The great University of Michigan Alumni, Gerald Ford, is finally home. The line is long and winding toward the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, around 5000 people per hour have been arriving since last night.

(Associated Press)

Gerald R. Ford, the nation’s 38th president and a former football star at the University of Michigan, was welcomed with open arms by his home state as the White House jet carrying his body touched down at the airport bearing him name Tuesday afternoon.

The Michigan band performed the school’s fight song, “The Victors,” as Ford’s flag-draped casket was loaded into a hearse, which later made its way in a motorcade toward his presidential museum downtown.

The plane carrying Ford’s body, which left Washington after an event at the National Cathedral earlier in the day, made its way over Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor before touching down in Grand Rapids around 3 p.m.

Among those on the plane were Jimmy Carter, the Democrat who defeated Ford in 1976 and became his friend, and Carter’s wife, Rosalynn.

Ford, who was born in Nebraska, adopted Grand Rapids as his hometown and represented it in the U.S. House for a quarter century. His museum prepared to receive his remains Tuesday afternoon and open its doors for an 18-hour public visitation, stretching overnight, before his interment Wednesday afternoon.

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