Wagons Ho! Southbound from Kansas

From Covered Wagon Campground, Abilene, Kansas       Our two day journey from Rapid City, South Dakota to Abilene, Kansas was uneventful except for the aggravation that comes with the loss of cool in the coach's chassis air conditioning.   That coupled with the ever warming outside temperatures made us quite unhappy. This happened last year about this time and we had freon added in Foley, Alabama. I think there's a leak in there somewhere. Anyway, we arrived Abilene in a scorching 91 degree, sun drenched afternoon and waited for the world's longest train to make it's way through town just two blocks before we reached the campground.  Insult was heaped onto injury when the campground parked us in a treeless field. A final slap would be the horrendous black flying gnats that swarmed our heads when we dared to venture outside. Egads.  Good news is we are but a block or so from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and boyhood home -- the reason we came here.

Here is a map of our route from Hart Ranch in Rapid City to Covered Wagon Campground in Abilene.

Without notice on the first travel day, we happened upon Carhenge, (think Stonehenge) an ingenious display of old cars, stacked and half buried in the dirt in the tiny town of Alliance, Nebraska. Evidently, the idea was conceived in 1987 buy a man in England to memorialize his father.

Carhenge 

Late in the afternoon we came upon this spectacular Archway spanning I-80 near Kearney, Nebraska. This beautiful archway represents 170 years of westward movement by Americans. From what I read, the archway has a variety of interesting displays.

The original plan for this destination was to rendezvous with Joyce and Charlie who live about a hundred miles south of Abilene in Wichita.  Two weeks ago, however, Joyce began her long awaited cataract surgery and it didn't go well. She's had several follow-up visits with the eye doctor and she is better, but her vision still isn't even as good as it had been before the surgery... much less better.  Joyce and Charlie are also in the midst of extensive remodeling of their home and the timing just didn't work out for them to be away during this time.

So on Tuesday morning we left Lexie and Ozzie at home in their play pen and drove the short two blocks from the campground to the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and boyhood home. To make the best use of our time, the ticket clerk suggested we go first to the Place of Meditation, where President Eisenhower, wife Mamie and first born son, Doud are buried.

The President's grave is on the left, First Lady on the right. Four year old Doud is buried here too but it's not clear where.

This purple banner hangs in the Place of Meditation and is apparently the words of then General Dwight David Eisenhower in prayer sometime before the war.

A bit of DDE trivia.  At birth, he wad David Dwight Eisenhower, but somehow upon enrollment at West Point, his first and middle names were transposed and he forevermore became Dwight David.

From the Place of Meditation, we walked to the boyhood home. This is where the Eisenhowers lived from 1898 until mother Ida Eisenhower died in 1946.

Concrete work is being done at the front of the house so tours were conducted through the back door, near where I'm standing in this picture.

The Eisenhower home remains on the original site and contains original furniture and household items just as they were when the family lived here.

The sitting room

The parlor

Dwight Eisenhower's mother, Ida. She lived in this house until she died in 1946.
Service men often came to the house after the war to pay respects to the Allied Commander. Mrs. Eisenhower usually had lemonade and cookies on the front porch for the unannounced visitors. 

The Eisenhower family Bible is on display in the house. 

The original telephone was never changed.  

The Eisenhower Museum was built by the Eisenhower Foundation with funds raised through public gifts. It is made of Kansas limestone and is a short sidewalk walk from the Eisenhower home.

Highlights of the Eisenhower Museum for me were:

Mamie's wedding gown and a display of wedding invitation, a pair of pearl earrings given her by Ike and a tiny piece of wedding cake contained in the small shield box.

Mamie's first inaugural gown

A personal card of Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer S.S. and personal stationary of Adlolf Hitler

Original watercolor by Adolf Hitler

The D-Day Planning Table

The Inflatable Rubber Dummy. Hundreds of these were ejected from planes over the Normandy coast. The silhouette gave the appearance of Allied troops parachuting to the ground. The dummies exploded when they hit, making the Germans think they were being fired on. The blast destroyed the decoy, causing the Germans to believe the soldier had moved out of the area,

This letter, marked "Personal and Private" was special to me too. It was from British General Montgomery to General Eisenhower.  Because it's hard to read, I typed the message in the caption block under the picture.

