Hay bales and tornados (Dodge City, KS)

I was in charge of writing the group journal for the day, so get comfortable because this post is huge. Here she be:

Hello from Dodge City, Kansas! We left the Coldwater Lake campground this morning in the middle of a heavy fog that reduced our visibility quite a bit. Fortunately, we could still hear cars coming from behind us and it was kind of cool seeing the road in front of us disappear into the mist, never knowing whether a hill or bend was coming ahead.

After a couple hours, the fog lifted and Anita, Caitlin and I came across signs for Greensberg, Kansas, a small town that made the national news this past May when an F5 tornado 1.7 miles in diameter leveled the entire town. We decided to detour to learn what has been happening in the past two months and how Greensberg is handling a very serious housing crisis. Riding through Greensberg’s streets was really sobering. With the exception of a few concrete buildings, piles of debris and trailers, the whole landscape was flat and eerie. Trees had been stripped of their branches, but trunks were left standing, sometimes with debris stuck in them or wrapped around them. The surroundings reminded me a lot of the way the way Waveland, Mississippi looked this past spring when I visited a Katrina relief work camp nearby (Waveland is the town where the eye of Katrina ran aground). Unlike Waveland, though, there was lots of evidence here of the rebuilding process already starting up. Heavy trucks and bulldozers were all over the place carting away debris. FEMA offices had been set up in tents next to the courthouse and were busy interviewing people about damage assessment, insurance, and so on. We met a resident who had lived in Greensberg for more than fifty years and owned several properties in town, all of which were destroyed. She showed us pictures of the way the town looked three days after the tornado hit, and it was clear that a lot of progress had already been made on debris removal and cleanup. She was excited because she was receiving one of the first permits to rebuild her home, and was already hanging vinyl siding on her garage. We joked that it was a shame we couldn’t stay any longer, since we learned all about hanging siding during our build day in Chapel Hill.

The rest of the ride into Dodge City was pretty nice, with very few hills and clear weather. The countryside in Kansas looks a lot like I expected of the Midwest, with huge wheat and corn fields and not much else in-between towns. Dodge City is known for both historic Fort Dodge, which protected the Santa Fe Trail for settlers going west, and the big meat processing plant there now, which we could smell in town. We’re staying tonight at the Gunsmoke Trav-L-Lodge, a really nice campsite just outside of town, and look forward to an easy ride into Garden City tomorrow.

We also got some really exciting news yesterday night—Andrew, our teammate who was injured in an accident outside Memphis and has been recovering at home, is feeling a lot better and got permission from his doctor to rejoin the team! He’ll be meeting up with us in Colorado Springs this Saturday. Andrew, can’t wait to have you back!

Bike odometer: 1915 miles










Greensberg










Almost all the homes in sight were buldozed down to their foundations










Happy Independence Day













Mrs. Ella Mae Mars, a resident of Greensberg for more than fifty years, shares some pictures of the town three days after the tornado hit.













Anita and CVH, signing a message board at the town's main attraction, a hand-dug well










Strange whirligigs by the side of the road (Anita and CVH)










Me, Anita, Kaitlin L










Emily B, Emily H, Melanie, Anita, Kaitlyn, Me











We pass hay bales almost every day and finally decided to take some pictures...
Me, Melanie, Anita on top










Me, Emily B, Melanie, Anita










Hotties










Melanie and me










Meeee













Anita