Abilene, Kansas

After visiting the Presidential Center, it was time to get a feel for Abilene. In walking around and talking to folks in the stores and on the street, we found it to be a very friendly town and one that seems to be doing very well. We noticed that all the stores were occupied and selling items that you might need on a daily basis. One of the store owners indicated that they worked hard to keep Wal-Mart out of the area, which allows the rest of the town to stay in business. We have certainly seen many small towns in various stages of decline, at least sometimes due to the mega stores moving in. One of the stages of decline includes stores selling only antiques, gifts and other things that are not used regularly-followed by many to all store fronts empty.

We wandered the town looking for signs of the early frontier days. These were easily found in historic plaques and monuments. The town was in the right place at the right time. After the end of the Civil War, huge herds of cattle were left on the Texas plains without demand. The railroad was just coming into town from the east and a stockman in Chicago believed that there was a market for these cattle in the east and that the cattle in Texas could be driven north to the railhead in Abilene. So the Chisholm Trail became the route to push cattle to Abilene and over the next five years over a million head of cattle arrived in Abilene.

Abilene became the first of the Wild West cattle towns made famous by all those Hollywood movies. The town became rowdy and uncontrolled with several town marshals being driven out. Wild Bill Hitchcock brought some level of peace thru very violent means.

There was an attraction that attempted to show what life in the early days was like, but failed to make it financially. We were able to visit what was left and you still came away with a feeling of life in the “old west”

What saved the town after the end of the cattle drives was the discovery that the soil in the area was perfect for growing wheat and a new era of prosperity began. There are a number of mansions in the town, mostly built by bankers and doctors in the late 1800’s. One of them is the Kirby House which is now a restaurant. We checked it out and thought it would make a good place for lunch. Unfortunately, as it turned out, we got some local knowledge advice about the Hitchin post cafe as a place all the locals eat. So we went there instead. I can only say that once we were done, Anneke needed some antacids real quick. Our friend, George in Miami, sent some advice to eat at the Kirby house, but since I am a bit behind in my blogs, it arrived too late for Anneke’s digestive system.

President Eisenhower Center

On 8 May we finished all the work on the motorhome and started our trek west towards Colorado Springs. We wanted to travel at a relatively fast pace for two or three days so we would have some layover days available should spring storms cross our path in the grasslands. So we made quick overnight stops in Marshall, IL, and Higginsville, MO. The third day we hit Abilene, Kansas and we decided to stay two nights to visit this once famous western town and the President Dwight Eisenhower Center.

The Eisenhower Center is in the center of town and contains the presidential library, museum, boyhood family home, and meditation chapel where President Eisenhower and his wife are interned. The museum is large and contains a great deal of information on his life and times. Many hours could be spent here by those who want to read every piece of information available. For those of us of a certain age, we have heard the many stories of his leadership during WWII, and as the first president we really remember from our youth. He died in 1969, just as I was graduating from college.

One interesting part of the exhibit was the gifts from foreign heads of state. Of course, all were meant to be elaborate and reflect the culture of the country, such as the desk inlaid with ivory and gold from the Shah of Iran with symbols of Islam. The ones I found a bit amusing were the gifts from those who were royalty, who presented framed pictures of themselves.

The picture you get of this man is one of duty to his country based on honesty and dedication to principles he believed in and in learned principles of leadership. He understood that positional power was an obligation and not avenue to special privilege. As you trace his work throughout his military career and the assignments he is given and the results of his efforts, it becomes clear why he was ultimately selected to lead the ally efforts in Europe to defeat the Nazis. After the war these same outstanding qualities lead to him being drafted to run for President.

This has been our fifth presidential center we have visited and one I have enjoyed a great deal. I cannot help but wonder how he would manage today’s problems compared to some of current leadership, who struggle thru with vague ideas and principles and in some cases with little experience and background to do the job.

I found one of his quotes that could easily apply to our current quest for security against all our fears and the apparent willingness to give up our freedoms for that security. When asked about the fears of Americans during the early days of the cold war and nuclear weapons, he noted that “if all Americans want is security, they can go to prison”

It is well worth the visit.

maintenance and upgrades

After leaving Bowling Green, we headed to Delta, Ohio and our RV dealer, Shafer’s RV. We have mentioned them several times in the past, last time being:

http://goldenshoervtrip.blogspot.com/2008/09/back-in-usa.html


http://www.shaferrv.com/

We had a number of issues to be repaired, the most important being problems with our slides-those rooms that slide out to give you more space inside the coach. They have been reluctant to come back in on occasion and I consider this to be a big problem, as this prevents us from moving. We accumulate a list of work and try to always come back to Shafer’s to have it done. The reason is simple. They know what they are doing, are trustworthy and do the job right at a fair price.

They managed to complete our list. The slides required a part that took several days to be delivered, so we happily camped at the dealership. Since there was additional time to have things done, we decided to upgrade our TVs to digital and Shafer’s had the knowledge to modify the locations to mount the TV’s. The new installations are great and while we are the last in the family, we have now joined the digital/HD TV fraternity and will not have to be scoffed at by our children any longer.

As we noted in the past posts, Shafer’s RV is also a truck dealer and they do a lot of farming and it is planting season. So we observed a lot of early hour to late hour farming activity. It reminded me of my childhood, but we never had equipment like this.

This extended stay waiting on work allowed us to get some personal maintenance in as well. We saw Dentist’s and Doctors before our next big journey.

Next, we start our trek west to Colorado Springs.

Rally in Bowling Green, Ohio

We returned to Ohio at the end of April to attend the State Winnebago club spring campout at the county fairgrounds in Bowling Green, Ohio. Since our local chapter was responsible for hosting this campout, Anneke and I arrived early to help with the preparations. The weather proved to be cold and wet with the same expected for the days running right up to the weekend event.

Our first order of business was to develop a parking plan for the expected 46 motorhomes. The fairgrounds have a large area that can accommodate hundreds of coaches, so space was not the issue. The plan was to keep all the coaches’ close to the activities building and parked according to chapter affiliations, six chapters expected. The concern was that all parking areas were in grass. With the heavy rains and heavy coaches, getting stuck was a real concern.

As the coaches arrived we were careful on putting them in solid spots and advising them of known soft spots to avoid. As it turned out all but one of the coaches did fine. One ran into trouble with a bit of a heavy foot and failing to heed the soft spot warnings. It finally was able to settle into a spot after several hours and two large tow trucks got it out of the mud.

The key to these events is good food and fun. These gatherings are all about having fun and enjoying the company of folks who enjoy the RVing experience. Our club members worked hard to give everyone a good time and I think we succeeded.

During this event, we finally filled our final officer positions in the club and most everyone was sworn in. One of the newly appointed officers missed this event and apparently was hoping to leave town before taking the oath. He ran out of luck when we surrounded him in his RV while driving out of the fairgrounds. In an unusual ceremony, we swore him in behind the wheel of his motorhome with many club members in attendance. As I said, this is all about fun.

Next we head to our RV dealer for some repairs and possible upgrades.