CLINTON LAKE AND STATE PARK NEAR LAWRENCE, KANSAS and REUTER'S ORGAN COMPANY

We took a day off from travel today and Gary always finds something that we can do.
We arrived at Clinton Lake State Park near Lawrence KS on Tuesday, July 21st (It sure reminds us of West Branch in Ohio)!!  Very nice and big lots.  Too bad we are not staying longer here as it would be a great place to relax.
We sat here in late afternoon yesterday after setting up home (put all slides out this stop)  and what scenery from the window and door!!

I do believe that they could tell when we made any movement behind the window, as they finally left in a hurry.

As usual, Gary found something for us to see in Lawrence.  So we are running about on Wednesday morning.  We've always been fascinated, even though we are not musically inclined, with the organs at Pizza and Pipes in Florida and Organ Stop in Arizona.  So we stopped at Reuter Organ Company here in Lawrence KS where the finest organs are made today with modern technology and old-world craftsmanship.  They also restore/repair.  They will take you through their plant. Awesome!!
They started the business in 1917 in downtown Lawrence in an empty warehouse when asked by the elders of the town to stay.  In later years they moved from downtown to this industrial park.   They employ 30 to 35 people.

Router used for the fancy work on the wood cabinets.

Ingots they make in their own furnace,
of zinc and lead.

He is soldering tubes for the pipes.

This gal was willing to smile for the camera
with her wiring components in her hands.

Gary is eating up all the mechanical
details that Dave was willing to share on our tour.

What we can not see, when the organ is being played.
The stage is too far away.

A cutaway display of  the organ pipes.

Now we are in Dave's domain where he tests
as it is assembled.

Different pipes for different instrument sounds.

Rolls of sheet metal before it is used to form the pipes.
The pipes can be made of zinc/lead, copper, or plain zinc.

This organ is ready to be reinstalled in it's home church
somewhere in Texas, but the church is not ready yet.

Here we meet John at work when we find out
that he tests them when finished.

It was a great tour and we were so glad that we made the trip into Lawrence, only a few miles.

When signing the guest book at the front desk, we noticed a familiar name from across the street in our old neighborhood on Goshen Road in Ohio. They no longer live there, but we felt that it is the fellow who toured the plant just yesterday.  Shame we weren't a day sooner.  He now lives in Middletown Ohio, so will check it out.  Tim and Victor played together many, many times, especially through the lower grades. It sure proves over and over to be a small world!

Leaving Reuter, we still had to find a post office to mail an envelope and in the process we checked out downtown's Massachusetts St.  It is a beautiful and interesting town. Hope to come back again another day.

On our return to the campground,  we drove around the campground and the lake and took a few pictures to share also.

We drove through the other campground within the park and guess what we saw!  Mamma!!

So pretty!!!

Another fun day.  Take care and God Bless.  Maybe in the next Blog I will show you a couple interesting pictures of a tow bar that we had to replace.