We left Abilene on Tuesday after wrapping up our research at the Eisenhower Library. We were newbies there, and had to learn the rules of how to handle documents properly. The stern but kindly librarians kept close watch on us, after all we were handling valuable government documents like Ike's diaries and NSC papers. We noticed several pictures of 'banned researchers' in the break room. We could only imagine that we could end up on that wall with all the missteps we took, like not keeping a document in the box it belonged in when we went to make copies or letting one of us see the other's documents. We thought we could work together but apparently that was against the rules. So we did what we could and got out of Abilene with several copies of highly classified documents to send back to our friend Jason.

The highlight of the day though was when we stopped at an audio store in Salina. We had not been able to get our Sirius (XM?) radio working in the trailer, and although it was working in our Toyota it was not installed the best, with a tangle of wires and a power connection that was annoying. To make a long story short, we left after about 2 hours with our Sirius receiver working in the trailer, our MP3 players working with the stereo system also, and a much cleaner installation in the Toyota. We were very happy. Thanks to Sirius radio, our GPS, our laptop when used with WiFi and our Blackberry we are very much connected.

We pulled into Dodge City last night and found a good campground, although there were still piles of snow from the storm a few days before. We had to drive through some of the snow to get to our site, but our 4-wheel drive truck made it pulling the trailer. They got over a foot of snow there, very unusual for this time of year.

Today we saw a little of Dodge City, home of Wyatt Earp and Gunsmoke. They like to play up their lively past, as did Abilene. Having a lawless history seems good for the tourism trade. We visited a site a little west of Dodge City that still had ruts in the ground from the wagons traveling the Santa Fe Trail. We followed the Santa Fe Trail in parts down to New Mexico, where we are tonight. Compared to what the travelers in covered wagons went through, we have it pretty easy. The wind wasn't as bad today as we drove, but we drove under threatening skies much of the way - see pic. We saw our first tumbleweeds, many windmills and oil wells, cattle and grasslands. You can see for miles out here, which is a new phenomenon for us. The wind has now picked up again and is shaking our trailer as I sit here typing. The wind will continue to harass us as we continue our journey, oh well.

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