October 17, 2025 • 27 mins
We trace Abilene, Kansas from a Chisholm Trail boomtown to Eisenhower’s hometown, stopping for a mansion wired by Edison, a Greyhound Hall of Fame greeting, a 1901 carousel ride, and a back-room chocolate secret. History, food, trains, murals, and small-town charm deliver a trip worth planning.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bob Bales (00:00):
Hi, and welcome to The Traveling Fool, the show
where we talk about traveldestinations and the history and
culture around thosedestinations.
I'm your host, Bob Bales, andtoday I'm taking you to a place
that has a Hall of Fame, ahistory of a president, and the
(00:21):
old West.
That's right, I'm talking aboutAbilene, Kansas.
So stay tuned, and we'll beright back.
It is one of the best smalltown destinations in America.
(01:19):
And that's not just me tellingyou that.
They actually won the award.
But Abilene, Kansas has alittle bit of everything from
Old West history to presidentialhistory to a Hall of Fame
museum, which I did not knowabout until I arrived there and
was pleasantly surprised.
(01:40):
But Abilene was where theChisholm Trail ended.
In fact, Abilene startedbecause of the cattle drives.
And it brought many a traveler,made Abilene one of the wildest
towns in the West.
The stockyards in Abileneshipped 35,000 head of cattle in
1867 and became the largeststockyards west of Kansas City,
(02:04):
Kansas.
And one of the marshals atAbilene, in fact, the second
marshal after the first one gotkilled, was Wild Bill Hickock.
He became the marshal there ineighteen seventy one.
He only lasted about sixmonths, but he made a mark on
the place, and then he moved on.
But there is a lot to see anddo in this small town.
(02:27):
Let me tell you about a fewplaces I visited, and I hope you
have the opportunity to go seethem yourself.
Abilene has a couple ofmansions in town.
You know, towards the end ofthe eighteen hundreds after the
Wild West era, there was afellow by the name of doctor AB
Seeley.
He founded the company calledthe AB Seeley Medical Company.
(02:49):
And you gotta remember thislate eighteen hundreds, early
nineteen hundreds.
These were little more thansnake oil.
He got very rich doing it, butI mean they had everything from
cleaning products to uh insectkillers to stuff to make your
hair grow.
He came out with just tons ofstuff, but he built a beautiful,
(03:13):
beautiful mansion that hostedeverything from presidents to
political figures to you name itover the years.
Well, his daughters inheritedthe mansions.
Um they were both unmarried,and when they were getting up in
age, there was a a fellow thatfell in love with the place.
(03:34):
He just passed by, took a lookat it, befriended the old
ladies, and wound up buying theplace and living there with them
until both of them passed.
He still lives there today.
His name's Terry.
I met him, great guy, but he'sopened up the mansion.
The mansion is fabulous.
I mean, you gotta go visit thisplace.
There's just stuff in therethat you're not gonna see
(03:56):
anywhere else.
I mean, they've got Tiffanytile work and the lights were
put in by Thomas Edison.
I mean, he wired the house, soI mean it is fabulous.
You gotta visit this place.
But in addition to the SeelyMansion, like I said, it has
presidential influence.
President Dwight DavidEisenhower, and I'm from Texas,
(04:18):
so we do claim that he was bornhere, and he was born here.
We're very proud of that.
Unfortunately, he left and wentto Kansas about six months
later with his family.
So he he doesn't remember everbeing in Texas.
He claimed Abilene as his home,and that's fine, but we know
where he was born.
But anyway, the EisenhowerPresidential Museum and Library
(04:42):
is located in Abilene becausethat's where he grew up.
That's where he spent hisyouth, that's where he called
home.
And that's the place he loved.
This is a fabulous museum andlibrary.
I've been to a couplepresidential libraries, and this
one is very large.
I mean, it takes up a largespace because of what's there.
(05:04):
You've got the independentlibrary, which is a research
library, and you can't just walkinto it.
You actually have to make anappointment to get in there and
tell them what you're lookingfor.
And there's thousands andthousands of archives of when he
was president, when he was uhin the military, when he was the
Supreme Allied commander duringWorld War II, and there's
(05:27):
always people in there doingresearch.
And then there is the museum,and then there's a huge area.
I mean, a massive like paradeground almost, where there's a
bronze statue of him, along withhis boyhood home as located on
(05:47):
the grounds.
But the museum itself, it'sfabulous.
It goes through his earlychildhood, his parents and his
family and everything, and hegoes through his time at West
Point and his early militarycareer and a lot about World War
II and being the Supreme AlliedCommander and all kinds of
artifacts and documents, histime as president and what he
(06:10):
did and what was accomplishedduring that time period.
And it is a really interestinglook at a kind of a historic
time capsule.
Now the other thing is there isthat's also where the
president, his wife, and one ofhis infant children are buried.
There's a chapel on thegrounds, and they are buried
(06:33):
there.
So it's kind of a reflectingarea.
But it's definitely a must see.
If you're in Abilene or ifyou're in the presidential
libraries, there's a lot ofpeople that travel around the
country and visit presidentiallibraries.
This is one of the best onesI've ever been to.
And I've been to three or fourof them.
Now, right across the streetfrom the presidential library is
(06:55):
a hall of fame.
And I did not know it was thereuntil I got to Abilene.
And they're telling me, well,if you have time, you ought to
go check out this uh GreyhoundHall of Fame.
I'm thinking, Greyhound Hall ofFame, I didn't know Greyhound
buses had a Hall of Fame.
They were like, no, no,Greyhound dogs.
Like, oh, well, that makes moresense.
(07:16):
So what are Greyhound Dogs Hallof Fame doing in Abilene,
Kansas?
That that didn't make sense tome.
I did not know Kansas was a bigdog racing place.
