MORE PARKS

we have visited a couple more national parks..fort necessity where George Washington was in charge his first battle... then signed where he admitted to killing a French general the only problem is that is was written in French and he had no idea what it really said...then it was history from there.. then a visit to friendship hill where a man by the name of gallatin lived and at one time in his time he served as secerety of treasury and the books were in the black (we need him now).. today we are off to the Eisenhower here in gettysburgh then more civil war info.. no pictures as I have been having a heck of a time getting them posted..

LINCOLN--

last night we went to the cementry where abe --mary--and the three boys are buried here in springfield...one of their boys is buried in Arlington.. they do an retiring of the flag ceremony every tues night and if you get there in time you can ut your name in the basket to win the flag...(no we did not win) today the first part of the morning was to do laundry so we have enough clean clothes hahahaha.. back to the rig for lunch then off to the Illinois state museum where we spent another aomost 3 hrs at...one ting they had there was maybe 10 or more quilts that had been given to some of the troops during the war...sure don't know why they are in as good as condition as they are but most impressive...of course the work was all done by hand no fancy sewing machines then.. tomorrow we are on the move again..not sure where we are heading need to talk about it and check to see what we might want to see or do along the route we pick.. all's well

if you noticed Lincoln's nose and it is shinny there of course is a reason..some time ago people started to rub it to bring them good luck so now most everyone rubs the nose for good luck..yep we did but maybe we h=should have gone out to buy a lottery ticket after rubbing it but we didn't...

LINCOLN

today was Lincoln day..first we spent the morning at the Lincoln home which is the national park..toured the home and watched a movie.. off to lunch then to the NEW Lincoln museum where we spent over 3 hrs...it is a place that we would recommend to anyone who gets to springfield , il... the museum is fairly new not sure when it opened up but well worth it..and cause we bought a presidential museum pass for all the ones that the national archives is in charge of we got in for half price 6 instead of 12 but for seniors it would have been 9..so right now we are ahead as far as money goes..the price of the Eisenhower pass (where we got it) was 30$ and we not only did eisenhower but also Truman now Lincoln...there are a couple more on our list to see this coming winter..jimmy carter in Atlanta and maybe bush's in dallas...we are ahead of the entrance fees I do not like going around Atlanta but I guess I will have to put up with it and also dallas..I just don't like big cities and their traffic...ugh..

pictures if you haven't figured them out...the bed abe slept in the original wood stove mary todd used the house

ILLINOIS

sunday we did the Ulysses s grant national park and learnt all about the old boy..he was no in favor of slaves and had many discussion with his father in law regarding having them...visit his house and farm where he lived after he got married.. we are now in springfield, il and on our way stopped by a new museum (free) about route 66 and the town of lichtfield an interesting little museum..we also had lunch in a old route 66 diner...both os us had fish and about 1/2 hr after we got back on the road my old stomach (guts) started to do flip flops and it wasn't to long after we stopped at a rest area to use the restrooms...so I was glad we only had a short day of driving as I really started to not feel so good...not sure if I have a touch of food poisoning or not...or it could be I had French fries which I haven't eaten in a long time but they did taste good... tomorrow we plan on visiting with abe Lincoln--- maybe the state museum and more route 66 stuff all up in the air as to what and all we want to see here.. we are camped in the Illinois state fair grounds which is good size and we sure lucked out on this one...their state fair ended yesterday so there were some spaces available...glad we didn't want to be here over the weekend...

