Halstead, Kansas

Left Oklahoma on Monday and spent the week in Kansas outside a small town called Halstead (in the central part of the state). Until we get further north, we are constantly focused on the weather. Unlike California (when you get a fair amount of warning), the weather in these central states can change on a dime. Yes, they try to forecast it, but there is no way they are able to predict actual tornadoes. That's why we keep our NOAA radio on at all times these days. Even though I posted this on FB, here is an example of what I'm talking about.

I captured this on my cell phone on Monday. That was the night our NOAA radio alarm went off every 15 minutes warning us of tornadoes in the area. Luckily, this park also has a couple of storm shelters.

Other than experiencing high winds for a good part of the week, the stay here as been nice. This park, called The Spring Lake RV Resort, is billed as the largest RV park in Kansas. 

The Spring Lake RV Resort in Halstead, Kansas

When we are in a new area, we always ask: "So, what's to see here?" Sometimes our neighbors in the park give us information on what we should see while we are here, and at other times, we just check it out on the internet. In this case, our neighbor told us that we must visit the "health clinic" and the "100 year old hardware store" in Halstead. And that is just what we did on Wednesday. 

First, we visited the Kansas Learning Center for Health

Here, we found a great learning experience about the body -- especially for school-age children. We watched a short movie that discussed the various organs of the body while at the same time observing lights go on in the model designating the organ being described.

With the muscles gone, one is able to see each organ, 

the blood vessels and nerves in the body.

Early orthopedic saws. Ouch!

There were large replicas of various individual 

body parts in the center, also.

Gross! One pound of fat that you will gain if 

you add 500 calories each day for a week.

From there, we found the 

100 year old hardware store. 

Turns out, it is now an 

"antique hardware store." 

Did I mention that Halstead is a very old small town (pop. 1,800)?

When have you last seen a coblestone street?

Wheat Pasta Prima Vera made by Jerry

This Park is loaded with families of geese. 

Some have only two little ones, 

others have five, six or seven.

The basement of that building contains 

one of two storm shelters in this Park.

Just part of this large Park.

A look of our weather earlier this week.

Tomorrow we plan on driving 300 miles into Nebraska -- though still not out of this unpredictable weather pattern. In fact, the prediction is for 25-30 mile an hour winds. We don't like wind!!!!

Have a great week, everyone.