And in fact, as of this datethat I'm doing this podcast,
there's only two Greyhoundracetracks in the United States
(07:36):
left.
They're both in Virginia.
We used to have one here inHouston.
I went to it many years ago.
And it was fun.
It was a blast seeing thesedogs race.
But they told me that Peter gotinvolved and said the poor
little puppies were beingmistreated, which was a lie.
They weren't.
I mean, the greyhound racingpeople and the breeders and
(07:59):
everything, these dogs are aretreated like kings, trust me.
But Kansas has a lot of farmsthat raise greyhounds.
I would not have thought that.
Not what I mean, it's it didn'tdawn on me that they would be
raised in Kansas.
But that is the premier placethat greyhound racing dogs come
(08:22):
from.
And there's still a whole lotof farms out there that raise
greyhounds.
But since there's only tworacetracks in the United States,
most of these dogs are shippedoverseas, where greyhound racing
is still very popular.
And these breeders takeextremely good care of these
dogs.
I mean, they are treated to thebest of everything because I
(08:44):
mean it's a it's a purebred dograce specifically for racing.
Just like horses or some ofthese thoroughbreds are treated
magnificently well becausethey're used for racing, and the
people that buy them have ahuge investment.
So no, they're not mistreated.
But they have the Hall of Famethere.
(09:06):
And what is really cool is whenyou walk in the door, these two
big old greyhounds come runningout, well, kind of trotting out
from the back office where theylay down to sleep all the time,
and they just come trotting outto greet you.
They don't bark, they don'tjump on you, they just come
trotting out and stand rightnext to you and look at you
like, well, are you gonna pet meor not?
(09:27):
So you I mean, they're justfriendly as all get out.
They're beautiful dogs.
So after about two or threeminutes of petting them and just
gushing all over 'em, they lookat you and go, okay, that's
enough.
And they turn around, walk out,and go back into the office and
lay down and go to sleep.
And the lady that was theregoes, Yep, that's what they do.
They greet everybody, then theyturn around and go right back
(09:49):
to sleep.
But the Hall of Fame isfantastic.
It gives you all kinds ofperspective on some of the
famous dogs, the history ofGreyhound racing, the history of
it in America, some of theimportant people in the
industry.
But while I was there, theyalso I was asking her, I said,
Well, these are ex-racing dogs.
(10:09):
She goes, Yeah, they only racefor a couple of years and they
will retire them and they getadopted out.
And so people adopt them.
She goes, I've got a couple ofthem.
I said, Really?
She goes, Well, if you want tolearn more, there's actually one
of the organizations in theback room that's having a
meeting today, and um theyhandle adoption.
So I went back there and talkedto them.
(10:30):
And there was a couple of moregreyhounds back there.
Did the same thing, just comewalking up to me, wanted to be
petted, turned around, went backand laid down.
And I said, So tell me aboutthis.
They said, Well, we'reassociated with the premier
licensed and sanctioned bodythat handles a lot of the
adoptions, and they're some ofthe best pets you could ever
(10:51):
have if you just want a pet.
She goes, They're not goodguard dogs.
They're great pets, but they'renot good guard dogs because
everybody's a big a friend ofthem, and they don't do anything
but just lay around.
She goes, She was telling meabout once or twice a day, you
gotta let them out in thebackyard which needs to be
fenced, or you need to have abig area where they can run
(11:14):
around because they love to run.
It's what they're bred for.
Said you let them out, they runaround like crazy for 10, 15
minutes at full blast.
And then they're they're tired.
They're like, okay, that's it.
They come back in the house,they go down and lay down.
And they just want to lay thereand be petted and eat and
sleep.
Twice a day they want to getout and run.
(11:36):
She goes, they're great pets,they follow you all through the
house, you know, and just theyjust want to be with you and
want to be petted on.
That's it.
But the Hall of Fame, if youget a chance, you gotta go visit
it.
And it's right across thestreet from the Presidential
Library Museum, so you can'tmiss it.
Now, one of the other things tosee while you were there is the
(11:56):
Dickinson County HeritageCenter, which is kind of like a
little museum.
It tells you all aboutDickinson County.
It goes into a lot ofEisenhower stuff from his family
and things, but it also goesinto the history of Dickinson
County and things like that.
It's real interesting.
And once you get through theinside parts, you walk out the
(12:17):
back door, and there is a hugearea with a bunch of buildings
that have been relocated there.
So you can see some of the oldbuildings and walk through them
and see what they have to offer.
But one of the big things thereand the big draw is a 1901 C.W.
Parker carousel.
(12:38):
These are the old carouselswith the hand-carved horses and
stuff like this.
And the music that's theoriginal music machine that's
mechanical.
And there's a guy sitting outthere who's just waiting for you
to come up, bring your kids, orif you want to do it, that's
fine too, and ride that thing.
(12:58):
And he turns it on, the musicplays, and it goes around three
or four times.
And how often do you get achance to ride a carousel that
was built in nineteen oh one?
But it's fabulous.
I mean, it's it's amazing thatthis thing used to be taken down
and put together almost weeklywhen it traveled around the
country.
But it's it's a great place inthe County Heritage Center.
(13:20):
It's really cool, a lot ofinteresting stuff in there.
Also in that general vicinity isold Abilene Town.
Now, unfortunately, a lot ofthe old buildings from the Wild
West days are gone, but you cango to old Abilene Town.
There are some old buildingsthat have been moved there and a
lot reconstructed to resemblewhat Abilene looked like back in
(13:41):
the day.
In fact, one of the buildingswhen you walk in there, it has a
diorama of miniature setting ofAbilene, where you can punch a
button, it'll tell you whathappened there and what was
going on at this location.
And the place was full ofsaloons, as you can imagine, but
it had all kinds of interestingstuff happen there.
