A Visit with President Reagan

Alright, we didn't actually visit with the former President (since he is actually deceased), it was really a visit to a museum at the college he attended.
After a comfortably air conditioned and restful night, we packed up this morning to head back to Indianapolis.


Reagan (far right) on the Eureka
College football team



Jeff had planned a stop at the Ronald Reagan Museum at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois on the way to Indianapolis.  Ronald Reagan went to Eureka College and was a strong supporter of the school.  He said it taught him leadership and responsibility as a young man.

Eureka is a pretty small town, and the college is small too.  The museum at the college has lots of Reagan memorabilia, much of it donated by the Reagan family.  Reagan visited the school when he was an actor, and also gave a commencement address there when he was President of the United States.



Berlin Wall

We spent some time looking at the exhibited items and watching video footage of President Reagan giving speeches.  The kids enjoyed listening to him tell jokes.  There were lots of personal items from Reagan's life in exhibit cabinets, including a picture of him on the college football team. 



After touring the museum, we went to the Reagan Peace Garden, which includes a slab of the Berlin Wall.  Oddly, while we walked by the garden the first time, we took pictures of the scultpure of President Reagan's head, but missed the piece of the Berlin Wall.  It wasn't until after we were back at the RV and the President of the college drove by and asked if we needed help with anything that we learned about it.  He told us to make sure we saw it, because it's one of only seven slabs of the wall in the U.S.  Henry and I went back, and I have to say, it's embarrassing that we missed it the first time.  It's a good sized piece. 

It was very nice of the college president to take the time to say hello and ask if we needed anything.  That's what you get at a small college - personal attention.