RV Fun Trips

A Trip to the Southwest and the Plains
November 2007
Wichita — Page 1

On the Road to Wichita
Our day began leisurely as with many days on this trip. We've really enjoyed the leisurely pace of our trip so far. Our planned destination for this day would be Wichita where we would visit our families. I took a picture of the unusual method of power and cable distribution in this RV campground.

An unusual way to distribute cable TV and electricity to each site

Once out on the road our route followed US-54 which took us northeast through the remainder of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. A railroad runs parallel to the highway most of the way into Kansas. A short distance out of Dalhart I saw a scene that is familiar in California, but this was the first time I've seen rows of wind powered generators in this area. I've always thought that the plains would be a good place to produce electricity from the persistent winds blowing across the flat lands.

The first time I've seen wind powered generators in this area

The panhandle area as well as most of Kansas is flat where many small towns and villages are spaced only a few miles apart. Many of the towns have several things in common including grain elevators and large granary bins. Often a small town will have a very large high school that looks too big for the size of the town. The student body will be made up of kids from around the surrounding county.

Many towns have this combination of structures, just arranged differently

As we went through the town of Guymon, Oklahoma I saw a sign at a Love's ravel center that had a price that looked too good to be true. Most stations were selling diesel fuel for $3.25 to $3.50 per gallon; however, the price seen at Love's was $2.36. I just figured that the person who set the sign up didn't know the difference between 3 and 2. The next stations we saw all had the price of diesel fuel set at $3.35.

A price too good to be true — real price is $3.359 per gallon

It is a short distance from Guymon to the Kansas border and an even shorter distance from the border to Liberal, Kansas where I noticed that US-54 is also Pancake Boulevard. This is a reference to the annual, international pancake flipping competition between Liberal and a town in England. Also on Pancake Blvd. there is a sign advertising the local tourist attraction Dorothy's House. This refers to the house in the movie The Wizard of Oz. This movie has supported a thriving tourist and souvenir business in Kansas for decades.

As our motorhome left Liberal and headed out into the flatlands of Kansas the ever present railroad business was keeping its workers busy. First there was an approaching freight train and a little farther along our route we saw a crew of men working on the tracks.

A railroad maintenance crew busy at work

When it came time for lunch I found a small roadside park next to a railroad trestle. While outside taking photos of the area, I was hoping that a train would come by on the steel trestle. With as many trains as we saw during our travels on this trip, I figured the odds would be in my favor of getting to take a great picture of our motorhome below the trestle as a train traveled overhead. I saw more trains on our way to Wichita, but as luck would have it there were no trains that made their way to this particular section of railroad track while we had lunch. Oh well, maybe another time.

Click on image to view a larger version

A nice quiet place for lunch

As our route took us through the small town of Minneola, it occurred to me that the little towns in Kansas seemed to have escaped the fate of the villages seen in New Mexico and Texas. The store fronts, though old, seemed to be filled with small businesses. The antique-aged buildings added an intriguing sense of history that invoked thoughts of the stories these buildings could tell if they could speak.

In Meade, KS older buildings look as if they contain businesses

Leaving Minneola we passed a row of grain elevators that are very common here in the plains. As our rig headed east on US-54 my thoughts changed to those of the devastated little town of Greensburg, Kansas. I lived in Greensburg for a summer in the early 1950s. As a result, I always like to stop for a short time each time our path brings us this way. Unfortunately, most of the town had been destroyed by an F-5 tornado earlier in the year.

Grain elevators are a common sight in the plains — This located in Minneola, KS
Notice yet another train coming toward us.

There was a sign on the opposite side of the highway that said, 1 Mile Ahead — Greensburg has a great BIG WELL-come for you!, a sign put in place during better times.

As we approached Greensburg, even though I had seen many pictures of the devastation on TV and the Internet, I wasn't ready for the scene laid out before us when we entered town. The emotion that came over me was sadness, something I didn't expect. I found a place to park just down the street from location of The Big Well. At first I just stayed in our motorhome while taking pictures of the surrounding area from open windows.

I finally got out and walked around the Big Well site where I spent so much time when I was a youngster. In some ways it was eerie as my memories tried to come forth with the locations and images in my mind of buildings I recalled from my childhood. For awhile I just looked around in awe. Then I began taking photos looking toward where I thought I remembered the locations of buildings including the house where I stayed two blocks south of the Big Well.