And they do recreations andgunfights every now and then and
(14:03):
things like that.
The kids have a blast, but it'sa lot of history there, and
it's just really cool.
And it's located right next tothe railroad.
The old railroad, I mean thesteam engine type railroad,
where you can buy a ticket andthey'll take you on a steam
engine railroad locomotive ride.
And they do themed rides andstuff every now and then too, I
(14:23):
understand.
But I wanted to go, didn't geta chance to.
And it goes, I don't know,twenty, thirty miles up the
track, turns around and comesback.
But there's always peopleriding that thing, and it looked
like a blast.
I would have loved to have goneon it had I had the
opportunity.
But there's all kinds of thingsto see and do around Abilene.
I mean, because Eisenhower grewup there, they have things like
(14:46):
the world's largest I like Ikebutton.
Now, when Eisenhower wasrunning for president, had a
campaign button that said I likeIke.
That's what everybody wore.
Well, they got the world'slargest there in downtown, along
with the world's largest beltbuckle.
So you gotta get your picturetaken with the world's largest
belt buckle, get you a selfie,put it on your Instagram, show
(15:09):
everybody you're enabling.
And there's just all kinds ofother stuff there.
They have the Eisenhower Parkand Rose Garden, which is a
beautiful rose garden and coolpark, and there's a lot of
playgrounds and stuff nearby anduh other area along with the
public swimming pool andeverything.
So it's really cool.
I drove by there and took somephotos of it.
(15:30):
Then they have the Little IkePark, which is just a little
bitty park in downtown.
Um it's got a little statue ofuh Eisenhower when he was a
youth and a couple other things.
But you know, the tourismpeople do a great job of
promoting Abilene.
And one of the things peoplelike to do when they travel is
take photos of stuff, so they'vethey've got a couple of little
(15:52):
photo challenges or tours youcan take.
One is the cowboy art tour.
The cowboy boot art tour, Ishould say.
They've got these boots, Ithink they're made out of
concrete, I don't know, butthey're intricately hand painted
at various themes.
And they stand three and a halffoot tall, something like that.
(16:12):
And they're all over town.
There's probably fifteen ofthem.
And so you can either ask thetourism place, you know, where's
all these booths located so Ican go get photos of them?
Or you can kind of have amystery of just trying to find
them on your own.
But one of them's right next tothe tourism place, which is
right downtown near the railroadtracks.
It's got a big boot sitting outfront along with a phone booth.
(16:34):
Like one of these old Englishphone booths.
Why is there?
I don't know.
At least for some reason I Iremember seeing one there.
I'm hoping there's one there.
Otherwise I'm gonna sound sillytelling you about it.
But I could swear there's likean old English phone booth
sitting out front of thistourism place.
But they got them like paintedup like the C.W.
Parker carousel boot, the wildBill Hick boot, and a patriotism
(16:57):
boot, and one that talks aboutthe history of farming and the
cattle industry and stuff.
And another thing you can do isthe mural tour.
I like to take photos of muralswhen in these towns because
every town has well noteveryone, but a lot of them have
murals painted.
And these are different thanjust graffiti.
(17:19):
These a lot of these towns, thesmall towns especially, will
have a mural that depictssomething about the history of
the town or something.
And they are all over Abilene.
There's probably anotherfifteen or twenty murals, things
about Eisenhower, the cattledrives or the trains or wild
bill hiccock.
And you can drive around townand get photos of these murals
(17:42):
everywhere.
Now if you're into photography,there's a place downtown called
Jeff coat Photography Museum.
He was a photographer in townthat for years chronicled
everything newsworthy and everyimportant person that ever came
through Abilene and other areasin Kansas, but he built a museum
(18:02):
that's got all kinds of oldcameras and just photographs and
stuff, and it's it's prettycool.
So stop by and check out theJeff coat Photography Museum.
There's also a place downtownwhere the original Alamo Saloon
was located.
It's not there anymore.
The building's not there.
There's another building that'sthere, but there's a plaque on
(18:24):
the wall.
And the Alamo Saloon wasconsidered one of the grandest
saloons of the Old West.
I mean it was huge, had the bigmirrors behind the bar and the
nude paintings up on the wallsand gaming tables all over the
place and a huge long bar thatwas like forty foot long, and
that was the premier bar and oneof the most famous in the Old
(18:48):
West.
It was also the place thatWhile Bill Hiccock wound up in a
gunfight.
Now, I'll step back a littlebit.
There was a fellow named TomBear River Smith.
He was the first marshal ofAbilene.
He never carried a gun, but hearrested a lot of people and he
did it using his hands.
I mean he would just beat theheck out of them if they gave up
(19:08):
if they started to fight him.
Well Tom Bear River Smith woundup dying when he tried to
arrest a couple of fellows.
A gunfight broke out.
Of course, Tom didn't have agun.
But he did take care of one ofthem before the other one shot
him and killed him.
And the very next marshal ofthat town was Wild Bill Hickok.
And Wild Bill got in a gunfightwith a Texas drover, I think
(19:32):
his last name was Coy, and uhgunfire was involved, and he
accidentally, while Billaccidentally shot his friend who
was coming to help him in thefight, devastated Wild Bill, and
there was a big uproar aboutit.
He wound up moving on fromAbilene, did things in Hayes and
other places and wound up inDeadwood, South Dakota, where
(19:55):
somebody shot him.
The Abilene Cemetery, you cango see the graves of President
Dwight Eisenhower's parents.
Um you can also see the graveof Tom Bear River Smith.
So it's a cool little thing onthe side uh side trip, just run
down to the cemetery.
I like checking all thosecemeteries.
