Kansas and More Kansas

As our marathon drive continued yesterday, we stopped in Abilene to see the Greyhound Hall of Fame. It is quite a spot. The moment we walked through the glass doors, a pair of beautiful animals wandered out to greet us.

“That one was a grand champion,” said the woman staffing the information desk. We were immediately smitten.

No tears here about rescued dogs. It’s all about the history of the sport, the breed, and the various champions. By the end of the tour, you are convinced that it’s mostly good for these long-legged, lightning-fast canines, and that they even prefer their crates to running around a field or some other open space. I am not so sure about that. However, given that there are many sides to any story, and I suspect greyhound racing is no exception, we sifted through the information offered up in myriad displays and tried to be objective.

The highlight, however, was definitely patting the pups. Meet Riley.

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We then poked around Old Abilene, a collection of buildings representing the “olden days.”

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We didn’t have time to tour this site, but I did marvel that a wax museum could be so era- and subject-specific!

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There was also the Eisenhower Library and more than a few historic homes to see, but we had to keep driving. As it was, we were on the road for 13-plus hours, eating candy and corn chips and so much other junk, I never want to see any of it again. It was way past dinner and happy hour by the time we rolled into RG Daughter’s college town, so we will celebrate the journey’s end and the beginning of her year this evening.

Happy trails tomorrow, when I head back to Florida. This time I’m letting the airline pilots do all the driving.


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3 responses to “Kansas and More Kansas”

  1. manuel Avatar

    The Greyhound hall of fame? Seriously I was thinking the buses! D’oh….

  2. Restaurant Gal Avatar

    manuel–indeed. so did i until RG Daughter filled me in before we got there! Coming to you via DFW airport, by the way, en route home to Florida.

  3. Maggie Avatar
    Maggie

    As a greyhound owner, I have to say that they sure do love to run (and sleep!). My boy smiles when he zooms around the yard a couple times. Then he sleeps for about 18 hours. Homelife was baffling for him at first though – ‘steps! what are these scary things!’ and ‘cat!! why is she chasing me!?!?’ and still, after 3 years, ‘ceiling fan! OMG it’s gonna get me!’