Tornado Alley!

Sunday morning (afternoon!) we had to say goodbye to Uncle Larry. I tried to talk him into going to Dodge City with us, but he has a job and bills to pay and is probably a little tired of going and doing. I don't know what we're going to do without his encyclopedic knowledge of our surroundings. I guess we'll go back to "Hey, there's a big thing over there! I wonder what that does?"




I thought we have plenty of time to do and see in Tulsa, but there was so much that we didn't get to do. On the way out of town, we stopped and saw the Golden Driller. He is the largest free standing statue in the world. It's these kinds of little facts that we have Uncle Larry to thank for. It's a big honkin' thing. We missed the Center of the Universe, the Blue Whale in Catoosa, the Aquarium and the Zoo and the Gilcrease and so much more. The girls decided that we will come back to Tulsa. Of course, they also think that they have jobs lined up at Discoveryland!





Everybody was pretty tired and in a fighting mood. They were not so interested in seeing a big yellow dude. They wanted to take a nap. And fight.





So we set out across Oklahoma and into Kansas. There are many, many toll roads here and the tolls are super cheap. No $6 round trips across a three mile bridge! You can drive miles and miles and miles for $1.60. And that's a little strange in itself, who decided that $1.60 is a nice round number?




Kansas is a little bit of a surprise. I expected prairie, but I didn't expect to feel like I'd just driven out to Jay. That is what Kansas looks like; Jay, FL. Only bigger. I think my dad would love it up here. There are deer crossing signs everywhere, little creeks to fish in and little towns that probably haven't changed too much in the past 50 years.




I wish I had gotten more pictures in Kingman KS. I really could see Dad living here. It has such beautiful old buildings and brick streets and this little mini Statue of Liberty. There are lots of pick up trucks and tractors and it smells a little bit like cow poo.





Actually, a large portion of Kansas smelled like cow poo. We passed some HUGE industrial farms that smelled to high heaven. At one point Willa said, "It smells like Daddy pooped on a log and sent it down the river for us." It smelled like everybody's daddy pooped on a log and then put the log in our car. Super stinky!





I liked this little church because it was sitting right in front of what I can only guess it a grain silo complex. Without Uncle Larry, who knows? It could be sitting in front of a space station. I think the picture sums up what Kansas is all about, farming and faith.





We drove through Greensburg, KS on our way to Dodge City. I wanted to take more pictures, but that just didn't seem polite. I did get the picture above of the water tower. I have seen some storm damage in my life, but absolutely nothing can describe what Greensburg looks like even more than a year after the tornado that leveled it. These are some tenacious folks that have years of work ahead of them. If you get the chance, check out their town plan.

Next: More stinky cow towns and a very long drive.