attraction (oddity) not far down the road that we may investigate.  

  Check back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it. 

  Oh, and I installed a new outlet.