Abilene, KS

There are not many reasons to go to Abilene.  But we went to see the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.  We were both pretty young during Ike's administration but do have some memories from the time.

The library is actually a campus made up of several buildings.  There is the library which had a nice exhibit of Ike's military career and a history of World War II.  There is a building with the chronology of his life.  There is also a building with his and his wife's grave site.  We thought he would have been buried in Arlington National Cemetery but no, he is buried in his home town.

We took no pictures while there but spent about 4 hours reading plaques, studying pictures and getting some history and perspective of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower.

Don't make a special trip, but if you are near Abilene, stop by.  It was a fun afternoon.

Oklahoma City Memorial

At 9:02 AM on April 19, 1995 the Alfred P. Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City was destroyed by a truck bomb.  168 People died as the building collapsed.  Men women and children were killed.  Many more were injured not just in the building but in near by buildings and shops. This bombing was done by Timothy McViegh.  This was a time before terrorist had begun resorting to such violence.  The bombing changed the lives of many in Oklahoma City and across the country.

Inside the museum people are quiet.  The entire event from April 19, 1995 is relived from several perspectives.  A chronology of events is covered; news coverage, first responders, trained responders and various other angles, As we wondered through the museum many folks were holding back tears, us included.  Reliving the events of the day and weeks that followed was educational and difficult.

The city and state have built a memorial to honor those who died, those who survived and those who are recovering.  It is a solemn place.  As people walk thru the outside portion of the memorial they speak quietly, if at all.  The memorial is on the spot where the Murrah building once stood. There are 2 gates to the memorial.  The 9:01 gate represents time before the explosion and a simpler time.  The 9:03 gate represents a city and county healing and moving forward, forever changed, forever remembering but moving on.  The space between 9:01 and 9:03 is the memorial.

"We come to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever.  May all who leave here know the impact of violence.  May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

901 Wall

Reflecting pool903 wall in distance

There are 168 chairs.  One for every person who died.  Each is identified the a victim's name.  Large chairs for adults, smaller chairs for children.

This is a very somber place.  The city has done a magnificent job with this memorial.  May all rest in peace.

Across the street is a second remembrance.

We left the area in quiet reflection, moved by what had happened and what we had seen.

OKC Gardens

Oklahoma City has some public gardens downtown.  They are big and beautiful.  We spent one morning enjoying the gardens.

Our lunch spot

WCWS

WCWS...Women's College World Series.  Specifically this is the NCAA Division 1 women's softball championship.  We have watched this on TV for years and we wanted to attend.  Part of the reason Harvey was in Oklahoma City was so we could attend a few games.  We got tickets online and were surprised to learn that the tickets for Sunday June 4 were actually for 2 games.  We saw Florida beat Washington in the first game then Oklahoma beat Oregon in game 2.

We also got seats for the 2nd of the 3 game championship series.  Oklahoma vs Florida.  A very good game.  The championship series is a best of 3 match up. Game one went 17 innings (normal games are 7) with Oklahoma winning.(kinda wish we had been there but kinda glad we weren't)  The night we had tickets was game 2.  It was a well played,well pitched game with some good defense, some great a bats then sprinkle in some nice base running. Oklahoma won 5-4 in regulation.  It was the first time we had been at a deciding championship game.  Congratulation to the Oklahoma Sooners for becoming the 2017 NCAA Women's College Softball champions.

The wedding

Our nephew Ken, son of Diana's brother Dale was married on May 27th. It was a beautiful wedding.  Diana's sister Marge and her youngest brother Charlie were there so we had a great visit.

Marge, Diana, Dale, Charlie










The wedding was high on a mountain near Greenville, South Carolina.  Beautiful scenery.

Ken's mother is Japanese and wore a traditional komona

The wedding venue

Ken with his mother, Hitomi

Ken with Emily

Kissy, kissy

Ken, Emily and Tugboat

Congratulations and welcome to the family Emily

Midlothian, VA

We got this crazy idea to full time RV while we were in a very comfortable house, a great neighborhood and close to Bob's brother while living in Midlothian.  We headed back to see bro and family.

While there Daniel and his fiance, Mona drove in from Washington DC.  They had flown there from Maui to do some sight seeing then to Midlothian and finally we drove with them to the wedding in SC.

This pic is from the wedding but it seemed right to put it here.

My brother Don, his wife Janice, their daughter Heather, her husband Will, their son Max and daughter Luna

We had such a short time there we did not have time to see the many people we wanted to see.  Maybe next visit.

30

Our main purpose in going to Atlanta was to get to the new ball park.  There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball.  While it did not start out as a goal we found ourselves in a position to attend all 30 team stadiums.  On May 18, 2017 we attended our 30th active stadium.  I say active because we have both attended 6 stadiums that have been replaced.  Yes that means we are old!  We were very excited about getting to 30.

Diana posted this picture on Facebook.  We had several comments about holding hands and lots of congratulatory comments.  Neither of us realized we were holding hands until the comments came in.

Now we have learned that the Texas Rangers will have a new stadium 2019.  Arlington here we come!!

Birmingham

We stopped in Birmingham to see a few things.  One place was the 16th Street Baptist Church.  In the early 1960's 4 young girls were killed when the KKK bombed the church.  This proved to be a keystone event in the civil rights movement.

There is now a park dedicated to the girls and several others killed.

There are street signs marking the path of some of the marches.  We walked one and read each sign.  We learned a lot about how the marches were organized, how the city fought the black community and the violence that was put on the black community.  I credit the city for eventually acknowledging these acts and marking the march routes as historical.  We both had forgotten how viciously the city leaders attacked the marches including the children.

We also visited the Southern Negro League Baseball Museum.  I have been fascinated by the Negro league for a long time.  Diana has become interested as she is a baseball fan, too.  There were a lot of great baseball players in the Negro League.  I would have loved to have seen some of these guys play.

The road trip and Hot Springs NP

We left Harvey in Oklahoma City for a few weeks and took our car on a road trip.  The primary purpose of the road trip was to get to our nephew's wedding in Greenville, South Carolina.  Along the way we made stops in Hot Springs NP, Birmingham, AL, Atlanta, GA, Midlothian, VA, Greenville, SC and Memphis, TN.  Then finally back to OKC.  This was not an efficient travel plan but it was driven by the wedding date, the Atlanta Braves' home schedule and wanting to see Bob's brother and his family in Midlothian.

Hot Spring NP is located in Hot Springs Arkansas.

Yep, this is hot water coming up out of the ground

The water is about 140 degrees

Long before this became a National Park folks came in and build bath houses.  Rustic at first but then very luxurious.  The main street of Hot Springs is lined with former bath houses that are now information centers or store fronts.  Most National Parks have very clear boundaries, no so here.  The park and the town are so intertwined it is hard to tell what is park and what is town.  It is beautiful either way.

The bath house were very segregated.  Black's worked in the nice bath houses but were not permitted to use them.  They had separate but not as nice bath houses.  Rich and famous came for the medicinal benefits of the warm mineral rich water.

We took a drive and a few short walks to see the surrounding area.