Day 24 -- Byron Center to Battle Creek, Michigan -- 108 Miles

Last night we parked our rig in the town of Byron Center, Michigan, which is a southern suburb of the bustling city of Grand Rapids. I'm sort of sorry that we didn't make an effort to discover where the "grand" rapids were located, but we got into camp pretty late and the blog production ate up the rest of the evening.

Our sole purpose in coming to Grand Rapids was to visit the President Gerald Ford Museum. Grand Rapids hosts the museum, but it's Ann Arbor that hosts the Presidential Museum. We're hoping to find the President Ford Museum tomorrow if the creeks don't rise.

We chose our camp wisely last night since it was only about 10 miles from our destination museum. Yesterday we found the narrow, antiquated freeway in central Grand Rapids pretty daunting as we bumped and vibrated over the hideously patched ribbon of asphalt in concert with cement trucks on one side and 18-wheelers on the other. The twisty freeway reminded me of the Pasadena Freeway, vintage 1939, which was designed when cars and trucks were smaller and traffic loads much lighter

But this morning, as we retraced our route of the previous afternoon, we encountered no heavy traffic. Before we knew it, we were exiting the freeway at our destination. Except it wasn't at our destination. I had exited one opportunity before I should have. This meant that I had to thread our way down some pretty narrow city lanes so I could get back on the freeway again and exit just a short distance to the north.

But once that was accomplished, we quickly found the museum parking lot which, to our relief, was nearly empty. Lots of museums nowadays fail to take into consideration that folks in RVs might drop by someday. Today, when we saw that 95% of the lot was empty, we just parked as far away from the museum building as we could, then got ready to go inside.

But right in the middle of collecting our cameras and glasses and things, there came a knock at the door. When Concetta opened the door, she found a nice officer standing there who preceded to tell her that we could not park in the mostly empty parking lot. We had to go park on the street next door because the 95%-empty lot was reserved for little cars. He did graciously explain to us that if we parked where he indicated, we would be right on the ramp to the freeway north, which would allow us to stay off the narrow city streets.

Well, as you might guess, I was less than thrilled for a couple of reasons: first, the place where he wanted us to park WAS right on the on-ramp traffic lane, which meant lots of cars coming disconcertingly close to the rig as they sped by; second, we often end up having lunch in museum parking lots before taking off, and having lunch next to a busy thoroughfare is less than wonderful. But we did as the officer asked and we all parted as friends.

And then, Concetta and I proceeded to spend two of the most memorable hours we've ever spent in a museum, Presidential or otherwise. To put it simply, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, in his home town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, just bowled us over, The thoroughness of the museum's design, covering all aspects of the President's life, the simplicity of the theme presented in each display, and the overwhelming poignancy of the message left us humbled, often teary-eyed.

I have to confess that I paid very little attention to President Ford when he was in office. The sheer energy-draining weight of President Nixon's problems, and the years of controversy surrounding Watergate, left me less than eager to devote any more of my time and energy to politics in any form. Ignoring President Ford had nothing to do with his suitability for the job, or with his skill in office. I just didn't want to know anymore.

But TODAY! Today I was able to rectify a huge mistake on my part, and bring myself up to speed on perhaps one of our greatest Presidents. There was an awful lot of information to digest, and I gave it my full attention. But the hundreds of photo captions, photographs, theater audios, relics, artifacts, and magnificent recreations of things like the Oval Office left us positively breathless as we tried to contemplate the mass of information we had to assimilate.

Concetta was much more successful in dutifully reading each and every display caption from the 1st room on, but in the end, I took to flitting around like a sort of butterfly, photographing, reading, and appreciating in a more "unstructured" fashion. I don't think I missed much, from Gerald's youngest days as a child abandoned by his father, his Boy-Scouting activities, his early work experience, his sports successes, his WWII military adventures.

Naturally, I was especially interested in his life aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater of World War II. I was held completely enthralled as a short film clip explained how his carrier, the Monterey, was beset by a typhoon while steaming toward the Philippines. The wind and waves pounding the ship were so strong, that airplanes on the deck as well as down on the hanger deck, began to break loose from their tie-downs and crash into one another. Soon, because of the combination of leaking gasoline and sparks from the destroyed airplanes, a fire started and quickly got out of control.

So much smoke was created, that the engineering part of the vessel was evacuated, and the ship ultimately lost power. Fortunately, the Monterey survived the typhoon and onboard fire, but three crewmen died, and 37 more were severely injured. Additionally, the task force with which the Monterey had been steaming, lost a total of three ships, and 87 sailors before the typhoon's winds and waves abated. And as for ensign Ford, the future President of the United States came very close to being lost over the side as the Monterey's deck listed dangerously to starboard.

It occurred to me as I read the many accolades President Ford received, the many awards he won, the many milestones he achieved, the regard in which everyone from world leaders to members of the opposing party held him, that I had foolishly missed out on one of the most impressive public careers that ever taken place in the United States. As far as I could see, Gerald R. Ford, statesman, humanitarian, stellar husband and father, world leader, patriotic American, and, heck, all around decent guy, was an incredible gift to the people of this country.

Just as I didn't appreciate President Ford's incredible significance and unwavering presence in national and world events, I'm not sure how many of our present citizens recognize the value of his Presidency, or even care about this truly fabulous public servant. So I urge you to travel to Grand Rapids, at your earliest convenience, and see for yourself what Concetta and I saw today. You won't be sorry, and we assure you that you will never forget what you encounter in the Gerald R. Ford Museum. Bring some tissues because you're going to need them.

And, when you get out there on those wonderful two-lanes in the heart of the greatest country in the world, The Happy Wanderers wish you happy travels and exciting destinations.