Abilene, KS - something to do.

A few posts back, when we arrived at the New Horizons factory I mentioned that we had fellow RV'ers here getting service work done.  One couple we saw quite a bit of and spent time with, trading information on things to do and places to go in the area.  Plus, he was an ex-military pilot turned contract pilot for the military as well as an aerial fire fighter, going all over the world fighting fires with water bomber airplanes.

Water Bomber in Action

His wife, a full-blood Navajo and a real hoot to be around came knocking early Sunday morning (it's August 28, 2016) to ask if we would join them for dinner at an historic hotel in, of all places, Abilene.  Well sure, we wouldn't miss a chance at hearing some of his flying stories and being around her effervescent personality.  So we will be starting and finishing our day in Abilene.

By the way, you should see this guy's rig.  It is my dream setup - a New Horizons 5th wheel pulled by a Volvo tractor modified for RV'ing and a ramp/lift with a Smart Car across the deck between cab and trailer.

Big boy toys, gotta love it.

But back to our Abilene excursion.  We headed out on what is to be another scorching hot day.  It's only about 25 minutes away and the exit to town is the one before the Russell Stover candy factory, thank God.  My wallet and waistline can't take another trip to the candy factory outlet store.

If you read one of my earlier posts about our trip to Salina, KS, I had said in that post that Salina was briefly known as a cow town until the business moved down the road a couple of years later.  Well, Abilene is the "down the road".  Abilene was picked as the terminus of the Chisholm Trail from 1867 to 1871 and became the largest stockyard west of Kansas City.  With this status it also became known as one of the wildest towns in the west.

Town Marshal Tom "Bear River" Smith was initially successful policing Abilene, often using only his bare hands.  He survived two assassination attempts during his tenure.  However, he was murdered and decapitated on November 2, 1870.  Smith wounded one of his two attackers during the shootout preceding his death, and both suspects received life in prison for the offense.  He was replaced by Wild Bill Hickok in April 1871.  Hickok's time in the job was short.  While the marshal was standing off a crowd during a street brawl, gambler Phil Coe took two shots at Hickok, who returned fire, killing Coe.  But Hickok then accidentally shot his friend and deputy, Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid.  Hickok lost his job two months later in December.

But rail lines were built further south and it was no longer necessary to drive cattle all the way to Abilene.  The community shrank to a size just large enough to support the surrounding farms and ranches with nothing much special happening until the 1950's when a native son became the President of the United States.  This is the home of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Eisenhower was not born in Abilene, his family moved from Denison, Tx when he was a small boy and Ike lived all his school years in Abilene, graduating high school here in 1909.  The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene is the burial place for the President, his wife Mamie and their first born son Doud.

Like most towns in the old west, trains were crucial to their existence.  And like virtually all the towns of the old west, trains have become of little concern with the advent of the automobile and extensive highway systems.  Rail lines have been ripped up or abandoned and a few have taken on a second life as a tourist attraction.  Such is the case in Abilene.  They have an excursion train with a limited schedule that makes about a two hour loop through the countryside.

Or, if the train schedule doesn't work for you then you can try out the Silver Flyer Railbus.  It's an old school bus that has been fitted with rail wheels but the cool part is that the bus will take the rail line to a neighboring community, retract the rail wheels, get off the tracks and then take you on a tour around the town's old homes and shops.  It then gets back on the rail and returns to Abilene.

Despite being the home of a presidential library, excursion train and awesome chocolate factory, Abilene is still a small, dusty plains town.  You can pretty much stand on Main Street and see from one end of the town to the other.

This is almost the whole of the town, well, the business district.

We are not staying in Abilene and meeting our friends for dinner.  Instead we are heading back to Junction City to shower off the hot day and put on some fresh clothes.  We'll meet our friends at New Horizons base camp and drive back to Abilene for our dinner at the Brookville Hotel.

This hotel and dining room date back to the days of cattle drives, Indian raids and buffalo hunts.  In fact, Buffalo Bill was a patron.  The hotel stopped taking guests in 1972 but the dining room is still going strong at about 90,000 guests a year.  People don't come here for the variety on the menu because you get your choice of chicken or chicken.  There is no menu, the only thing you get asked what you want is your drink.  Other than that they start bringing out huge plates of chicken and sides, family style.  And if by some miracle you eat all of something they bring out, just ask for more.

Our table was on the far right, next to the window.

The hotel was bordered by shops and at one time a bank.  The bank went out of business and the hotel expanded into the space.  In fact, the dining room we were in was known as the vault because of its former life as a bank.

We enjoyed our meal and it was made even better by our company.  After eating we were allowed to go upstairs and tour the old hotel.  The rooms had many of the original furnishings and decorations, which were pretty opulent.  Not what I expected from a dusty cow town of the old west.

The sun is going down and we are getting a slight break in the heat.  I'll take it.  We're heading back to the camper and will do some preparation for getting moved into the paint bay tomorrow.  Hopefully they will get it right this time and we can be on our way.