Victory Soap v. 2.0

Here are some aerial shots: http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoaerials/

I live about sixty miles from Greensburg - I can't tell from the pictures if the west side of town was hurt. There is only one or two shots that show US54 - and there are several shots facing north that show downtown - completely gone. It is truly a wonder that more people weren't killed or injured.

I lived in Leoti, KS for a summer many years ago - town about the same size. I love the self-reliance of my fellow prairie-chickens, I haven't heard one local yokel yet demand that FEMA come give them water & McDonalds & a trailer. Towns like Greensburg aren't home to many like that, it takes a certain toughness & independence that multi-generational welfare families just don't have.

I've always wanted to go to Kansas and stand in the middle of the big prairie with miles of nothing but land and sky all around.

I've heard people compare the devastation with Hurricane Andrew -- it looks like it to me too. Entire sections of Miami were gone except for the streets and the concrete house pads. But now you would hardly know anything had happened if you drove through the same areas (unless you were with me, then I could tell you about all the trees and other things that used to be there and are now gone.) Like Miami, Greensburg will rebuild. I hope the death toll doesn't go up.

"I've always wanted to go to Kansas and stand in the middle of the big prairie with miles of nothing but land and sky all around."

Kinda where I live - I do have a neighbor within a quarter mile, which is rare out here. I can crawl up on my windmill and see the water tower in town ten miles away as the crow flies. Mostly it is windy and dry, hot brassy days in the summer that immediately dry your hidden sweat. However, there are days when it is cool, and the air is so fresh and clean it's like drinking cool water. In the spring, it is flavored with the tang of growing things, and in the fall, a different flavor - cooler and more subtle. At night, the train can be heard seven miles away, but you have to be outside to hear it. Along with the cattle bellowing, coyotes yipping and howling their songs are common.

I love it, but when the air is still, and the sky is that shade of curdled steely gray with yellow tinges - well, you sure keep your eyes peeled and listen, and keep the weather station or the tv on. I've seen a few tornadoes - nothing like what decimated Greensburg - and I have a healthy respect for them. Calm isn't always good around here.

Well, Jeffro, you've just made me extreeemely homesick. I'm originally from further up north (what's known as the Hi-Line in Montana), but your description sounds so perfect...

There is a price to pay for living there, but it was one I was willing to pay. And now can only visit. Florida holds very little attraction for me, but it's where I have to be, so I dream of windmills, water towers, coyotes & meadowlarks...

Jeffro, why don't you have a blog!? Very evocative!