ARCH

we have now arrived in st Louis and no not Missouri but Illinois across the mighty Mississippi river from st Louis mo...we decided to stay in the Illinois side of st Louis in a casino rv park and NO we have not been in the casino and not sure if we will..who knows if we get bored and want something to do but I don't think that will be the case... today we went off to the arch and see what that was all about and of course it is a national park..as some of you know I DO NOT like heights and we were told if there is any kinda of wind you can feel the thing move (sway) so I decided to keep my feet on the round and lar took a ride to the top...when he finally got back down he said it wasn't all that bed and I might have been ok with it..i just felt safer on the ground..and it was a small thing you had to ride up in... then we looked at the museum of the western movement and saw a wonderful lewis and clark movie...as of now lar and I think we have traveled most if not all of the lewis and clark trail on one trip or another...not all at once thou.. now time for the old courthouse..again interesting part of our history... we have another day here in st Louis and there is another national park nearby so that will be on the list of things to do tomorrow

TRUMAN MUSEUM

today we finally made it to the Truman museum and spent over 3 1/2 hrs there..we took a guided tour of the museum then saw a 45 minute movie on his life...by then it was time to go out to the truck and have a granola bar as we were both getting a wee bit hungry by then...after that it was time to go back in and see what we had missed..the tour just hits the high parts and we wanted to see some more stuff..did you now that Truman was the first president that started our medicare a going...now it didn't pass till Johnson got into office but he thought of it first...harry was also the president that passed into law about the presidential library/museums and that the former president have to raise funds for their libraries/museum...then all the papers go to the srchives and really become property of the government...after harry left office he really wanted to live a private life and tried as much as he did to do so...a fence had to be put around his house to keep out NOISY PEOPLE who wanted a treasure or two from the property...an interesting man he was... so now we know more about Truman but will we remember I sure hope so...

INDEPENDENCE, MO

ok here we are in independence, mo and first on our list of things to do is to go get lar's blood work done...we were told to go to the center point hospital that was the closest to us..so off we went...got him all checked in and then had to wait just a tad but what was most interesting was while waiting a volunteer with a cart came thru asking everyone if they wanted something to drink like coffee--soda--juice and also offered some snack all for the same price FREE...what a nice feature..we didn't partake as we weren't really thirsty nor hungry... then on to Wal-Mart cause we needed a few things and I needed a hair cut..now don't you know Wal-Mart on wed has a 30% discount for hair cuts on wed so another good deal... back to the rig with the supplies and a lite lunch before gong of to the Truman national historical site..of course had to get another stamp which we did.. took a tour of the house and sure heard how much harry and bess liked their private life...he said once he was back in independence he watedd to be treated like a regular citizen..he did not receive any pension for being a president till 1966/1968 oh one of those years he also did not receive secret service protection at the time of his leaving office again that all took place in 1966 or 68...they refused because they were in their 80's by then..very modest people.. if only the present day presidents who have got out of office lived the same way...Eisenhower was also the same way... tomorrow it will be off to the museum..

EISENHOWER

we finally made it to the Eisenhower library this morning..bought our tickets and then off to see a movie-tour his boyhood home--then the museum.. as he was a five star general the first part of the museum was of WW 2 and there wa s a lot of reading to do...so the first hr or so lar was far behind me as I don't do as much reading about war stuff as he does....then I got so he was reading stuff that he had already before in other war museums so we picked up the pace a wee bit...then of course it was of Dwight's running for president and what he did while in office...some about mamie after 3 1/2 hr it was time to go get an ice cream...and fill up big fella for tomorrow travels...

SUNDAY'S ADVENTURE

we are now in abliene, ks and what brought us here while it is the Eisenhower museum and library..so far we haven't been there yet ..instead last night we took a trolley ride thru town hearing about all the old houses and what there is to see in the area.. so this morning we decided to go to the greyhound national hall of fame (price was right FREE)--but we gave a donation..funny we were greeted at the door by a couple of greyhound who are the resident dogs...yep they even spend the night there and have full run of the place....they have some living quarters down stairs which we didn't see must say they sure seemed happy.... after that we went to the Russell stover outlet store...yep we bought some stuff but didn't fill the cart as much as lar wanted too...only a few snack items... back to the rig for lunch...then we went to the Eisenhower park and walked around the rose garden on our schedule next was the heritage museum..where we spent a couple of hrs..inside was a wee bit of about everything including a collections of old phones and it is the biggest collections of phones I've ever seen lots and lots of them..no CELL-SMART-I-PAD'S thou...then we went to the outside display and rode on the 1900 merry go round... so all in all we hade an interesting day...tomorrow it will be the eisenho

wer museum.... finally...

