Trips for YouTube Part 4 (I think I'm just collecting vids now...)

The last trip to Kansas I took was a long one. The longest trip I've taken in a while. Turns out, Ritalin was apparently my key to driving success before. Now that I'm no longer taking it, 27 hours in a car is just WAY too much for me. Even two hours from home, I was looking for a hotel! But I did make it home (eventually), although not without some MAJOR issues!

I had everything packed and ready, alarm set, but I hit the snooze way too many times and over slept. So, once again, I didn't get out the door until almost 5:30 am. The road reminded me a lot of driving through Alabama, fog everywhere:

But the towns in Missouri are the same small Southern towns we have just about everywhere here:

The plains did remind me a lot of the movie Twister, even though I was still in Missouri:

I did find one of the few rare bathrooms of the trip a bit on the weird side...it was pretty on the outside, but the inside had this huge exhibit about the history of the plains. Nothing on the inside but toilets and a massive exhibit! I felt weird walking around taking pictures considering it was so close to the bathroom, but oh well!

Bit of backstory, the day before, I got a bit paranoid and checked the air in my tires. They were fine, but I topped them off just to be safe. Now, back to the current location...Ossawatamie, Kansas. By the time I arrived on this road (creepy, right?):

...my tire light was on, my gas light was at --- miles left before I was completely empty (I have NEVER gone that low) and I had no clue where the nearest gas station was! Thankfully, I made it to a gas station, but it was the first gas flub of the day (oh yes, there was more than one). The pumps were labeled so weird, one gold and one yellow, both labeled Octane 87 (which isn't right)! Gold typically means E85, which my vehicle doesn't take, so I crossed my fingers, chose the yellow, and hoped for the best. Whatever it was, it was almost $5.00 a gallon! Regular 87 Octane is about $2.87/81 down here.

On the tire front, I looked at the station, but it was VERY crowded, so I could tell they were OK, I probably just overfilled them (which also causes my light to come on). I thought I'd go back to the other scary road (it was a VERY specific location I wanted to go to), and just let some of the air out, but again, foiled in my plan.

So, where does that brick road in Kansas lead to you ask? Apparently, an old U.S. Postal Service Psychiatric Hospital! Yes, apparently the Postal Service has their own (or had their own) asylums! It is still active, but not in the same capacity. I wanted to go down to this old abandoned bridge called Asylum Bridge (which is where I was going to check my tires), but there were people there. I did get some pictures of the hospital though.

The part of the hospital still active:

By the time I got to Lawrence, Kansas, I think I kind of realized that I'm filming more video than I am taking pictures. I just don't have a lot to show you guys. But honestly, I think I could live there! It was a great little town! This shows NOTHING, but here is the downtown area:

And there was even a purple house just for me (although, in all actuality, I HATE Victorian architecture and probably couldn't live in a 100+ year old house)!

And since I was on a bit of a Supernatural tour, I did also go to Stull Cemetery (and got pictures of it). I went to the other Stull Cemetery too, but I couldn't get close to it because of gates. I didn't take pictures though, only video, but I do have pictures of the "popular" Stull:

Of course, as I got close to Witchita, typical Southern weather popped up:

I wanted to get out and take pictures of the capital, but I was to chicken (shock):

After that, I was headed way out of the way to a place called "the top of the world" (which I couldn't figure out how Kansas, the flattest place in the U.S., could even have), but I found another place that was an overlook of sorts that saved me quite a bit of time, so I stopped. When I pulled in, there was one car, but almost immediately, another car pulled in, two parents and a teenage girl, and they practically ran up on top of me and none of them had masks on! I literally said "WOAH" out loud because the girl was skipping right towards me! I must have said it loud enough because the mom grabbed her daughter and pulled her back. But they still walked right up to the plaque I was reading (there were 12 plaques around the area I was at, they could have picked any of the other 12). I immediately walked to the next plaque, and they followed right behind me! I left the plaque area and headed to the overlook. I had been waiting because the lady that was there when I got there was taking her time enjoying it and I didn't want to interrupt her, so I just stood back until she was done and it was my turn. It wasn't the "top of the world" obviously, but it was a nice view:

Looking back towards the plaque area...the family left and didn't come to the overlook. I don't know why. By the time I had my panic attack when I got back to the car, the parking lot was completely full, but it was already getting full here:

Kansas as a lot of towns named after big cities, but I thought it was neat how Manhattan, Kansas displays their city sign:

Another sign I've been lacking in the photo department, I passed the world's largest ball of some weird kind of twine, but I didn't stop...I need to do better with photos!

