Friday, July 15, 2005
WE LIKE IKE!!!!!!!
Abilene is not a big town but it has some pretty amazing sites! Kinda like my hometown of Arthur Illinois except we don't have a presidential library.....yet! Now old Abilene, the historic cattle trail district, was, um a tourist trap. However, it looked liked plans were under way to spruce up the massive historical value of the place versus the tawdry, we'll take your money and give you nuttin' version which exists today.
However, in between the fake cowtown and the grain elevators was the Eisenhower Center, Presidential Library, home, Museum and final resting place of General Dwight David Eisenhower and wife, Mamie. Here in little small town, rural Kansas was the place where one of the most significant and influential historical personas of the last millenium, not just the last century, grew up, lived, died and was buried. Take that NYC, Chicago, and LA!
Corporal Sleep Walking Bear and his fellow soldiers were amazed!! What a great, great museum not just dedicated to the fascinating Eisenhowers but to American history as a whole. It made us all proud to be Americans!!! It also made us proud to be Republicans! It may be the only time that I applaud Kansas(DDE) kicking Illinois' behind(Adlai Stevenson)!!!! The museum was just excellent and the grounds were nothing short of inspirational! Flat, simple, and Midwestern who could ask for anything more! Of course, the Sleep Walking Bear travel agency needs to be applauded for this Memorial Day excursion(how aptly "planned")
Our "invasion" of Kansas continued across the state through Salinas(Sa-lee-nus?, Sa-li-nus? hasenpepher corporated we're gonna do it) and on to Hays. The dinosaur museum "may" have been interesting if it had not been closed. And, as for "old" Fort Hays, in the words of Bette Davis, what a dump! This though, is where we saw our first buffalo. Ironically at Old Fort Hays there was a gigantic statue of a buffalo overlooking the real deal! I wonder what they think!!
The Comfort Inn in Goodland Kansas in the far western part of the state was tremendous! Nice staff, damn Kansans are sooooo nice!! Ate catfish at Hanks, a local restraunt and it was great!! However, evidently word at got out from either the Mormons, the outlaws or the Germans about the presence of the Sleep Walking Bear Gang because we were nearly arrested at the local WalMart. On the way out, we set off the bells and buzzers. Now mind you, I'm not quite sure what danger a senior citizen, her upstanding Republican daughter, and a fat Sleep Walking Bear may have posed, but they evidently needed to peer into our purchases of Pepsi, ladies unmentionables, and garden figurines to make sure we were not, say, stealing, the Goodland family jewels! WARDEN WANDA, at WALMART, in the WILDS of Kansas WAS not gonna have that happen on her WATCH! Yikes!
Today was our last day in Kansas, Memorial Day, which we spent learning fascinating facts about one of our great historical figures and America too! We travelled through countryside which is quintessential Americana. It was fascinating, good, bad, exciting, boring, and fun. We didn't need a passport to travel here and we were generally met with open arms(excepting Walmart!). At the end of the day, we all thought GOD BLESS AMERICA!
However, in between the fake cowtown and the grain elevators was the Eisenhower Center, Presidential Library, home, Museum and final resting place of General Dwight David Eisenhower and wife, Mamie. Here in little small town, rural Kansas was the place where one of the most significant and influential historical personas of the last millenium, not just the last century, grew up, lived, died and was buried. Take that NYC, Chicago, and LA!
Corporal Sleep Walking Bear and his fellow soldiers were amazed!! What a great, great museum not just dedicated to the fascinating Eisenhowers but to American history as a whole. It made us all proud to be Americans!!! It also made us proud to be Republicans! It may be the only time that I applaud Kansas(DDE) kicking Illinois' behind(Adlai Stevenson)!!!! The museum was just excellent and the grounds were nothing short of inspirational! Flat, simple, and Midwestern who could ask for anything more! Of course, the Sleep Walking Bear travel agency needs to be applauded for this Memorial Day excursion(how aptly "planned")
Our "invasion" of Kansas continued across the state through Salinas(Sa-lee-nus?, Sa-li-nus? hasenpepher corporated we're gonna do it) and on to Hays. The dinosaur museum "may" have been interesting if it had not been closed. And, as for "old" Fort Hays, in the words of Bette Davis, what a dump! This though, is where we saw our first buffalo. Ironically at Old Fort Hays there was a gigantic statue of a buffalo overlooking the real deal! I wonder what they think!!
The Comfort Inn in Goodland Kansas in the far western part of the state was tremendous! Nice staff, damn Kansans are sooooo nice!! Ate catfish at Hanks, a local restraunt and it was great!! However, evidently word at got out from either the Mormons, the outlaws or the Germans about the presence of the Sleep Walking Bear Gang because we were nearly arrested at the local WalMart. On the way out, we set off the bells and buzzers. Now mind you, I'm not quite sure what danger a senior citizen, her upstanding Republican daughter, and a fat Sleep Walking Bear may have posed, but they evidently needed to peer into our purchases of Pepsi, ladies unmentionables, and garden figurines to make sure we were not, say, stealing, the Goodland family jewels! WARDEN WANDA, at WALMART, in the WILDS of Kansas WAS not gonna have that happen on her WATCH! Yikes!
Today was our last day in Kansas, Memorial Day, which we spent learning fascinating facts about one of our great historical figures and America too! We travelled through countryside which is quintessential Americana. It was fascinating, good, bad, exciting, boring, and fun. We didn't need a passport to travel here and we were generally met with open arms(excepting Walmart!). At the end of the day, we all thought GOD BLESS AMERICA!