I've checked out cemeteries inEl Paso, Texas, where you got
(20:17):
gunfighters and lawmen andbuffalo soldiers buried, and
other places in Kansas actually,and places in Texas, just all
over.
Cemeteries are cool.
Now while you're there, gocheck out the giant spur.
There's a big old giant spur.
Another one of them photo ops,but something they have there
that it's not the main corporateheadquarters, but they do have
(20:41):
a facility there, and you gottastop by.
They manufacture Russell Stoverchocolates there.
You got a sweet tooth?
You gotta go buy this placebecause they have a store where
you can buy tons of RussellStover chocolates.
I mean everything from maltedmilk balls to fudge to you name
it, and there's boxes and thingson sale and discounts and just
(21:02):
tons and tons and tons of stuff.
Now I'm gonna tell you asecret.
Don't tell nobody.
When you go in, they have a bigarea where you can buy fudge
and all this stuff, and thenthey have all the boxes lined up
and candies and everything, andyou're shopping all these
boxes.
Look at the very back of theplace, and there's a door, and
if you go in that door, the saleitems are back there.
(21:22):
And when you look around,there's one that says bloopers.
This is the stuff that theymake that doesn't come out,
doesn't look quite right.
It's the same chocolate.
It just didn't look right.
It was shaped funny orsomething.
Well, they'll say a box of thisstuff.
It's like two or three poundsfor fifteen dollars.
I mean you can't buy it.
(21:43):
I mean it's uh a box of justmismatched chocolate.
Everything's in there.
And if you like Russell Stoverchocolates, instead of buying
you you can buy a box of yourfavorites, but go back there and
buy a box of those bloopers forlike fifteen bucks.
I bought a box, brought it homefor the wife, and well, most of
it made home.
Well, some of it a lot of itmade it home.
(22:05):
Well, not a lot, but some of itmade it home, and she she got
some of it.
But it it was good, I'm tellingyou, it was really good.
And there's a lot of goodplaces to eat there while you're
in town.
I mean, I went to a placecalled Joe Snuffy's
old-fashioned grill.
I like going to these localplaces, and Joe Snuffy's been
around forever, and it's just acafe, just a local cafe for
(22:29):
breakfast and lunch and stuff,and they got good food, and you
can't go wrong.
But one place you gotta go iscalled Legacy, Kansas.
Now, let me tell you about thisplace.
Legacy, Kansas is located atthe Brookville Hotel, which is
the old hotel, like a hundredyears old.
And I think it's still a hotel.
You can actually get a coupleof rooms here, but downstairs is
(22:51):
the Legacy Kansas restaurant.
They don't tell you this, soyou look silly because for some
reason that the lady at thefront, I I believe, thinks
everybody should know how theyoperate when you walk in.
So I'm gonna tell you how theyoperate.
When you walk into that place,there's a little slip of paper
which is the menu, and it'seither chicken or steak.
(23:13):
At least that was it's alwayschicken, and I think most of the
time it's steak.
That's it.
That's what's on the menu.
And you tell her what you want,and then you go sit down.
Now, I ordered my meals.
If you order steak, they bringyou a steak.
But if you order the chicken,which ninety-nine percent of the
people do, it comes out on aplatter.
They serve it family style.
(23:35):
And we're talking 15 pieces ofchicken on a platter, and you
can get more.
And uh they bring all thefixings out.
I mean, they just cover thetable with fixings, they bring
you your salad, and they bringyou all kinds of stuff out
there.
And then at the end they bringyou the ice cream and
everything.
But that's the thing to know.
When you walk up there, you'regonna order before you ever go
(23:57):
sit down.
Then when you at the end, youcan pay.
But get the chicken, try itout.
It's a really good, famousplace in town.
Everybody will tell you, go toLegacy, Kansas, have the
chicken.
Another good place to check outis Munson Prime Tap House.
It's a cool place to check out,along with MR Grill.
They've got some pretty goodfood there.
I checked them out.
It was a good downtown, they'vegot Racket's Tap House,
(24:22):
R-A-C-K-E-T-S, Racket.
I know my Texas accent, alongwith the raspy voice from my
many cigars, does not alwayscome off right.
But Racket's Tap House is acool place.
Beer, whiskey, good place.
That was a huge crowd the nightI stopped by.
Um lively place, and it's it'sjust a real cool place to check
(24:44):
out.
It's right next to that littleIke Spark.
Across the street from there,or it may be one street over,
but I think it's across thestreet from Rackets.
There's a bar called or it mayI I think it's a street away,
actually.
It's called Hickox.
Named after Wild Bill.
But it's a bar.
They also serve food.
They're open for you know, youcan go in there for lunch.
(25:06):
There's burgers and barbecueand stuff, and big old long bar
and just a cool place to checkout.
But Abilene, as like I said,there's a reason it was voted
one of the best small towns inAmerica to visit.
Best small town destination.
Definitely worth your timechecking out.
And don't just fly over thesestates anymore.
Start checking out some ofthese smaller locations.
(25:28):
The people are friendly.
You'll find interesting placesto visit.
They're not just tourist traps.
These are cool places to go andcheck out.
I love Kansas.
I've been there a couple oftimes now visiting.
I still need to get back andvisit Dodge City.
I haven't had a chance to gothere, and there's a couple of
other little towns I want tocheck out, so I don't know.
(25:50):
Maybe next year I can get backup to Kansas and check those
places out.
So that's it for this week.
That's my little trip toAbilene and why you should go to
Abilene, Kansas.
And I hope you get theopportunity to do so.
And like I said, please hitthat like or subscribe button.
And if you know somebody thatmight be interested in these
little podcasts, then shoot thema link to it.
(26:11):
When I do the show notes, I'mgoing to put a couple of links
in there to articles I wroteabout Abilene.
I wrote one on the A.B. SeelyeMansion and I wrote one on the
Eisenhower Library.