By the time I got to the Geographic Center of the U.S., I had to pee REALLY bad. I hadn't seen a bathroom in FOREVER! I also needed gas again, and again, no gas stations! But I decided to go ahead and walk around.

I started to take a lot of pictures, probably the most I'd taken all day, filming all the while, I even posted a selfie to Instagram (yes, you read that right...a selfie...although I was also watching a bug, so I wasn't eyeing the camera right). But then, yet another disaster, I tripped and fell (but hey, I actually took a picture on my way down, so I haven't completely lost the photo gene!). I fell really hard, so I kind of sat there for a minute, gaining my composure, glad no one else was there, and deciding I was done. I got back to the car and realized I had lost my reading glasses, so I had to go back and find them. There was a little chapel there, and you guys know I'm not religious, but I stuck my head in there and said, "hey, go easy on me please, I can't take anymore today, thanks!".

Even though I was low on gas, REALLY had to pee after falling, and had even stepped foot in a church, I still had a bucket list item to cross off...marking off another state on my scratch off map. I was less than 10 miles from Nebraska. Obviously, by the time I got to the sign, there was a truck parked in front of it, so I couldn't stop (shock):

I decided to go the further 2 miles into Red Cloud, Nebraska to see if they had a gas station...they didn't. There was an original Burlington railway station there, but since every side road was gravel and I REALLY had to pee, I gave up on that and turned around, but it was a cute town (I tend to find abandoned towns cute, is that weird?):

I went back to Lebanon, Kansas (another Supernatural fictional town, but a real Kansas town), and this is the weirdest gas story of all. I pulled into the station the wrong way (which I have NEVER done in the history of any automobile I've ever had), so I had to circle around. Then, once again, I ended up pumping $5 gas (even though it was labeled $2.81...I still don't get that). I asked for a receipt, but it didn't give me one, it said I had to go inside to get one, which was fine because I had to pee, but the door was locked! I think I got gas at a closed station! The lights were all off inside, so I have no clue how I was able to pump gas! I took a picture of the pump so I had proof of what I pumped (in case I got ripped off), but me and my full bladder got back in the car and hit the road again).

At this point, I was really done. I spent hours and hundreds of miles looking for a bathroom, only to not finding one, or chickening out at the ones I did find (because they were scary). By the time I got to Kansas City, Missouri (which is a pretty dangerous town), it was night and this was one of the last pictures I took:

What ended up happening, just as the sun was rising, I pulled over on a gravel road and "natured it". I haven't done that since I was a kid! I still don't know how I didn't get caught, but my god did I feel better and I was ready to get home! I even got to lt some of the air of my tires at that point.

All things considered, even though this trip had more bad things happen than the last trip, it was still WAY more enjoyable and I had a good time. I just need to find a better way to sort out bathroom breaks and figure out gas breaks. There are literally hundreds of miles of nothingness in Kansas without gas stations, so I need to remember that for next time!

Before I can go anywhere again though, I have to get my oil changed and get some little things fixed in my car. But I have been taking "after work" trips to local state parks. You guys know I'm terrified of trees, especially forests, but I'm realizing that, after I have a miserable horrible work day, going to a scary place is distracting me from the hell of my day. It's a strange situation, but I've done it like four times now. I'm filming it, but I keep forgetting my camera. I probably should carry my old point and shoot in my purse for such occasions, so I can at least still take pictures.

Anyway, these are the four big trips I've taken so far. I'm planning a huge trip to Massachusetts in the fall, but I have a few others in the works as well. I just have to get my car worked on first. I have to keep it in tip-top shape so I don't get stranded in the middle of nowhere (because I often really end up there!).

Thanks again guys for all your support, and hopefully I can edit these and have enough of a stash built up because, since I don't get to travel that often, I won't be able to keep a routine YouTube schedule on what little bit I have so far anyway, and they say the key to success is a routine schedule.