Thursday in the rain...

arrived to visit the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, Kansas....Abilene is a big small twn..and the Museum is located just off the Highway..in a very beautiful Plaza type setting with 4 attractive tan marble buildings at each quadrant..One is the Visitors center where nwe purchased admission tickets and and the customary supply of research books...we also were able to see a very comprehensive biography of the President in a comfortable Movie theater....

Then we walked to the nearest building which looked like a chapel and was so named..It was a Memorial Place of Meditation...and upon entering the marble grave slabs of Ike and Mamie are resting side by side...In front of the wall at thier front are pew seats to provide opportunity for silent meditation...It was a fitting setting which provided the reverence it required...

We then walked across a path to the side surrounded by a beautiful lawn and trees to the Library...It was of similar tan marble construction and house the myriad of letters, books etc of Ike's 2 term very active Presidency and on the 2 floors were several artifacts, particularly gifts given to him by many potentates thruout the world...It was very interesting...and my visit to the office of the archivist, I discovered some personal framed photos which I was able to photograph....
On the opposite side of the Plaza waqs Ike's original Farm House home which we were permitted to enter and photograph...All the contents are original...It was a white frame, typical looking farm house which when entering and exploring gave the understanding that this had been a very warm, intimate and very stable family...They were members of a Protestant sect which appeared to be similar to the Quakers...and Ike was the 3rs son of a family of 7 sons!
One brother died when quite young but 6 sons survived ...and all lived harmoniously in this little house!...That should certainly provide a lesson in "getting along" with others..
I took many pictures inside the house which was very gratifying....

The next stop across the plaza was the Museum...aqnd what a museum it is....We were informed that since Ike served the public for about 20 years in his role as Military leader and as President, we would see a tremendous amount of contents...and we sure did!

There were exhibits of his boyhood on the farm, since the house was on a farm on the frontier...and then his school years..including athletics etc...and then his lengthy military srvice commencing in West Point...the war years...the post war years and then the Presidency!...
All his interactions with many important people globally were well documented...As Daras and I wandered thru the many chambers and rooms we became more and more tired...and neaqr the conclusion of the visit we were just about all spent!....We returned to our van...sat for a while to compose ourselves and then set the GPS for Dallas, Texas! We discovered it was about 6 1/2 hours away..almost 500 miles...and with the weather eports realized we were heading directly toward the Flood areas in Texas!...As we drove south...it began drizzling...getting cooler and finally raining much harder...We also realized that we were no longer driving across the rolling plateau of upper Kansas, but driving thru the golden wheat fields of the plains of lower Kansas...
no more corn..but grain and grazing cattle....We drove for about 2 1/2 hours and as it approached 6:30...and the driving became more difficult..we found lodging and dinner in Kansas just above the Oklahoma border...we looked forward to an early bedtime...and much needed rest...we hoped!...and perhaps some better weather in the morning.....The last report we obtained, however is that the torrential rains continued south of us...thru Oklahoma and especially in Texas...we shall see!.....Talk to you in the morrow....