And they'll be in the shownotes or the transcript of this
thing.
But that's it for this week.
I appreciate the time.
Thank you for joining me.
And until next time, safetravels.
Hi, and welcome to The Traveling Fool, the show
where we talk about traveldestinations and the history and
culture around thosedestinations.
I'm your host, Bob Bales, andtoday I'm taking you to a place
that has a Hall of Fame, ahistory of a president, and the
(00:21):
old West.
That's right, I'm talking aboutAbilene, Kansas.
So stay tuned, and we'll beright back.
It is one of the best smalltown destinations in America.
(01:19):
And that's not just me tellingyou that.
They actually won the award.
But Abilene, Kansas has alittle bit of everything from
Old West history to presidentialhistory to a Hall of Fame
museum, which I did not knowabout until I arrived there and
was pleasantly surprised.
(01:40):
But Abilene was where theChisholm Trail ended.
In fact, Abilene startedbecause of the cattle drives.
And it brought many a traveler,made Abilene one of the wildest
towns in the West.
The stockyards in Abileneshipped 35,000 head of cattle in
1867 and became the largeststockyards west of Kansas City,
(02:04):
Kansas.
And one of the marshals atAbilene, in fact, the second
marshal after the first one gotkilled, was Wild Bill Hickock.
He became the marshal there ineighteen seventy one.
He only lasted about sixmonths, but he made a mark on
the place, and then he moved on.
But there is a lot to see anddo in this small town.
(02:27):
Let me tell you about a fewplaces I visited, and I hope you
have the opportunity to go seethem yourself.
Abilene has a couple ofmansions in town.
You know, towards the end ofthe eighteen hundreds after the
Wild West era, there was afellow by the name of doctor AB
Seeley.
He founded the company calledthe AB Seeley Medical Company.
(02:49):
And you gotta remember thislate eighteen hundreds, early
nineteen hundreds.
These were little more thansnake oil.
He got very rich doing it, butI mean they had everything from
cleaning products to uh insectkillers to stuff to make your
hair grow.
He came out with just tons ofstuff, but he built a beautiful,
(03:13):
beautiful mansion that hostedeverything from presidents to
political figures to you name itover the years.
Well, his daughters inheritedthe mansions.
Um they were both unmarried,and when they were getting up in
age, there was a a fellow thatfell in love with the place.
(03:34):
He just passed by, took a lookat it, befriended the old
ladies, and wound up buying theplace and living there with them
until both of them passed.
He still lives there today.
His name's Terry.
I met him, great guy, but he'sopened up the mansion.
The mansion is fabulous.
I mean, you gotta go visit thisplace.
There's just stuff in therethat you're not gonna see
(03:56):
anywhere else.
I mean, they've got Tiffanytile work and the lights were
put in by Thomas Edison.
I mean, he wired the house, soI mean it is fabulous.
You gotta visit this place.
But in addition to the SeelyMansion, like I said, it has
presidential influence.
President Dwight DavidEisenhower, and I'm from Texas,
(04:18):
so we do claim that he was bornhere, and he was born here.
We're very proud of that.
Unfortunately, he left and wentto Kansas about six months
later with his family.
So he he doesn't remember everbeing in Texas.
He claimed Abilene as his home,and that's fine, but we know
where he was born.
But anyway, the EisenhowerPresidential Museum and Library
(04:42):
is located in Abilene becausethat's where he grew up.
That's where he spent hisyouth, that's where he called
home.
And that's the place he loved.
This is a fabulous museum andlibrary.
I've been to a couplepresidential libraries, and this
one is very large.
I mean, it takes up a largespace because of what's there.
(05:04):
You've got the independentlibrary, which is a research
library, and you can't just walkinto it.
You actually have to make anappointment to get in there and
tell them what you're lookingfor.
And there's thousands andthousands of archives of when he
was president, when he was uhin the military, when he was the
Supreme Allied commander duringWorld War II, and there's
(05:27):
always people in there doingresearch.
And then there is the museum,and then there's a huge area.
I mean, a massive like paradeground almost, where there's a
bronze statue of him, along withhis boyhood home as located on
(05:47):
the grounds.
But the museum itself, it'sfabulous.
It goes through his earlychildhood, his parents and his
family and everything, and hegoes through his time at West
Point and his early militarycareer and a lot about World War
II and being the Supreme AlliedCommander and all kinds of
artifacts and documents, histime as president and what he
(06:10):
did and what was accomplishedduring that time period.
And it is a really interestinglook at a kind of a historic
time capsule.
Now the other thing is there isthat's also where the
president, his wife, and one ofhis infant children are buried.
There's a chapel on thegrounds, and they are buried
(06:33):
there.
So it's kind of a reflectingarea.
But it's definitely a must see.
If you're in Abilene or ifyou're in the presidential
libraries, there's a lot ofpeople that travel around the
country and visit presidentiallibraries.
This is one of the best onesI've ever been to.
And I've been to three or fourof them.
Now, right across the streetfrom the presidential library is
(06:55):
a hall of fame.
And I did not know it was thereuntil I got to Abilene.
And they're telling me, well,if you have time, you ought to
go check out this uh GreyhoundHall of Fame.
I'm thinking, Greyhound Hall ofFame, I didn't know Greyhound
buses had a Hall of Fame.
They were like, no, no,Greyhound dogs.
Like, oh, well, that makes moresense.
(07:16):
So what are Greyhound Dogs Hallof Fame doing in Abilene,
Kansas?
That that didn't make sense tome.
I did not know Kansas was a bigdog racing place.
And in fact, as of this datethat I'm doing this podcast,
there's only two Greyhoundracetracks in the United States
(07:36):
left.
They're both in Virginia.
We used to have one here inHouston.