KINSLEY, KS

now that we are in a different time zone we slept till 8...and by the time we got our selves around after reading all about the flooding back home lar said lets's go out to breakfast and who am I to say NO..so out we went to abut the only restaurant in town..it was good..then it was off to fort larned and another stamp..this fort was again different than the other ones we have been in --well done and lots of treasurable items to look at.. one of the rangeers was bringing in some produce from the garden and gave us cucumbers and zucchini which we were happy to get...so tonight we will have some fresh garden veggies....(not to be greedy but NO tomatoes awwwww)... now it is on to a local museum where lar stopped this morning to ask where was a good place for breakfast--so back to it we went..i have never seen such a collection of "STUFF" about 1 of everything you could imagine an d maybe even 2 of some tings..all this stuff is from those who live in this county...the guy in charge was very talkative e so we learnt lots about some things...there even was a sod house inside..it was covered several yrs ago cause the weather was doing damage on it... so all in all we had a good day.. pictures--I guess we are in the middle of the states..oh I see how many miules it is to get to NY but we don't go in any kinda of straight line haha... the picture of the sewing is for all my quilting friends...it is one I think you all ought to have and rush out to buy before they are all gone..o the other picture is off the long handled wooden thing that is used to stump sauerkraut...

LEFT CO--INTO KANSAS

on the road this morning by 10 not in any hurry as the skies sure look threatening...but off we went on our adventure...aheading towards fort larned..crossed into Kansas and aren't looking landscape...saw many feed lots where there were hundreds of cattle getting fatten up for who knows what but I sure can guess...lots of grain silos along train tracks and then we came across and windmill lot that was filled with lots of windmill parts there must have been hundreds of them...then we came where there muct have been 7-8 hundred up and going around producing electricity for someone...we even went thru dodge city where wyatt earp and miss kitty made there fame. Kansas sure has some weird looking skies... in parts of Kansas and Missouri we understand there has been a lot of flooding but so far we have not seen it... just interesting around each and bend there is something new different to see...

ANOTHER NATIONAL APRK

this morning we left the great sand dunes heading toward BENT'S OLD FORT we looked at a national park map and saw where there is a fort or two kinda on our way which ever way that is at this time...we were on roads out in NO MAN'S LAND and on star at times didn't know where we were so I guess we might have been lost according to them but we knew where we were heading...we were not sure abut this fort when we decided to go to it thinking it was a cavalry post to protect the settlers but it wasn't ..it was a fort build by 2 brothers who wanted it for trade..they made friends with the Indians and bought and traded their buffalo hides and hand made things....the brothers made money then like the stock market it fell apart ahha...it was a very interesting fort out in the middle of NO where... now we are in a small town called lamar, co in a motel/rv park...at least we have Wi-Fi even cable..so life is good... seeing lots and enjoying our 45th trip... tomorrow heading to another fort and hope to let you know about that fort if we have Wi-Fi..

GREAT SAND DUNES

we left mesa verde heading towards the great sand dunes n/p and arrived about 4 or so...and wanted to stay in the national park..found ourselves a spot as there were only a hand full left and most not big enough for us so we settled in on number 1...then unhook to go to the visitors center to get info and watch the movie and of course work on another junior range badge..we only had enough time to really watch the movie and get the info for the badge then the kies opened up and it started not only to rain but pour so back to the rig.. let me tell you about the trip over the MOLUNTIAN we climbed to over 10,000 feet so up-up-up we went and of course lar was driving knowing he was safer with his driving than mine...I crocheted all the way up and down not looking up much at the scenery lar kept saying oh is this just beautiful look at this and look at that I just kept my eyes on my work...then of course after reaching the top we had to come down...oh my..we made it just fine and lar said he is sure glad we bought a new truck with a jack brake on it...he hardly had to use the brake on the way down and the jack brake did all the work,,so that is a good thing... pictures are of the scenery and of course the dunes..