Herbert Hoover on the Way to Elgin

We were awakened with booming thunder. I had heard rain and wind during the night, but no thunder. Now the rain had stopped, but the thunder started. More exciting weather, and very normal to the people who live here.

We took our time getting ready to leave this morning. John checked the tire pressure before we moved and it indicated we needed a couple of pounds in one of the trailer tires. Since we only have one axle (two tires) on the trailer, he always checks the pressure before we move and, hopefully, has scoped out a place, either in the campground or a nearby gas station, where we can get air. This time he hadn’t, so we drove very slowly around the circle to the office and were told they had a compressor in the garage on the back side of the campground. So we drove very slowly around the campground again and when we got to the air compressor, the tire had magically inflated itself. Better than magically deflating itself I guess.

Back on I-80. About 10 a.m. we were passing the off-ramp to Warren, Iowa (edited based on Harriet's comment -- she was right -- I didn't know where I was!!) and there was a sign that this was the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover and his museum and Presidential Library is here. We really didn’t have time to stop and tour but I talked John into getting off the freeway so I could at least take a picture.

Luckily, it’s only about 2 miles from the freeway and the Visitor’s Center was open. I bought some postcards; got literature about the site; and took a couple of photos of his birthplace cottage.

We’ve visited Calvin Coolidge’s in Plymouth, Vermont; Franklin Roosevelt’s in Hyde Park, New York; Harry Truman’s in Independence, Missouri; Dwight Eisenhower’s in Abilene, Kansas; JFK’s in Boston, Massachusetts; Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan’s in Southern California; Jimmy Carter’s in Atlanta, Georgia; and George Bush’s in College Station, Texas (Papa). On this trip we plan to see Gerald Ford’s in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Bill Clinton’s in Little Rock, Arkansas. I can’t really count Herbert Hoover’s as visited. Maybe another time.

This week we will be in Elgin Illinois, staying at Paul Wolff Campground in one of the Forest Preseerves. Our good friend Manus Sweetman (he was best man at our wedding) lives here with his wife, Susan. We plan to spend a lot of time catching up. If you read my blogs from 2005 and 2007 you’ll know that we were visiting here when John was first diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (2005) and we had to hurry home; and when his oncologist called and said “come home for treatment” (2007). I threatened to not come back, but was just kidding. We’re not superstitious.




They met us at the off-ramp from the tollway and led us to the campground, helped us get set up (thank you, Manus, for your excellent backing directions) and then we went to their house for dinner. Manus grilled great steaks and we had a good time visiting.