I went to it many years ago.
And it was fun.
It was a blast seeing thesedogs race.
But they told me that Peter gotinvolved and said the poor
little puppies were beingmistreated, which was a lie.
They weren't.
I mean, the greyhound racingpeople and the breeders and
(07:59):
everything, these dogs are aretreated like kings, trust me.
But Kansas has a lot of farmsthat raise greyhounds.
I would not have thought that.
Not what I mean, it's it didn'tdawn on me that they would be
raised in Kansas.
But that is the premier placethat greyhound racing dogs come
(08:22):
from.
And there's still a whole lotof farms out there that raise
greyhounds.
But since there's only tworacetracks in the United States,
most of these dogs are shippedoverseas, where greyhound racing
is still very popular.
And these breeders takeextremely good care of these
dogs.
I mean, they are treated to thebest of everything because I
(08:44):
mean it's a it's a purebred dograce specifically for racing.
Just like horses or some ofthese thoroughbreds are treated
magnificently well becausethey're used for racing, and the
people that buy them have ahuge investment.
So no, they're not mistreated.
But they have the Hall of Famethere.
(09:06):
And what is really cool is whenyou walk in the door, these two
big old greyhounds come runningout, well, kind of trotting out
from the back office where theylay down to sleep all the time,
and they just come trotting outto greet you.
They don't bark, they don'tjump on you, they just come
trotting out and stand rightnext to you and look at you
like, well, are you gonna pet meor not?
(09:27):
So you I mean, they're justfriendly as all get out.
They're beautiful dogs.
So after about two or threeminutes of petting them and just
gushing all over 'em, they lookat you and go, okay, that's
enough.
And they turn around, walk out,and go back into the office and
lay down and go to sleep.
And the lady that was theregoes, Yep, that's what they do.
They greet everybody, then theyturn around and go right back
(09:49):
to sleep.
But the Hall of Fame isfantastic.
It gives you all kinds ofperspective on some of the
famous dogs, the history ofGreyhound racing, the history of
it in America, some of theimportant people in the
industry.
But while I was there, theyalso I was asking her, I said,
Well, these are ex-racing dogs.
(10:09):
She goes, Yeah, they only racefor a couple of years and they
will retire them and they getadopted out.
And so people adopt them.
She goes, I've got a couple ofthem.
I said, Really?
She goes, Well, if you want tolearn more, there's actually one
of the organizations in theback room that's having a
meeting today, and um theyhandle adoption.
So I went back there and talkedto them.
(10:30):
And there was a couple of moregreyhounds back there.
Did the same thing, just comewalking up to me, wanted to be
petted, turned around, went backand laid down.
And I said, So tell me aboutthis.
They said, Well, we'reassociated with the premier
licensed and sanctioned bodythat handles a lot of the
adoptions, and they're some ofthe best pets you could ever
(10:51):
have if you just want a pet.
She goes, They're not goodguard dogs.
They're great pets, but they'renot good guard dogs because
everybody's a big a friend ofthem, and they don't do anything
but just lay around.
She goes, She was telling meabout once or twice a day, you
gotta let them out in thebackyard which needs to be
fenced, or you need to have abig area where they can run
(11:14):
around because they love to run.
It's what they're bred for.
Said you let them out, they runaround like crazy for 10, 15
minutes at full blast.
And then they're they're tired.
They're like, okay, that's it.
They come back in the house,they go down and lay down.
And they just want to lay thereand be petted and eat and
sleep.
Twice a day they want to getout and run.
(11:36):
She goes, they're great pets,they follow you all through the
house, you know, and just theyjust want to be with you and
want to be petted on.
That's it.
But the Hall of Fame, if youget a chance, you gotta go visit
it.
And it's right across thestreet from the Presidential
Library Museum, so you can'tmiss it.
Now, one of the other things tosee while you were there is the
(11:56):
Dickinson County HeritageCenter, which is kind of like a
little museum.
It tells you all aboutDickinson County.
It goes into a lot ofEisenhower stuff from his family
and things, but it also goesinto the history of Dickinson
County and things like that.
It's real interesting.
And once you get through theinside parts, you walk out the
(12:17):
back door, and there is a hugearea with a bunch of buildings
that have been relocated there.
So you can see some of the oldbuildings and walk through them
and see what they have to offer.
But one of the big things thereand the big draw is a 1901 C.W.
Parker carousel.
(12:38):
These are the old carouselswith the hand-carved horses and
stuff like this.
And the music that's theoriginal music machine that's
mechanical.
And there's a guy sitting outthere who's just waiting for you
to come up, bring your kids, orif you want to do it, that's
fine too, and ride that thing.
(12:58):
And he turns it on, the musicplays, and it goes around three
or four times.
And how often do you get achance to ride a carousel that
was built in nineteen oh one?
But it's fabulous.
I mean, it's it's amazing thatthis thing used to be taken down
and put together almost weeklywhen it traveled around the
country.
But it's it's a great place inthe County Heritage Center.
(13:20):
It's really cool, a lot ofinteresting stuff in there.
Also in that general vicinity isold Abilene Town.
Now, unfortunately, a lot ofthe old buildings from the Wild
West days are gone, but you cango to old Abilene Town.
There are some old buildingsthat have been moved there and a
lot reconstructed to resemblewhat Abilene looked like back in
(13:41):
the day.
In fact, one of the buildingswhen you walk in there, it has a
diorama of miniature setting ofAbilene, where you can punch a
button, it'll tell you whathappened there and what was
going on at this location.
And the place was full ofsaloons, as you can imagine, but
it had all kinds of interestingstuff happen there.
And they do recreations andgunfights every now and then and
(14:03):
things like that.
The kids have a blast, but it'sa lot of history there, and
it's just really cool.
