Westward Ho trip; Ogalla, Kansas

My next planned stop of my "Westward Ho" trip was the Cedar Bluff Conservation Area near Ogalla, Kansas.

I knew this dispersed campground would be hard to find. It was down several back roads and none of them were identified on my map, or the map I downloaded on line. 

Why do some maps give the number of the road, but when you get there, all the street signs give a name? 

With my amazing sense of direction, one or two wrong turns, and pure blind luck, I managed to find it, along with a couple of abandoned houses and a cool old church. 

Somehow, I didn't notice that is an old railroad stock car being used as a shed until I was editing the photos!

I finally find the campground and it was a nice wide area overlooking a lake.

Too bad the yahoos that were here last left such a mess. Trash is strewn all over the place. 

I didn't think to take a photo until after I had picked up most of it.

It’s too nice a site to just leave, so I pick up about 20 mountain dew cans, various paper trash, and a bunch of firewood logs strewn about the place. All the trash that was burnable went into the fire pit that was still smoldering and hot enough to catch fire within seconds of dropping trash into it. Smoky the Bear would not be happy.

As I am picking all this up, I also notice half cooked hot dogs all over the place. Must have been one big food fight. It’s not until just before I settle in that I start to see several places where someone lost their cookies. And I don’t mean the kind that come in a box.

Fortunately none of those spots are too close to where I had parked.

I munch some snacks while sitting on the tailgate and watched a glorious sunset over a lake with ominous dead trees rising up from the surface.  

Next Blog; Heading for Colorado.

The Halloween Nut

Yes, I confess. I am a Halloween nut.
I have been for a very long time. 

I’ll save the history of HOW it all began for another time.

This time I want to share some of the props that have been added to “the collection” over the years.

When I first became interested in Halloween beyond the “let’s throw on a costume and fill pillowcases full of candy” phase, there wasn’t a Halloween store in every empty building in town.  If you were lucky there was a Kresges, or similar department store nearby. It was the only place where you could buy a hard plastic mask with an elastic strap.  If you wanted anything beyond that, you had to MAKE it. That should give you an idea of how long I have been a Halloween Nut.

These are some of things I made for Halloween. I’ll start off with the stuff we used this year. The idea this year was to make scenes that people could step into and have their photo taken, or take a selfie.

Frankenbabies! This years theme was BABIES since the Halloween Party was also the gender reveal of my oldest sons baby

photo in a coffin

graveyard scene

wolfman photo op in use

Of course there is a working electric chair. A flip of the switch starts flashing lights around the chair, a loud buzzer and a strobe light. Loud and fun!

The dungeon door. Added this door to the "Chapel of Love" styrofoam rock arch.

Krazy Klown Kar.

Monster Under the steps scene one

Monster under/ at top of steps scene two

Witches helper scene

Skeletal Mom

 

Some Wedding Themed Scenes

Styrofoam Chapel of Love arch; "Till death do us part!"

Wedding Congratulations Halloween style

Wedding in the graveyard

 

And some miscellaneous other props used through the years.

Ya gotta have a graveyard fence...and a gate.

Haunted house front: About 10' high and 12' wide.

Graveyard Golf

Operational guillotine. A light shines on the head of the victim (any willing party goer). When the blade comes down (with a loud bang) that light goes off and another light shines on the body. The effect is that the persons head disappears in the shadows. You then pull a head from a basket and hold it up. This one requires an operator. We have to actually strap peoples arms down, because the tendency is to throw your hands up to stop the blade. This one is scary-especially after you have heard it come down!

Some early styrofoam headstones. Made before you could buy them at the local Spirit store

A fancy casket. Always meant to add motion to his one. Both lids open.

An old style casket. Originally from a stage prop for a Frigidaire sales meeting Circa 1977 or so.

casket ground breaker. styrofoam headstones behind

Pumpkin head. Freestanding. About 7' tall.

A nod to Tom Hanks in "Big". Originally made for the Carnival of Death themed party

Fluffy! About 4' tall with pose-able arms and legs. Carved out of rigid foam with wood arms and legs.

Giant spider. About 8' wide. 2" PVC pipe with trash bag body. This one has reflectors for eyes. I later added eyes made from plastic glasses and added tea lights in them.

We also did a "Carnival of Death" themed party with games for the kids, but I think this is enough photos for one blog.

What are some of your favorite Halloween decorations?