As we were getting ready to leave the 1950's era West End Motel (and they were probably still using the same furniture) in Bucklin, KS, population 847, it was cold and damp, and then started to rain. The forecast for the rest of the day was not good - rain and northeast winds of 10-15 mph. So should we take the day off? Should we go to Dodge City about 30 miles to the northwest (wrong direction)? Should we wait, go ahead and bike in the rain, or just wait it out and see? After about 30 minutes, the rain stopped, and we decided to give it a shot. Leaving Bucklin we saw a sign (for once Bill did not have his camera because of the still strong threat of rain) that read: Greensburg 19 miles; Pratt 49 miles. Amazingly, although we still had headwinds, they were not nearly as strong as they had been the past two days. We were actually able to ride consistently between 10 and 17 mph. Eventually it did rain but it was not a downpour, and not too uncomfortable. By 10:30, we arrived in Greensburg and immediately noticed the remains of the devastation of the tornado that struck on May 5, 2007 and entirely wiped out the town. But it was also clear that much had been rebuilt. Looking closely, we saw that the recurring theme of the rebuilding effort was "green town" - the town had decided that it would rebuild smarter and greener. Greensburg held special significance to Charlie since he had done a sermon on "generosity" that was inspired by an NPR story about the tornado, and had interviewed a woman who had lost everything, but held out hope that her wedding ring and the wedding ring of her mother would be found. (Hear Charlie's description below)
Later we visited the office of the organization that is promoting "green" home restoration. Charlie and Bill bought T-shirts there to help support the efforts. We had a nice conversation with Curt Roener, an Architectural Engineer involved in the rebuilding. Curt told us that there were festivities taking place all weekend to commemorate that 2 year anniversary of the tornado. In fact he invited us to a free barbecue lunch at the newly reopened John Deere retail store about a mile down the road.
Not to be ones to pass up a "free lunch," Charlie and Bill biked to the John Deere facility and entered to find people listening to a live a capella group, while others were eating or standing in line for the barbecue. We were directed to the shortest line and got into a conversation with Kent and Ann, who were wheat farmers and Anabaptists from a small town south of Pratt, called Sawyer. We found a few vacant chairs and asked if we could join them. We were warmly welcomed by Marion, and Jill Ann (right photo), who were daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. Jill Ann and her husband Max (right photo) were residents of Greensburg, who survived the tornado, but whose home was destroyed. Charlie asked Jill Ann if she had heard of the story of the woman whose wedding rings were lost and later found. She said that she had and called over Steve (center photo) who had in fact found his wife's (and mother-in-law's) ring and who later presented it to his wife on one knee and asked her once again to marry him. It was very touching and emotional!
By 1:30, we left the plant and continued on our bikes, destination Pratt, KS about 30 miles away. After about 10 miles it started raining quite hard, but we were pretty bundled up, so it was not really a problem particularly since the winds were not too bad. The rain stopped after 20 minutes or so, and we were able to enjoy the landscape, with fairly frequent oil wells in the wheat fields. We always knew we were approaching a town when we could see the grain elevator in the distance.
When we got to Pratt, Charlie mentioned that he ran into Kent and Ann and they asked more about the purpose of the bike trip. When Charlie mentioned the Hunger project and Toni's Kitchen, Kent gave Charlie $40 to support the effort. He also invited us all to come to a dinner in their home town of Sawyer for the Volunteer Fire Department. Charlie and Bill decided to go while Martha and Kriss preferred to do laundry. It worked out great!
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