And it's located right next tothe railroad.
The old railroad, I mean thesteam engine type railroad,
where you can buy a ticket andthey'll take you on a steam
engine railroad locomotive ride.
And they do themed rides andstuff every now and then too, I
(14:23):
understand.
But I wanted to go, didn't geta chance to.
And it goes, I don't know,twenty, thirty miles up the
track, turns around and comesback.
But there's always peopleriding that thing, and it looked
like a blast.
I would have loved to have goneon it had I had the
opportunity.
But there's all kinds of thingsto see and do around Abilene.
I mean, because Eisenhower grewup there, they have things like
(14:46):
the world's largest I like Ikebutton.
Now, when Eisenhower wasrunning for president, had a
campaign button that said I likeIke.
That's what everybody wore.
Well, they got the world'slargest there in downtown, along
with the world's largest beltbuckle.
So you gotta get your picturetaken with the world's largest
belt buckle, get you a selfie,put it on your Instagram, show
(15:09):
everybody you're enabling.
And there's just all kinds ofother stuff there.
They have the Eisenhower Parkand Rose Garden, which is a
beautiful rose garden and coolpark, and there's a lot of
playgrounds and stuff nearby anduh other area along with the
public swimming pool andeverything.
So it's really cool.
I drove by there and took somephotos of it.
(15:30):
Then they have the Little IkePark, which is just a little
bitty park in downtown.
Um it's got a little statue ofuh Eisenhower when he was a
youth and a couple other things.
But you know, the tourismpeople do a great job of
promoting Abilene.
And one of the things peoplelike to do when they travel is
take photos of stuff, so they'vethey've got a couple of little
(15:52):
photo challenges or tours youcan take.
One is the cowboy art tour.
The cowboy boot art tour, Ishould say.
They've got these boots, Ithink they're made out of
concrete, I don't know, butthey're intricately hand painted
at various themes.
And they stand three and a halffoot tall, something like that.
(16:12):
And they're all over town.
There's probably fifteen ofthem.
And so you can either ask thetourism place, you know, where's
all these booths located so Ican go get photos of them?
Or you can kind of have amystery of just trying to find
them on your own.
But one of them's right next tothe tourism place, which is
right downtown near the railroadtracks.
It's got a big boot sitting outfront along with a phone booth.
(16:34):
Like one of these old Englishphone booths.
Why is there?
I don't know.
At least for some reason I Iremember seeing one there.
I'm hoping there's one there.
Otherwise I'm gonna sound sillytelling you about it.
But I could swear there's likean old English phone booth
sitting out front of thistourism place.
But they got them like paintedup like the C.W.
Parker carousel boot, the wildBill Hick boot, and a patriotism
(16:57):
boot, and one that talks aboutthe history of farming and the
cattle industry and stuff.
And another thing you can do isthe mural tour.
I like to take photos of muralswhen in these towns because
every town has well noteveryone, but a lot of them have
murals painted.
And these are different thanjust graffiti.
(17:19):
These a lot of these towns, thesmall towns especially, will
have a mural that depictssomething about the history of
the town or something.
And they are all over Abilene.
There's probably anotherfifteen or twenty murals, things
about Eisenhower, the cattledrives or the trains or wild
bill hiccock.
And you can drive around townand get photos of these murals
(17:42):
everywhere.
Now if you're into photography,there's a place downtown called
Jeff coat Photography Museum.
He was a photographer in townthat for years chronicled
everything newsworthy and everyimportant person that ever came
through Abilene and other areasin Kansas, but he built a museum
(18:02):
that's got all kinds of oldcameras and just photographs and
stuff, and it's it's prettycool.
So stop by and check out theJeff coat Photography Museum.
There's also a place downtownwhere the original Alamo Saloon
was located.
It's not there anymore.
The building's not there.
There's another building that'sthere, but there's a plaque on
(18:24):
the wall.
And the Alamo Saloon wasconsidered one of the grandest
saloons of the Old West.
I mean it was huge, had the bigmirrors behind the bar and the
nude paintings up on the wallsand gaming tables all over the
place and a huge long bar thatwas like forty foot long, and
that was the premier bar and oneof the most famous in the Old
(18:48):
West.
It was also the place thatWhile Bill Hiccock wound up in a
gunfight.
Now, I'll step back a littlebit.
There was a fellow named TomBear River Smith.
He was the first marshal ofAbilene.
He never carried a gun, but hearrested a lot of people and he
did it using his hands.
I mean he would just beat theheck out of them if they gave up
(19:08):
if they started to fight him.
Well Tom Bear River Smith woundup dying when he tried to
arrest a couple of fellows.
A gunfight broke out.
Of course, Tom didn't have agun.
But he did take care of one ofthem before the other one shot
him and killed him.
And the very next marshal ofthat town was Wild Bill Hickok.
And Wild Bill got in a gunfightwith a Texas drover, I think
(19:32):
his last name was Coy, and uhgunfire was involved, and he
accidentally, while Billaccidentally shot his friend who
was coming to help him in thefight, devastated Wild Bill, and
there was a big uproar aboutit.
He wound up moving on fromAbilene, did things in Hayes and
other places and wound up inDeadwood, South Dakota, where
(19:55):
somebody shot him.
The Abilene Cemetery, you cango see the graves of President
Dwight Eisenhower's parents.
Um you can also see the graveof Tom Bear River Smith.
So it's a cool little thing onthe side uh side trip, just run
down to the cemetery.
I like checking all thosecemeteries.
I've checked out cemeteries inEl Paso, Texas, where you got
(20:17):
gunfighters and lawmen andbuffalo soldiers buried, and
other places in Kansas actually,and places in Texas, just all
over.
Cemeteries are cool.
Now while you're there, gocheck out the giant spur.
