[baron100]

2012 Flint Hills Retreat and Discovery

Dates: October 11 – October 15, 2012

Location: Camp Wood, Elmdale, Kansas

All Fiberglass Trailer Owners Invited

This is an opportunity to discover the Kansas Flint Hills & Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve with area experts.

It will not be an annual event.

You are invited to come and just have a Retreat in a scenic special place or participate in events of Discovery of the region.

Scenic roads and trails await you with prairie sunrises and sunsets and coyotes serenading you at night.

Cost is $6 per night per person. $20 minimum

Chuckwagon dinner at Flying W Ranch would be extra. There is some historical significance to this in that Dr Jim Hoy and his son (ranch owner) are related to Charles Goodnight the inventor of the Chuckwagon and one of the most famous cowboys in history.


The Tallgrass Prairie once covered 140 million acres of North America. Within a generation, the vast majority was developed and plowed under. Today less than 4% remains, mostly here in the Kansas Flint Hills.

Dr. Jim Hoy has agreed to speak with our group and share history of the region and cowboy folklore. Jim is a lifetime resident of the Flint Hills and author of numerous books relating to Cowboy Heritage throughout the Flint Hills, including Flint Hills Cowboys, Tales of the Tallgrass Prairie. Dr. Hoy is a professor of English and director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University.

National Park Service Rangers will be available to give guided bus tours of the 11,000 acre Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. Ranger led tours of the historic Spring Hill Ranch will be available and self guided tour brochures are also available.

A chuckwagon dinner and access to trails on the 7,000 acre working Flying W Ranch is being discussed.

Hope to have Annie Wilson and the Tallgrass Express Sting Band perform for our group. Annie and her group perform many of their own original songs written in traditional style about Kansas and the land and life of the Flint Hills.


More on Camp Wood________________________________
-Trailers will be parked in grassy area used for soccer fields
-Shower Building w/stalls
-Water available, limited electrical outlets available nearby
-Large covered outdoor pavilion with tables
-Stone Chapel Building available for increment weather
-Pets on leash and waste picked up
-No open alcohol consumption (be discrete)
-Dumpsite available in Swope Park in nearby Cottonwood Falls
-WiFi

[baron100]

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Back Country Trail






"As to scenery (giving my own thought and feeling), while I know the standard claim is that Yosemite, Niagara Falls, the Upper Yellowstone and the like afford the greatest natural shows, I am not so sure but the prairies and plains, while less stunning at first sight, last longer, fill the esthetic sense fuller, precede all the rest, and make North America's characteristic landscape."–Walt Whitman, Specimen Days (1879)'

I kinda think Walt had it right.

This post has been edited by baron100: 26 October 2011 - 07:02 PM

[travlinbob]

This sounds like it will be a great experience. Count me in.

Bob

[Don in Ut]

Hi Rob
Thanks for the PM. This sounds quite interesting to Betsy and me. This would be a great chance to learn about a very interesting area and renew our friendships with our Kansas friends who have been such a pleasure to have along on our Utah Tours. We hope we can make it.
Don and Betsy

[baron100]

Don, Bob. You are two of the best travel companions a guy could have. Looking forward to the event.

Rob

Don in Ut, on 26 October 2011 - 08:46 PM, said:

Hi Rob
Thanks for the PM. This sounds quite interesting to Betsy and me. This would be a great chance to learn about a very interesting area and renew our friendships with our Kansas friends who have been such a pleasure to have along on our Utah Tours. We hope we can make it.
Don and Betsy

[baron100]

In order to avoid duplicate posting about this event, please refer to the thread on Casita Travel Trailer Forum. Thanks!

CasitaTravel Trailer Forum

This post has been edited by baron100: 27 October 2011 - 04:41 PM

[tjstremel]

This sounds just great - I'm putting it on my calendar!

[baron100]

tjstremel, on 28 October 2011 - 10:40 AM, said:

This sounds just great - I'm putting it on my calendar!

Excellent, it is shaping up to be a great event.. Welcome aboard!

[tedinkc]

This sounds great, I just can't plan that far out. I love the Flint Hill and the area around Cottonwood Falls. I lived in Manhattan, Ks to the north from 10 to 17 and have missed it all these years. I hope we can be a part of this gathering.

Ted

[baron100]

tedinkc, on 04 December 2011 - 02:46 PM, said:

This sounds great, I just can't plan that far out. I love the Flint Hill and the area around Cottonwood Falls. I lived in Manhattan, Ks to the north from 10 to 17 and have missed it all these years. I hope we can be a part of this gathering.

Ted

Ted, hope you can make it and reconnnect with the area. I first discovered Cottonwood Falls driving to spend some time with a friend at K-State in Manhattan. Watch for more postings on the Casita Travel Trailer Forum.

Safe travels,

This post has been edited by baron100: 04 December 2011 - 04:59 PM

[tedinkc]

baron100, on 04 December 2011 - 04:58 PM, said:

tedinkc, on 04 December 2011 - 02:46 PM, said:

This sounds great, I just can't plan that far out. I love the Flint Hill and the area around Cottonwood Falls. I lived in Manhattan, Ks to the north from 10 to 17 and have missed it all these years. I hope we can be a part of this gathering.

Ted

Ted, hope you can make it and reconnnect with the area. I first discovered Cottonwood Falls driving to spend some time with a friend at K-State in Manhattan. Watch for more postings on the Casita Travel Trailer Forum.

Safe travels,

Thanks. I am still connected. I live in Kansas City and over the last 5 years have driven to McPherson, Ks an unknown number of times. 2 of my sons and daughter in law and granddaughter have been living in McPherson while going to college there, not the granddaughter who is just 3. We love the Flint Hills and hope to buy a small piece of land there.

Ted

[baron100]

I will be forever in debt to Verna Kloop for the absolutely stunning art she provided for the Flint Hills event and T-shirts.

Verna took the 4 or 5 pictures I provided her and after several telephone discussions provided her rendition of my vision which greatly exceeded my expectations.

The picture includes the 1881 Spring Hill Ranch that is the showplace of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

I have admired her work for several years. Her folksy, simple, stylish art is a great match for Casita events.

Participants at the event will have some very nice T-shirts to memorialize their attendance.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[travlinbob]

Fantastic art work as always. Bob

[tedinkc]

Cindy and I have been talking about this and we are going to try to make it. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Ted

[baron100]

Updated event information is attached.

Hope those currently traveling are safe from the increment weather.

Good news is tornados are rare in Kansas in October.

Safe Travels, all.

Flint Hills Event Information

This post has been edited by baron100: 15 April 2012 - 01:06 PM