Blogs from Abilene, Kansas, United States, North America

Today's itinerary was simple, but cry important for me personally: we simply toured the Eisenhower Museum, Library, and boyhood home in Abilene KS and then returned home. As a student of World War II, and particularly the European Theater of Operations, I have long held Eisenhower as a hero. I am not sure that anyone else could have done the job he did in keeping together the alliance that defeated Nazi Germany. It should be remembered that alliance forces are rarely fully successful, mostly because the alliance are generally fragile and the egos and agendas of the individual participant nations usually rule the day. Ike never let that happen while Supreme Commander of SHAEF. It has been said that his knowledge of military tactics was lacking, and I will leave that discussion to those who know ... read more

Sunday May 23rd This morning we visit the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene. We view a film about his life and his presidential years and walk around the beautiful grounds which contain Ike’s boyhood home. We then head south to historic Council Grove where many wagon trains stocked up on supplies for the trek west along the Santa Fe Trail. Many stately homes and public buildings. We find a great campsite at Lake Council Grove just outside town. We are finding that “camping” apparently means “RVing” nowadays, and frequently campgrounds do not have spaces for tents, or if they do, the campsites are “primitive”, ie. no running water or restrooms, just a picnic table, fire ring and an occasional “vault” (pit) toilet (definitely not to my standard). This campsite was a pleasant surprise, with a nice ... read more