There's a big old giant spur.
Another one of them photo ops,but something they have there
that it's not the main corporateheadquarters, but they do have
(20:41):
a facility there, and you gottastop by.
They manufacture Russell Stoverchocolates there.
You got a sweet tooth?
You gotta go buy this placebecause they have a store where
you can buy tons of RussellStover chocolates.
I mean everything from maltedmilk balls to fudge to you name
it, and there's boxes and thingson sale and discounts and just
(21:02):
tons and tons and tons of stuff.
Now I'm gonna tell you asecret.
Don't tell nobody.
When you go in, they have a bigarea where you can buy fudge
and all this stuff, and thenthey have all the boxes lined up
and candies and everything, andyou're shopping all these
boxes.
Look at the very back of theplace, and there's a door, and
if you go in that door, the saleitems are back there.
(21:22):
And when you look around,there's one that says bloopers.
This is the stuff that theymake that doesn't come out,
doesn't look quite right.
It's the same chocolate.
It just didn't look right.
It was shaped funny orsomething.
Well, they'll say a box of thisstuff.
It's like two or three poundsfor fifteen dollars.
I mean you can't buy it.
(21:43):
I mean it's uh a box of justmismatched chocolate.
Everything's in there.
And if you like Russell Stoverchocolates, instead of buying
you you can buy a box of yourfavorites, but go back there and
buy a box of those bloopers forlike fifteen bucks.
I bought a box, brought it homefor the wife, and well, most of
it made home.
Well, some of it a lot of itmade it home.
(22:05):
Well, not a lot, but some of itmade it home, and she she got
some of it.
But it it was good, I'm tellingyou, it was really good.
And there's a lot of goodplaces to eat there while you're
in town.
I mean, I went to a placecalled Joe Snuffy's
old-fashioned grill.
I like going to these localplaces, and Joe Snuffy's been
around forever, and it's just acafe, just a local cafe for
(22:29):
breakfast and lunch and stuff,and they got good food, and you
can't go wrong.
But one place you gotta go iscalled Legacy, Kansas.
Now, let me tell you about thisplace.
Legacy, Kansas is located atthe Brookville Hotel, which is
the old hotel, like a hundredyears old.
And I think it's still a hotel.
You can actually get a coupleof rooms here, but downstairs is
(22:51):
the Legacy Kansas restaurant.
They don't tell you this, soyou look silly because for some
reason that the lady at thefront, I I believe, thinks
everybody should know how theyoperate when you walk in.
So I'm gonna tell you how theyoperate.
When you walk into that place,there's a little slip of paper
which is the menu, and it'seither chicken or steak.
(23:13):
At least that was it's alwayschicken, and I think most of the
time it's steak.
That's it.
That's what's on the menu.
And you tell her what you want,and then you go sit down.
Now, I ordered my meals.
If you order steak, they bringyou a steak.
But if you order the chicken,which ninety-nine percent of the
people do, it comes out on aplatter.
They serve it family style.
(23:35):
And we're talking 15 pieces ofchicken on a platter, and you
can get more.
And uh they bring all thefixings out.
I mean, they just cover thetable with fixings, they bring
you your salad, and they bringyou all kinds of stuff out
there.
And then at the end they bringyou the ice cream and
everything.
But that's the thing to know.
When you walk up there, you'regonna order before you ever go
(23:57):
sit down.
Then when you at the end, youcan pay.
But get the chicken, try itout.
It's a really good, famousplace in town.
Everybody will tell you, go toLegacy, Kansas, have the
chicken.
Another good place to check outis Munson Prime Tap House.
It's a cool place to check out,along with MR Grill.
They've got some pretty goodfood there.
I checked them out.
It was a good downtown, they'vegot Racket's Tap House,
(24:22):
R-A-C-K-E-T-S, Racket.
I know my Texas accent, alongwith the raspy voice from my
many cigars, does not alwayscome off right.
But Racket's Tap House is acool place.
Beer, whiskey, good place.
That was a huge crowd the nightI stopped by.
Um lively place, and it's it'sjust a real cool place to check
(24:44):
out.
It's right next to that littleIke Spark.
Across the street from there,or it may be one street over,
but I think it's across thestreet from Rackets.
There's a bar called or it mayI I think it's a street away,
actually.
It's called Hickox.
Named after Wild Bill.
But it's a bar.
They also serve food.
They're open for you know, youcan go in there for lunch.
(25:06):
There's burgers and barbecueand stuff, and big old long bar
and just a cool place to checkout.
But Abilene, as like I said,there's a reason it was voted
one of the best small towns inAmerica to visit.
Best small town destination.
Definitely worth your timechecking out.
And don't just fly over thesestates anymore.
Start checking out some ofthese smaller locations.
(25:28):
The people are friendly.
You'll find interesting placesto visit.
They're not just tourist traps.
These are cool places to go andcheck out.
I love Kansas.
I've been there a couple oftimes now visiting.
I still need to get back andvisit Dodge City.
I haven't had a chance to gothere, and there's a couple of
other little towns I want tocheck out, so I don't know.
(25:50):
Maybe next year I can get backup to Kansas and check those
places out.
So that's it for this week.
That's my little trip toAbilene and why you should go to
Abilene, Kansas.
And I hope you get theopportunity to do so.
And like I said, please hitthat like or subscribe button.
And if you know somebody thatmight be interested in these
little podcasts, then shoot thema link to it.
(26:11):
When I do the show notes, I'mgoing to put a couple of links
in there to articles I wroteabout Abilene.
I wrote one on the A.B. SeelyeMansion and I wrote one on the
Eisenhower Library.
And they'll be in the shownotes or the transcript of this
thing.
But that's it for this week.
I appreciate the time.
Thank you for joining me.
And until next time, safetravels.
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