Wednesday, 18 May
Journey to Longview Lake Campground
We set out around 1 PM for a pre-trip camping exercise at Longview Lake Campground. The goal was to ensure our trailer was in working order and that we had packed all the essentials for camping.
Located within a county park surrounding the man-made Longview Lake reservoir, the campground offered a peaceful setting. However, none of the campsites were near the water. Since we arrived midweek, we had our pick of several full hookup sites—a nice perk for a trial run.
Our journey wasn’t without its hiccups. The Garmin GPS listed several “Longview Lake Campgrounds,” and I must have chosen the wrong one. It led us straight into a new subdivision, two miles off course. Attempting to reroute, the GPS suggested a convoluted 10-mile loop around the lake. Thankfully, Google Maps saved the day with a more direct 1.8-mile route. While Google Maps can sometimes lead travel trailers onto tricky paths, this time it worked out, and we safely reached the campground
Longview Campground
At the entrance gate, we were surprised to find an attendant on duty—a rarity for a public campground during the week. They checked us in quickly, handing us a map, a car pass, and the gate code. Our designated site, #65, was a 40-foot gravel lot with full hookups.
While our site lacked shade—something I could have checked on Google Earth before booking—many others in the campground offered plenty of tree cover. The site was inclined but level from side to side and wide enough (about 20 feet) to accommodate backing in the trailer. Maneuvering around a small tree across the road added a bit of a challenge, but we parked successfully with patience and a few adjustments.
Lee’s Summit
We quickly set up camp and discovered that the beer in our cooler was not cold yet, so we decided to go into Lee’s Summit, about 4 miles away, and visit a brewery or two. Downtown Lee’s Summit is a very nice area that stacks up well against most of the tourist towns we have visited. It was full of restaurants, bars, boutiques, and other small shops. Though it was fairly busy, we were able to find a parking spot near our first brewery.
Fringe Beerworks
The Fringe Beerworks is a small brewery decorated with a circus theme. We sat at the bar and ordered a flight of five beers: Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Wheat (fruited wheat beer), Blonde Doc Myers Snake Oil (American IPA), Oh My G.L.O.B. – Gorgeous Ladies of Brewing (New England IPA), Chocolate Banana Porter, The Bearded Lady (Nut Brown Ale). We found all the beers very watered down and especially found the Oh My GLOB disgusting. After paying our bill, we walked through the back area of the bar, which had some more circus decorations, yard games, and a small patio area. I like the brewery itself, but not their beers.
Smoke Brewing Company
We then walked a few blocks through town to the Smoke Brewing Company. This brewery was more of a nice BBQ restaurant that brewed its beers. We ordered a flight of their beers: Citrus Obscura (Imperial IPA), Shelter in Haze (New England IPA), Keltic Kross (Irish Red Ale), Kali Kolsch, and Dark Czech Lager. Their beers were much better, though neither of us liked the Kolsch. Since it was happy hour, we also got a pretzel with beer cheese, but the pretzels were more like twisted bread dough. After paying our bill, we headed to the back, where they had a lovely patio. We were able to walk directly to the parking lot from there.
Evening
When we returned to the campground, we relaxed under our awning, which did not provide any shade because of the low afternoon sun. We started up the charcoal grill at about 6 pm, and maybe because the briquets were old and possibly damp because they had been sitting in the basement for years, they were very smoky and did not put out much heat. We eventually got some burgers and corn-on-the-cob cooked and went inside to watch some Netflix before heading to bed.
Thursday, 19 May
In the morning, I enjoyed my coffee and a chocolate chip muffin. I had recently installed dimmer switches for the overhead lights, and in the early morning hours, it is nice not to have that bright light.
Longview Lake Kayaking
We decided to drive around the lake and look for a launch site for our inflatable kayak. After going around the lake and stopping at various points, we returned to Mouse Creek Boat Launch after lunch.
For lunch, we had some watermelon and hot dogs and read online the fascinating story of Longview Farms, where the lake and campground were located.
We returned to the boat launch after lunch and the weather was warm with a little overcast and slight wind. We had a packed cooler with drinks and enjoyed paddling around the lake for several hours.
Evening
We had not used our inflatable kayak for over a year, and it was quite dirty, so I decided to give it a good scrubbing when we got back. Afterward, I started up the charcoal, and we enjoyed some corn-on-the-cob and pork chops.
We then watched Netflix before going to bed.
Friday, 20 May
Jump Back Home
We packed up and left around 9 am under gloomy skies. I flushed our black tank well, and we used a “Camco Flexible Swivel Stik.” We got some rain as we left, but it was an easy drive home.