October 8, 2012

CAROLE FINALLY GOT HER WISH. We visited a fort today. After our visit, however, she concluded that Fort Riley, a military base, was not really a fort. I think she wants to see one of those old log forts with the huge swinging doors which are in the old cavalry movies. I have to admit that Ft. Riley did not look like an old cavalry fort. It looked as empty as Fort Zinderneuf  in the opening scene of Beau Geste. We drove all over the base and saw only three soldiers; two men at the entrance gate and one man jogging. Of course, the other soldiers may have been "training" somewhere else in the 100,000 plus acres of the base.

We were pleased to see that the three soldiers we did meet were very polite.Years ago, when we were crossing the border from Bavaria to Austria, we had a very different experience with German soldiers. I thought that the German border guard had told us to proceed, and I started to drive into Austria when I heard a loud "HALT." Having heard and seen German border guards yell "halt" in numerous movies, I slammed on my brakes and threw my arms in the air. Whatever the issue was, he let us proceed.

We wanted to see one of several museums on the base, either the one devoted to the Big Red One or the one devoted to the history of the cavalry. We drove all over the place until a jogging soldier pointed us in the direction of the cavalry museum. There was a statue of a rider-less horse in front of the place, and I told Carole that it must be Comanche, the most famous cavalry horse in American history.

 I was surprised to see that the statue was of an anonymous horse. The only place in the entire museum where Comanche was given even token recognition was by a small statue in the bottom row of an exhibit.

After the battle of Little Big Horn, Comanche, Miles Keogh's horse, was found alive and wounded among Custer's dead cavalry men. Comanche became a national hero during the remaining years of his life, and when he died he was stuffed and displayed at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Today, his stuffed remains are on display at the University of Kansas' Natural History Museum.   

Apart from the slight against Comanche, the small museum was interesting, tracing the U.S. Cavalry from its beginnings to its end in the 1930s. Thankfully, we did not have to listen a recording of Garry Owen, the official theme song of Custer's 7th Cavalry.

We drove as far as Kansas City, Missouri, a town noted for its ribs. I had a full slab at a place by our motel and was not impressed. Admittedly, I did not go to one of the famous rib joints in Kansas City. Maybe we will try some ribs at one of the more famous restaurants tomorrow. To be sure, we will have to find Carole a fort.