Ninety-five percent of Greensburg, Kansas, was devistated by a F5 tornado in May 4, 2007. You are looking at the remnants of what used to be a house. Words and pictures do not do the story justice. It is difficult to describe the subdivision which we found ourselves in today. The town is still trying to recover a mere two years after the destruction. Houses are completely gone. Only basements and foundations left. I can only imagine what residents must have felt. Many leaving town and choosing not to rebuild. Any building which is standing today was rebuilt after the tornado. This includes the courthouse.
Meanwhile Dodge City proved to be a unique town. There is a particular smell when you enter the town. I later figured out that it was cows. There is a meat distribution center in Dodge City which explains the smell. Also for a mere $8 you can relive the old west by visiting the Boot Hill Museum. Was it worth it? Kinda sorta. I found out more about the old west than what I ever knew, much of which was garnered from my Grandfather’s Time Life Book of Legends of the Old West. Boot Hill Museum had much of everything such as an old Saloon, General Store, Jail, Church etc. Good stuff. However I can see myself running into alot of these in my future trip to Yellowstone.
Along the way we stopped at most every significant town. Took a photo of the courthouse and post office. I have found that most all Kansas towns have a combination of these things – Wheat storage bin – usually 4 stories tall and right next to a railroad track. It shows [Name of City] Co-op on the side. Consequentally this is the tallest structure in town.
Other things include, post office, courthouse. business district, VFW, Veterans’ Memorial, and movie theater. And seemingly all these town look virtually the same. Change some names on the signage and it is the same. I noted that it is usually miles and miles of nothingness followed by these short urban areas. Which makes me wonder what these people do for recreation, shopping, health care, etc. Do they have to plan for trips to buy televisions 3 hours away in Witcha? Is going to town a huge activity? Are these people still living in the 1950s? Somehow I wanted to speak to a local, but I never got around to asking our waitresses or convience store clerks about local ways of life during my trip through south western Kansas.