Dated: 27-9-44   "My dear Ike, H.M. The King has asked if he can come and stay with me for 3 or 4 nights, and see his troops. He proposes to arrive on evening 10th October. I have told His Majesty that I am sure will have no objection to his visit. He is anxious on of the of these days of his visit to lunch with you (as I think you asked him) and to visit American troops in the First U.S. Army next door to me. My tentative programme for him would be as follows. Does this suit you?
11 October - Second Army, 12 October - Canadian Army, 13 October - Lunch with you and see American troops.
14 October - Return to England. I am keeping the whole thing very secret and no one here knows anything about it except myself, and Lt. Col. Downey, my M.A.    Yours ever, Monty"

General Eisenhower's 1942 Cadillac Staff Car

After the War 

Eisenhower accomplishments - Both extremely special for us in our retirement travel.

A built bullet-proof podium built for Ike by IBM 

Ike's golf clubs along with a scorecard showing his play against proffessional golfer, Bobby Jones. 

Following our visit to the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, we enjoyed lunch at a local cafe in nearby Abilene Old Town and then rummaged around a consignment shop where I bought two nice, functional baskets. We returned to the coach, loaded Lexie and Ozzie and toured the rest of Abilene.

We followed signs to the Lebold mansion, not knowing what we'd find. Turns out this property site is that of the first cabin in Abilene Overland and Butterfield Stage Line. The couple who lived in the cabin were the parents of the first white child to be born here. They also were responsible for naming the city of Abilene.

Trains are everywhere in Abilene. I saw two depots. Wayne swears he saw a third. 

Lebold Mansion is for sale.  Completed in 1880, this 23 room mansion was built by a local banker who lost it after the depression of the late 1880's. For some 53 years, the building served as an apartment building, a telephone office and an orphanage. Restoration on the home didn't begin until 1972 and still is incomplete.

By 3:30, with our city tour complete, we returned to the coach.  Our time here is short as the weather is miserably hot. We pull out tomorrow, continuing the southeastward travel where I don't expect we'll get much cooler.

Becoming Floridians

In the fall of 2012 we opted to make South Dakota our official state of residency, becoming "Paper South Dakotans."  There were a whole host of reasons for choosing South Dakota, not the least of which is that it's easy for full-time RV'ers to become residents -- there's no income tax and a bunch of financially benefiting factors that I won't go into here.

We were happy as paper South Dakotans. I even posted about it in September 2012 where I included an image of the state flag and map, a photo of our paper residence and our single paper employee.

But alas...the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare" changed everything for us.

Here's what happened. Wayne is over age 65 and therefore, a recipient of Medicare with a supplement. Not much change for him when Obamacare was passed.  It was my problem.  Not age 65, I must buy private health care which, while expensive, was not hard to obtain in September 2012.  With the change in the healthcare law, though, the residency loopholes available for full-time RV'ers were closed and the insurance companies were required to obtain proof of actual residency in the state. Some companies opted to leave the state, including the one I used.  I spent countless hours researching, telephoning and shopping. If I managed to find a company willing to write my coverage, any claims I might have could very well be denied because we didn't really LIVE in South Dakota.

We looked at our options and restudied the choices, finally choosing to become Floridians. That means a new mail agent which, in turn, meant change of addresses on everything, right down to the cute little personal cards we hand out to people we meet.  We got new Florida drivers licenses, new license plates for the car and the coach, had the insurance changed on both vehicles, changed Wayne insurance and prescription drug addresses, which meant at least one change in company.  It wasn't cheap or easy, but we did it.

Welcome to Florida.

Cornfield County Crossing

Tonight we're in Wisconsin. But just barely. We're just east of the Mississippi River, in Onalaska, Wisconsin, having left Madison, South Dakota this morning at 9:30. 

We did not see the Pipestone National Monument, Hormel's Spam Museum, the Jolly Green Giant or the large ball of twine that were all easy stops along the way.  Wayne has ants in his pants, I think. 

The bee-line across Minnesota was made on I-90 along the very southern edge of the state where there are miles and miles of cornfields.  Wayne called it a ride through "Cornfield County" and we both got a chuckle thinking about the antics and corny jokes told on the old TV show, HeeHaw.

While our route today might not have been through the most beautiful part of Minnesota, the agriculture was beautiful in it's own way and it's nice to know that each Minnesota farmer feeds 177 people every day -- or was that billboard in South Dakota?  It really doesn't matter, we enjoyed seeing it all.

An absolutely gorgeous Harvest Moon led us across the Mississippi River and into Onalaska at dusk tonight. We'll move along in a generally eastward direction tomorrow morning. 

