Memories of Greensburg, Kansas
Published May 08, 2007
Saturday morning, I woke up and went downstairs to start making breakfast. Sleepily, I turned on the radio to listen to the news. My head was in the refrigerator when I thought I heard the announcer say that Greensburg, Kansas, had been destroyed by a tornado.
I popped my head out of the fridge and listened some more. Yep, a gigantic tornado had indeed practically wiped the town from the map.
I live in the Midwest, and I'm used to stories about a small town here and there being heavily damaged by wind or tornados. A few years back, heavy winds took apart St. Peter, Minnesota. The grim joke around here is that God hates trailer parks because they seem to get hit so often.
Greensburg was different because I've only been to Kansas once, and Greensburg is the only town in the state (besides Dodge City) that I actually visited.
In June 1989, I had just graduated from college and bought my first car. I was at loose ends, trapped in professional limbo. The five-month Armor Officer Basic Course didn't start until November, and I still held out hope of landing an active duty slot, so there didn't seem to be any point in starting a civilian career just yet.
In July I headed out on a road trip to celebrate graduation: West through South Dakota to Mount Rushmore, then down through Wyoming and Colorado to Rocky Mountain State Park, then to Oklahoma to visit relatives, and back up through Missouri and Illinois to see my parents in Wisconsin before returning to the Twin Cities. I brought a tent and camped the whole way to keep costs down.
I had to cut through Kansas to get from Colorado to Oklahoma. My initial impression of the state was that it was hot, dry, and flat - an impression reinforced by the severe drought that hit the region that year. Kansas has a whole series of manmade fishing lakes, and my plan was to use them as campsites. I stuck to that plan, even though most of the lakes I found were entirely dried up.
Then I hit Greensburg.
At this point, I'll switch to quoting from my diary entry of that day, edited to leave out juvenile musings and at least some tedious detail.
Sunday, July 30, 1989:
"I intended to take 183 South just outside of Greensburg, but decided at the last moment to go on into town to see The World's Largest Hand-Dug Well and the Brenham Pallasite Meteorite. The well and rock were both mildly interesting, although I declined to pay to go down into the well, contenting myself with peering into it from above.
- Memories of Greensburg, Kansas
- Published: May 08, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Travel, Culture: Society, Culture: Personal History, Culture: Family and Relationships
- Writer: Sean Aqui
- Sean Aqui's BC Writer page
- Sean Aqui's personal site
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Glad you liked it. I hope Greensburg rebuilds and prospers -- and "Piss Road" endures. :)
I reside in Vancouver, BC Canada. The only trip I've ever been on ever was to Greensburg lol. It was early February of 2004, we traveled from Vancouver, Canada. First we hopped on a Greyhound bus, which broke down so we missed our flight out of Seattle, Washington lol. From there we slept on the floor at the Atlanta Georgia Airport for many many hours, haha. When we finally arrived in Wichita we could not wait to get in the rental car and head to our destination, Greensburg! I remember feeling a warm sense of welcoming as sooon as we arrived, We were expecting the birth of our 3rd baby and made the journey there to buy a very special 1993 Chevy Suburban from one of the nicest families I've ever met. Although the black ice was sooo bad that I almost crashed only a block or two away from picking up the new truck I will NEVER forget that town or the people there. I wish very much to have the oppurtunity to once again visit. Alex, we've been searching for you and your parents for so long. 2 days before the tornado hit I said lets dig out the truck info and get ahold of Scott, we have soo much to tell about the truck and our family. 2 days later when we heard the news we were absolutely devestated for you and all the people of Greensburg we felt sick to our stomachs just praying that you were ok. Now today September 21 2007 I was thinking of you again and did some searching online I found a few articles of you guys but this is the only thread I can reply to, PLease if you get this contact us I would love to keep in touch. Best wishes,
Your family (by truck) lol Adam and Brandy Mullen.
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Hey, nice article. I lived in Greensburg at the time of the tornado, and graduated in the class of 2007. I can tell you, piss rode is a blast going about 65 mph. Lol. I can also tell you everything you experienced is still part of Greensburg. Those things defined Greensburg, and can never die with the tornado. I look forward to the day Greensburg rebuilds. I encourage you to try and make it to Greensburg once again, to take a look around, and to see what I mean. It's people like you that give the people of Greensburg hope. Anyone who realizes how wonderful our community was is a hero in my eyes.
Alex Reinecke