Do any of you know of any Wal Marts or rest areas west of KC , Kansas? I am leaving S. Illinois on July,2 and want a 3-4 hour stopping place so that I can get to Estes Park by the afternoon of the 3rd. Any suggestions will place you high on our "if we win the lottery list". Thanks. Popeye.

 

Popeye,<br><br>I can't help you much with info about Kansas, but if you need any local info about the Estes Park area, I might be able to help. Grew up 20 minutes down from Estes and still live within an hour of there.<br><br>You can easily find all the Wal-Marts in Kansas from www.walmart.com. Just fooling around, I found them in Goodland, Colby, Topeka and Salina among others. Salina would probably be pretty close to half way for you. <br><br>Here are some zip codes you can use to search.<br>Goodland 67735<br>Salina 67401<br>Topeka 66611

 

Goodland is camper friendly, might be a little far. There is a nice city operated lake at Topeka. Lake Shawnee has hook-ups and nice grounds, if you'd want to stay. We've stayed there a few times. Check it out here. There are rest stops by Topeka and Salina, I think. THECATSFAN - are you talking about Loveland? That's where I was raised, have lived here since '77. Popeye, the fireworks in Estes are great. You could go over Trail Ridge to Grandby and see an awesome show there too. It's a little tough getting out, pretty crowded. You've got a good year to come out. The grass and trees in the mountains are really green. We had a good Spring. It had been too dry the last few years. We couldn't do campfires last year. Have a safe trip!

 

Wheezer,<br><br>Yes, I am from Loveland. I was born in Boulder, but moved to Loveland at the ripe age of 5 and lived there for 29 years. I moved to my wife's home town of Windsor a few years ago - a whole ten minutes from Loveland now.<br><br>I even worked in Estes Park as a ski instructor for a couple years. Spent a lot of time up there.

 

Sounds sort of familiar. We moved to Loveland a week before my 5th birthday. Mom and Dad have moved to Windsor. I worked in Estes for a couple of summers at Safeway. Graduated from LHS in '90. Working in Timnath, at Walker Mfg. Sort of miss Hidden Valley.

 

Popeye I work in KC and live southwest of KC in a little town called Pomona. There is a camper friendly Walmart in Ottawa but that is going to be too far for you to go I would think. Ottawa is about 60 miles from the I-70 I-35 exchange to the southwest. If you can push on past KC and make it to Abiline you can find several places to park your camper for the night. Abiline is about another 2 hours on west of KC on I-70<br>I dont know about staying in Topeka unless you stay at one of the lakes such as wheezer mentioned.

 

If you are just looking for a quick place to catch some zzz's and not really setup camp I-70 through Kansas has rest areas about every 50 miles or so and are usually pretty nice and most are well lit. I make the drive from KC to Denver frequently. If you can get west of Topeka it will save you some traffic in the morning. Their is a Walmart in Topeka, maybe Salina not positive, and one in Hays.

 

If you can make it to Hays KS there is a large Walmart just off I70 that is open 24hrs. They LIKE RV's!!!<br><br>Robin

 

You almost need to go as far as Topeka if for no other reason than to get off the toll road which the I70 portion ends at Topeka. It seems to me that if your toll ticket is what they call 'excessively long' transit time, they charge you more. I don't know, it's been a long time since I travelled that road.<br><br>Anyway, there is a Hypermart (which is nothing more than a glorified Walmart) on the west end of Topeka, I want to say on Wannamaker Road. It is in a district which has a mall and a bunch of other shops so there is a lot of parking. Very close by is a museum owned by the State. I'm sure you could stay there if you're only catching some rest. I don't know if there are hookups there or not.

 

If you're going to be there during daylight hours, I'd be tempted to go to the Cabela's near the Kansas Speedway. Lots of parking, and you could easily spend a couple hours going through that store. I-70 and I435. Cabela's has a couple of restaurants in it, plus there's a hotel or two nearby that I'm sure have food as well.

 

<br>popeye, <br><br>Try these Wal-Marts west of KC on I-70 I-470 (bypass):<br>Topeka, KS I-470. Exit 1 RV Parking, 613 miles to Estes Park, CO<br>Colby, KS I-70, Exit 53 RV Parking, 306 miles to Estes Park, CO<br><br>Locations and mileage courtesy of 'AAA Map 'n Go&quot;.

 

I've made many trips across I-70 and have stopped for rest and overnight at a number of the Kansas rest areas. They are nice and clean and well lit. I've also stayed at Wal-Mart in Hays, Ks.; it was a pleasant stay.<br><br>Stan