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.

The Bush Gravesite

We parked on the west side of the Bush library in College Station, TX, the home of Texas A&M. Then we walked around to the east side of the library to this beautiful pond. The grave site is through the trees on the other side of the pond. Ruth looking across the pond toward the gate and path to the grave site. Next to the library stood this statue of these horses jumping over a wall. The wall was an actual section of the Berlin Wall that came down during Bush’s term. Bush’s grave in center. Barbara’s is on the right. Their daughter Robin is buried to the left out of the picture. The grounds are large and beautiful. It was a picturesque half mile walk from the car to the grave site. We pretty much had the place to ourselves except for a kid on an electric skateboard.

President's Graves

On this trip with David we are going to visit the graves of five Presidents. One of the greatest, George Washington at Mount Vernon. One of the worst, James Buchanan at Lancaster, PA. Three in the middle. Woodrow Wilson at the National Cathedral in Washington. John Kennedy and Howard Taft at Arlington Cemetary in Virginia. The two most impressive Presidential graves I have been to are Lincoln's in Springfield, IL, and Grant's in New York City. I have been to 17 of the 39 Presidential graves. Most of them are very humble. many are located in regular cemetaries. Their grave stones are less remarkable than many others in the same cemetary. I found this to be true of Buchanan's in Lancaster and Tyler's in Richmond. Many are buried at their Presidential libraries, such as Hoover and Truman. Some are buried at their homes, such as Washington, Jefferson, and FDR. I think Lin...

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