I had to visit the Cosmodrome, in Hutchinson, KS, just because it has the coolest name. Took I-135 down to Rt. 50W, to Hutchinson. Paid $5 for the main admission.
At 3PM was the Robert Goddard demo, where a woman described the life and times of Robert Godard. Lots of pyrotechnics, and much stuff with Liquid Oxygen. Damn, that's some cool stuff. I should employ that in my TA classes. Especially at 8 in the morning.
The museum itself documented the history of the space program, starting with WW2 developments, and then the cold war. It was pretty damn interesting, especially how the wartime efforts spurred on some of the best research of the space program. I also didn't realize that we inherited alot of the German's rocket technology with which to kickstart our own rocket program.
The cosmodrome holds the actual Apollo 13 LEM, which was from the ill-fated lunar attempt. Here's a picture of the module.
Here's a shot of the Soviet Vostok II module, which was not only one of the
first modules to carry humans into space, but also allowed the first EVA
(Extra-Vehicular Activity, or Spacewalk) through the small airlock coming
out of the right-side of the module.
Left Hutchinson around 7PM, took Rt. 50 W. I wanted to camp at Hain St. Fishing Lake, but wasn't too sure where it was. Got directions at a local Coastal station, and also had to ask some locals in a farmhouse as I got nearer. Finally found it, and the lake park wasn't really a park, but more of a dirt road that led around a small lake. A sign said "Camping in Designated Areas Only", but there were no designated areas.
This is the part where everything went wrong. Thunderstorms were closing in at a distance. Many parts of the road weren't really a road, but just two dirt tire tracks, with lots of brush in-between. My little Honda was barely able to stay on the road. I found a small place by the water, and tried to setup camp. The wind was blowing REALLY strongly, and I had to load the tent down with some heavy things to keep it from blowing away. Finally got the tent set up (it was hard to hold the flashlight, keep the tent from blowing away, and set up it up all simultaneously). Tried to cook chili, but the wind kept blowing the stove light out. Thought about cooking it in the car, but I somehow lost the lighter outside. So I just ate cold chili from the can.
I tried to sleep in the tent, but the wind kept flailing like it was going to blow me away. Lightning was too damn distracting, too. I started to wonder if maybe I should go somewhere Eventually I heard a huge clap of thunder as a tree a few hundred feet distant got struck by lightning. I then frantically broke down the tent, threw everything in the car. It started to pour hard, and I feared getting stuck there in the mud, so I drove back to the road. I tried to sleep there in my car, but the constant flashes of lightning were too distracting (and also way too cool to look at to make me want to sleep).
Eventuall around 3AM, I drove back to the Coastal gas station to try to sleep there. Luckily, they had a trucker lounge, where I fell asleep on a couch, wrapped in a blanket, with a TV showing the Weather Channel. I fell asleep to severe thunderstorm warnings that were being reported on the Weather Channel for the area.
| Location | Spearville, KS |
| Odometer | 133,928.5 Miles Total 5,174.8 Miles On Trip 219.2 Miles Today |
| Coordinates | 37° 51.363' N 99° 45.151' W |