Why the hurry?  I'm not sure actually.  Wayne grew tired of being in the drought stricken western states and needed to see some green -- which he will have plenty of tomorrow, I think.  Ultimately, we'll make our way south... perhaps to middle Tennessee, south Alabama and then into Florida for another go of it for winter.  Any or all of that could change...

Becoming South Dakotans

It's officially official. We're South Dakotans. We have a South Dakota mailing and residential address. We have South Dakota drivers licensees, tags for our cars and a lovely hometown: Madison.  It even sounds "homey".  We also have cast our South Dakota absentee votes for the upcoming elections because we'll be leaving our hometown for an extended trip cross country any day now.

Here are some factoids about our new home state --

• It's named for Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indians
• The capitol is Pierre
• It's population is fewer than 1 million (824,082 + 2 + 824,084)
• The state flower is the American Pasque Flower
• It is the 40th state to join the Union
• The largest city is Sioux Falls
• The state nickname is "The Mount Rushmore State"
• And the state motto is - "Under God, the people rule"

Here's a picture of our new residence

Here's a picture of Teri. She works for us -- and for about 3,000 other fun-loving, full-time RVing South Dakotans.

And here are a couple of pictures of our new South Dakota hometown, Madison.

Our town's old train depot

Our town's water tower.

If you get a chance to visit Madison, we hope you'll drop in to see us.  If we're not here, just make yourself at home. 

The Corn Palace and A $25,000 Gift From The Taxpayers!

More than a few people have suggested that we find our way to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.  Yesterday, we made a special effort to see this odd spectacle.  More than a half-million others will do the same thing this year. 

Yep, all that decoration is CORN.
The world's largest bird feeder.

The Corn Palace was originally built in 1892 to encourage people to settle in Mitchell and it became so popular, that in 1904, the city of Mitchell challenged the city of Pierre to become South Dakota's capitol.  These folks were serious.  So much so that they built a brand new Corn Palace! That would be Corn Palace #2.



Corn Palace - 1921
It was called the Corn Belt Exposition back then.

But alas! Third time is charm and that was proven in 1921 when the Corn Palace was rebuilt yet again. The Moorish domes and minarets added in 1937.  It's Corn Palace #3 and the one we visited today.

It costs $130,000 annually to decorate the Corn Palace. It is completely redecorated in corn (ears, shucks, cobs) each year with a new theme.  All the corn used comes from a 30 mile radius of Mitchell.

Looks like the Corn Palace is going to host a rodeo or horse show the day we were there.
The smell of dry corn is everywhere.  We were covered in corn dust.

The Corn Palace in Mitchell was preceded by several other corn palaces including: Corn Palace in Sioux City, Iowa (active from 1887–1891);  Corn Palace in Gregory, South Dakota; and several grain palaces.



Well, not really the "only" corn palace.
Maybe the "only one left"...

In 2004, national attention was drawn to the Corn Palace when it received Homeland Security funding. I don't know the amount but this action heaped criticism onto the Department of Homeland Security and its grant program.  Then, in 2007, the Corn Palace received $25,000 in government funding for a camera system in advance of Barack Obama's visit in 2008 and to protect the fiberglass statue of the Corn Palace mascot, Cornelius.  Will wonders never cease?



Cornelius
This thing needs protecting?

The Great Buffalo Roundup!

The prairie is calm and quiet on a dewy September morning. Birds sing and crickets answer. 

The sun peeks over the hill and a hush fall over the sounds of the birds and insects...  A low rumble is heard upon the mixed grass prairie.

A child spotted them first -- a  tiny hand points to a few black dots on the top of the ridge in the distance.  Soon all eyes are fixed on the ridge. More dots appear.

Suddenly the excited crowd quiets and the sound of a cowboy's yelp fills the air. The thunder of 5,200 hooves pound the prairie soil. The thunder becomes a roar and the earth shakes beneath our feet.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the sound of the 47th Annual Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park as 1,300 buffalo come over the ridge, down the hill and into the corrals for sorting.

It is a fascinating sight to behold.  At least that's what I'm told.  I have no way of knowing for sure. What I've written here comes directly from the Custer State Park brochure and hearsay.  

No one in my crowd of retirees was willing to arise at 4 a.m., get in line for park admittance at 4:30 a.m. and sit in the cold for 4 hours until 1,300 stinking bison stirred enough dust to cover us to a point beyond recognition. 

