In 2013, trying to recover from throat cancer, Ramona felt it would be therapeutic to take a short road trip and visit some presidential libraries. During the trip we stayed in Little Rock Arkansas to see the Clinton Library, then stayed in Independence Missouri to visit the Truman Library, and then to Abilene in Kansas to tour the grounds & library of Dwight Eisenhower.

Clinton - Little Rock Arkansas  

To say that I’ve been to Arkansas is true but to say that I have anything worthwhile to say about it, I can’t. We were there for two days, part of our little road trip to see some presidential libraries.
We drove to Little Rock to see the Clinton Presidential Library and did little else. The library was a little disappointing. I had met President Clinton when he was running for the Presidency before his first term. I am a Democrat, had worked for Hubert Humphrey many years ago and some other candidates after that before moving my family to a community not so tolerant of Democrats. So – I was looking forward to a great experience.
I did not need to be told of all his accomplishments. I watch much news and am quite informed about his eight years in the white house. I was looking for something about his personal history, what he valued, how he felt about things that were personal to him not known during his presidency. There was no elegance, no humility, nothing reveling.
Our best experience was our stay at a local Bed and Breakfast in the area. We had a nice relaxing evening and a wonderful breakfast.

Truman - Independence MO  

Leaving Little Rock, we were soon on roads that would lead us to independence and the Truman presidential library.

U.S. President Harry Truman was raised in the city of Independence. In 1922 he was elected district court judge in Jackson County, was Vice-President to Franklin Roosevelt and then became President after Roosevelt's death in office.. His wife Bess Truman was born and raised in Independence. Both are buried here. In Independence we visited the presidential library of Harry Truman and the house-museum where he and Bess lived.

Eisenhower - Abilene KS

The next day, we found ourselves heading toward Abilene Kansas, where we would be visiting the Dwight D Eisenhower presidential library.
Memorable as our trip, so far, was, upon entry to the facility, I passed out, undoubtedly because dehydration, common among people going through chemo therapy, but I was able to tour the entire area comfortably in a wheel chair that the library provided. After that experience, Ramona had had enough of worrying about my condition & endurance so chose to cut short our journey and begin the long drive back to our home. She did all the driving (her insistence). I insisted that we not try to travel the entire distance in one day. We stayed at a hotel attached to an Iowa casino for one night before finishing the trip. The experience was great and certainly memorable. I’m glad we did it.