This is indicative of the whole town — all that remains of a home is the driveway

It appears as if a shroud covers the observation structure over the big well

I met a couple of women who turned out to be volunteers that had been helping with the clean-up efforts. They told me that everything looks very clean compared to when they first arrived. They also told me about the FEMA trailer village located south of town where residents have been relocated.

After the tornado, absolutely no infrastructure survived. No schools, electric power, clean water, legal system, retail stores and even the roads were made unusable by debris. To accommodate legal issues, the local court system was moved to a nearby town's courthouse. By the time we arrived six months after the disaster, the piles of broken buildings were mostly gone and electric power appeared to be present. I saw what appeared to be a make-do hospital made with temporary modular structures.

Part of the stone wall — with my initials— was the victim of the tornado

Even though most of the building lots were cleared of demolished structures, the whole place still looked terrible to me. The trees were stripped clean by the tornado and now they were sprouting new branches up and down the full length of what was left of each tree. This was a natural attempt by the trees to produce the foliage needed to provide nourishment for the mature root systems. I was told that this was a point of concern because the trees should have been going dormant for the winter. However, the trees were at risk of being finished off by a hard freeze.

Trees struggling to survive may have more hard times ahead

After taking more than forty photos, I drove out of town via Main Street through what was left of the downtown area. Only a few of the old brick building were still standing, however, they were damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. Even though we left Greensburg feeling sad, it sounds as if the little town has already began to rebuild and plans to be the greenest community in the United States.

Greensburg Photo Album

I tried to put a positive spin on what I we saw. With the debris cleaned up and new infrastructure beginning to grow, I look at the little town of Greensburg as a blank canvas. The people of Greensburg are the paints that each brings texture and character to the work of art that will be the new Greensburg. I will return to see the beautiful new town for myself.

Be sure to check out the new Greensburg website that has the latest progress information.

Shortly after leaving town we saw the familiar sight of a freight train coming toward us on the tracks running parallel to the highway. After seeing the train, something we became used to on this trip, we saw something I've never seen in Kansas — fields of cotton. The cotton plants had been harvested of their fluffy, white balls of cotton.

The first time I've seen cotton fields in Kansas

After seeing an unusual scene, one that was very familiar showed up in the form of windbreaks on both sides of the highway. These windbreaks are artifacts from dust-bowl years during the great depression era in the 1930s. The windbreaks consist of rows of trees planted to stop the wind from blowing farm soil away from the nearby fields. The windbreaks are easy to spot due to the un-naturally straight rows of alternating deciduous and conifer trees.

Our route took us through the familiar towns of Pratt and Kingman before reaching our destination in Wichita. Pratt and Kingman are nice small towns that have more of the older buildings we've seen so much of on our journey. Kingman also has a landmark that most people who come this way recognize. Kingman's best known landmark is a small replica of the Statue of Liberty, which can be seen next to highway US-54.

More old buildings with character seen as we cruise through the town of Kingman

We entered the Blasi RV campground at about 5PM central time. Kay called her brother while I registered for a campsite. Once in place, I began the process of unhooking our towed vehicle. Before completing that task, Kay's brother showed up to welcome us "home."

It seemed to be a bit warm and I worked up a sweat unhooking the car. I checked the weather report to find that it was 77 degrees at 5:50pm with the relative humidity at 90 percent. This is very unusual for November.

When we were able to go visiting, we headed to Kay's brother's place where we were greeted by a foursome of barking basset hounds. Two of the pooches were little puppies that last time we visited Wichita. Now they were grown up and quite friendly when they got to know us again. The momma dog, Scarlet, was the first to recognize me and began wagging her tail; the pups took a while longer.

Three ladies from left to right
Sophia (gray face) — Scarlet (on floor) — Lucy (daughter of Scarlet)

Bullet (aka Bubba) — the man of the dog house — son of Scarlet

We spent the evening talking and watching Monday Night Football. It was good to be in the company of Kay’s brother and his family. They always make us feel right at home. It was a good way to end our day. This would be the beginning of an extended stay in Wichita.