Day 5: We like Ike

What a night of storms! We were blasted by extreme winds until midnight, when the lightning began--and didn't end until 8 am. We were without power for most of the night. Stan slept through the whole thing; Susan didn't know whether to be scared by what was outside the camper or annoyed by her dearest inside the camper! There were quite a few large branches littering the ground this morning, and many of our neighbors had escaped into nearby hotels.

Our rig was unscathed, and we packed and hooked it up without incident. Our first stop was in nearby Abilene to visit the Eisenhower Library and Museum. As he was "before our time," we weren't familiar with much about his terms in office, much less his earlier years in service to our country: Brigadier General who was tapped as Commander of Allied Forces in WWII, Chief of Staff for the Army, two years as President of Columbia University, head of NATO, and more. He was a humble man; a great documentary in the Library said it well: "The jobs sought him, not the other way around." His efforts at minimizing the nuclear threat during the Cold War, the tough stances he took in support of Civil Rights, his commitment to family (Camp David was named for his grandson) and his strong faith...all new in our understanding of Dwight Eisenhower.

The Eisenhower Center is also the site of the home in which he (along with his five brothers!) spent his formative years. An amazing man.

A brief bit that made us laugh, although it may be a "had to be there" for it to translate...we were pulling through the small town when we had to wait for a car ahead to back out of a curb-front parking place on mainstreet. We were a bit annoyed to see the car then pull forward about five spaces and park again. Our patience ran out when the driver backed up yet again, this time to pull forward a half-block before parking. Susan quipped that it must be a student driver. When we finally got past the car, we cracked up to see a "Student Driver" tag on the license plate. :-)

We're now safely set up in our next home, a little campground on the eastern side of Kansas City. Our family has a name for interstate overpasses and interchanges: spaghetti and meatballs...roads are noodles, vehicles are meatballs. We passed through a real mess of spaghetti and meatballs on our way through KC and were glad to get to the other side without incident. Once again, we're grateful for God's blessing of safety. Our days here may be a bit slower paced; we'll enjoy the pool, make a swing through Costco, celebrate Father's Day at PF Chang's after church at Colonial Presbyterian. We'll also make time for a visit to the Truman library and museum.