Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Go Ike!



I'd like to think I'm six degrees removed from a president.

My grandpa had an old truck with an "I like Ike sticker on it."

My grandmother graduated from Abilene High School about 20 years after the famed president.

So, the one-tank trip to Eisenhower's native Abilene was a great experience. I had no idea how much this little Dickinson County town has to offer.

There's a library and a great museum. There's the home he grew up in and a chapel where he is buried.

The museum tells of his life, from birth to death. Even his golf clubs are on display.

I figure it could take at least a half day to get through the museum and everything. But there's more to see in Abilene than Eisenhower's Presidential Library.


Go to the Kirby House for a nice meal. Stop by downtown Abilene for some shopping. There's old Abilene town, gunfighting and all. A train will take you on a trip to Enterprise and back.

This town has a chocolate factory, is home to Duckwall-Alco, has a big Pizza Hut.

Oh, and there are a couple of mansions, which gets me back to the six-degrees of separation.

My grandfather ran a store in Kipp, Kan. He said Seeyle, the former owner of the Seeyle Mansion, would sell him medicine. He even had some of the old bottles. I bet Seeyle knew Eisenhower or someone in the Eisenhower line.

Or my grandmother might have known someone who knew someone.

Should you go? Yes.

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