I gave my friends a lot of grief and say they are wimps but I, too, was happy to sleep in and hear about The Great Buffalo Roundup from others who got up early, ate the dust and smelled the stink of buffalo that day. 

Not exactly "thundering hooves" but we liked seeing them in this setting better anyway.

Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota

The Crazy Horse Memorial sculpture was begun in a huge stone mountain in the Black Hills more than sixty-five years ago.  The first blast, in fact, occured on June 3, 1948.  When completed the three dimensional rock memorial to America's native people will be, by far, the greatest and largest stone sculpture in the world. 


Crazy Horse as it looks now.
Visitors support the mountain carving.
No state or federal funds are accepted.

Crazy Horse will be cut along the white marks
Completed, the memorial will be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall.

Landon and Marcella had seen the Crazy Horse Memorial once already, but went with us to see it on this day.  Wayne and I love visiting tourist attractions with them as they are never in a hurry and they never give away the punch line before the end.  Terrific people.

We stopped for lunch at Black Hills Burger and Bun as we drove through Custer.  I really liked the burger we'd eaten there the week before Marcella and Landon arrived.  It was really too cool and windy to sit outside but we had Lexie and Ozzie with us and the sun made the car too warm sooooo..... you get the picture.  I still feel bad for having everybody sit outside.

Wayne, Landon, me and the furkids

The gang of "three plus two" adorn this Custer, SD mural.

Our first stop at the memorial was to see the film about the history of  Crazy Horse Memorial. We sat on the front row. The small theater was about half full. As the film started I could hear talking -- most of it coming from the people sitting to our left.  Suddenly, I heard Landon's thundering voice belt out "If you want to talk... leave!". The theater fell silent except for the sound of the film.  You just gotta love this big guy.

The Crazy Horse Memorial receives absolutely NO government funding.
As a matter of fact government funding has been turned down.

Lakota (American Indian) tribe leaders invited Korczak Ziolkowski to create the memorial to the great Lakota warrior. Crazy Horse led the massacre upon General Armstrong Custer's U.S. Cavalry troops at Little Bighorn. Korczak Ziolkowski was a World's Fair prize-winning sculptor who had worked with Gutzon Borglum on the Mount Rushmore project.

 Too much back light for a good photo so I'll just take a picture of the effort.

This is the only museum I know that allows dogs -- but not on the floor. 

The white scale model of Crazy Horse to our immediate right is 1/34 of the actual stone sculpture.
The actual Crazy Horse Memorial is in the background.

Wayne and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Crazy Horse Memorial; thanks in no small part to being with good friends who provided plenty of laughs.   In the end, Marcella and I wrangled enough money from the husbands to support our souvenir habit. This time it would be beautiful, handmade Llama jackets for each of us.  Pictures forthcoming...

Sadly, the burgers we ate for lunch might have been the cause of some gastric trouble for Landon and Marcella as they were a little "pale" the next day.  

Mt. Rushmore: A Visit With George, Tom, Ted and Abe

Today's drive began along the Needles Highway (see my previous post), then took us along Playhouse Road to Iron Mountain Road and eventually to Mt Rushmore Memorial. 

At this stop, we got our first sighting of the huge sculpture... you can't make out the faces in this picture but believe me, they are there.


Wayne is looking at a curious marker in the field.
That's Mt Rushmore in the far background.

Iron Mountain Road

Mount Rushmore is the largest monument in the world and it was created during a time of great national challenge and hardship -- the Great Depression of the 1930's.  Gee, I don't know... how can a depression be "great" ....

There are several good viewpoints of the sculpture along the way to the Memorial
This photo shows almost the entire memorial facility too.

Our Mt Rushmore Family Photo

It is dreadfully dry here.  Fire bans everywhere.

We're near the memorial entry at this point

Between October 4, 1927 and October 31, 1941, Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal faces of four U.S. presidents into the side of the great granite mountain to represent the first 150 years of American democracy.

The sculptor of Mt Rushmore

Inside the memorial
Approaching the Avenue of Flags

The motley crew...
Landon (as George Washington), Marcella (as Thomas Jefferson)
Me (as Teddy Roosevelt) and the Wayner (as Abraham Lincoln)



There must always be a moment for foolishness!

My favorite of all my photos

At dusk.

 

Inside the Mt Rushmore Memorial Museum

The moving nighttime lighting



Grand finale - Honoring veterans