July 24, 2021. Abilene KS

Statue of Ike. He was in the army for 32 years and never spent one day under fire in combat. The closest he came was when he stood with MacArthur when the army rousted the Bonus Marchers out of D.C. in 1932.

The building where Ike and Mamie are buried.

Ike’s boyhood home.

I have been collecting President’s graves for many years now. JFK was my first; Labor Day Weekend 1966. At the start of this trip to Texas, I had nine to go. I have a chance to get three on this trip, the first being Eisenhower, who is buried in a building on the grounds of his library and museum in Abilene, KS. The buildings opened up after being closed for the virus for over a year. I was in luck. The just d few days before our trip, they closed them again. So all Ruth and I got to do was walk around the grounds and take pictures of the monuments to Ike and the buildings. I’m going to count it.

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Highways

I find it interesting to come across a highway number down here that is the same as a highway number up in our neck of the woods. Yesterday, we spent some time on Highway 281, which is the same U.S. highway that goes through Jamestown and crosses Highway 2 at Churches Ferry. I-35 splits into I-35 W and I-35 E as it passes through Ft. Worth and Dallas, just as it does in the Twin Cities. Many years ago in North Carolina, I was on U. S. 52, which runs from Portal SE across America, sometimes disappearing for hundreds of miles, swallowed up by highways that get more respect. On the way down here we crossed U. S. 30, which is known as the Lincoln Highway out east because it passes through Gettysburg and Northern Illinois. I don’t know who devised the U.S. highway system, but they made it interesting.

Dallas where JFK was assasinated

I am standing on the sidewalk reading the historical marker. Out in the street behind me is a white X painted where the Presidential limo was when Kennedy eat hit with the fatal head shot (the third shot). Farther up the street to my right an X marks the spot where the second shot hit him high on his back. This was the “magic bullet” that went through JFK’s back and then hit Connelly. That billet actually caused seven wounds. Beyond me is the Texas Book Drpository. Oswald shot from the far right window on the sixth floor. That window is behind the tree. Only the seventh floor can be seen from this angle. Ruth is standing next to the stone pedestal in which Zapruder stood and made his famous video of the assassination. Dealy Plaza is across the street behind her. This was taken up in the Sixth Floor Museum. This is the window Oswald shot three shots from. The boxes are arrranged just as they were on 11/22/63. This is the X on the stre...

Smithsonian

There is so much to see in the museums on both sides of the National Mall I cannot possibly mention everything. I will list that which stands out. Mueum of Natural History: a huge stuffed elephant that dominates the rotunda, dozens of dinosaur skeletons, the Hope diamond, gemstones galore, and Egyptian mummies. Museum of American History: the section on civil rights from 1863 to 1963, the stories of Medal of Honor winners, the section on America at War, the section on Thomas Edison. Air and Space Museum: the Wright brother's plane, all the Apollo space stuff about how we went to the moon, the section on telescopes, the section on aircraft carriers, the section on taking photographs from the air. This last sectio n covered everything from the first pictures taken from the air in baloons and from cameras strapped to the bellies of birds to pictures taken from modern satellites. Of all the museums...

Pastor Skar

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