Miles 1875 to 1940, 65 miles, 525 feet of climb, max speed: 30 mph, avg speed 16 mph
I didn’t know Abilene KS was the location of Eisenhower’s Presidential Library. About three city blocks just south of town is its campus, which includes his boyhood home, official library, a museum, chapel, and a visitors’ center. Well done. Very nicely done. Abilene also has several blocks of outstanding Victorian Mansions. Wow. I didn’t think those things existed anymore. The biggest mansion is on the main street, and it belonged to the biggest con artist in the west. His fame was made with the circus, but his money was made selling an ill-tasting harmless elixir that was said to cure everything from warts to baldness. He proved that with the right marketing pork could be sold to vegetarians.
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| The arrow indicates the exact point |
When our Cruise Director Michelle said she was going to mark the halfway point on the road for us I was sort of expecting a line across the road. No… she said point and a point is what she painted. “The Point” was just north of the town of Gypsum, KS, a sleepy little town whose only fire truck is a Ford F150 with a hose attachment welded to its front bumper. The town loves it parks and maintains them well. They have one on each end of town and another nice one in the middle. A lady from the garden club came by and ‘interviewed’ bikers for their weekly newsletter. What a sweet lady. While there, the town’s tornado siren went off (just feet from us) as a storm was rolling in from the west. I was a bit nervous, but the guy at the fire station explained it was a test for Monday. Monday weather is predicted to be rough.
I didn’t know Abilene KS was the location of Eisenhower’s Presidential Library. About three city blocks just south of town is its campus, which includes his boyhood home, official library, a museum, chapel, and a visitors’ center. Well done. Very nicely done. Abilene also has several blocks of outstanding Victorian Mansions. Wow. I didn’t think those things existed anymore. The biggest mansion is on the main street, and it belonged to the biggest con artist in the west. His fame was made with the circus, but his money was made selling an ill-tasting harmless elixir that was said to cure everything from warts to baldness. He proved that with the right marketing pork could be sold to vegetarians.
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| One Room School House near Solomon, KS |
I rode with Jed today. He is always very pleasant company (and I hope I was for him). We talked about many things, and most interesting was his passion managing a vineyard on eastern Long Island, NY. One of the nice surprises today was the miles of riding along country roads. There were no shoulders on the roads, but there were no semi-trucks, road debris, noise, and gritty road spray either. One of the finds today was an old country school house that was happily situated between a couple houses and several farms. At first we thought it to be a church. We wondered how many happy memories were made in that small one roomed building. The other surprise today was all the dogs! Abilene is the National Greyhound Hall of Fame and everything else greyhound too. The dogs staying with their owners here are so well behaved. Most of the dogs are post-commercial grade doggies (they are past their prime for racing) and have been adopted. Greyhound races typically last only 35 seconds and the dogs can be at 45 mph in less than three strides. Wow.
Bottom Line: A fun day in the country! Rode at 16 mph and still came in last. All is okay, but my left knee still pains me.
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