These photographs show the souvenirs I brought home from Wichita, Kansas after my once-in-a-lifetime close encounter with a tornado there in 1988. Tornadoes may be common to folks living in Kansas or Oklahoma and learning to live with them is a way of life, nothing too extraordinary for them. But it is certainly not common for me, one whose home is 9500 miles (15,000 km) from Wichita, or measured in terms of flight time (including transits), between 25 and 30 hours. I was excited to be in Wichita; Glen Campbell's world famous song, "Wichita Lineman," came to mind when I arrived at the airport. In the first verse of that song, he sang, "I am a lineman for the county and I drive the main road. Searching in the sun for another overload." In the second verse, he sang "I know I need a small vacation. But it don't look like rain. And if it snows that stretch down south, won't ever stand the strain," etc. Mr. Campbell sang of the sun, rain and snow in Wichita, but he did not sing of the tornado. It was only some years after my visit to Wichita that the movie "Twister" (1996) created awareness worldwide of what tornadoes can do to whole towns and cities.
Early one Sunday morning, I rented an Oldsmobile-88 from Hertz Rent-A-Car and drove 250 miles from Wichita in the direction of Kansas City in search of a Gospel Hall in the countryside to experience attending the church meetings there. With some difficulty I finally found it but was 20 minutes late for the first meeting. After enjoying a quiet morning worshipping God with the believers, I was invited home by a kind lady to lunch with two or three others. I was about to leave after being showered with the warm hospitality when the heavy storm descended suddenly. We were in a nice cozy house within a large estate where other neighbouring houses were far off and nowhere in sight. The storm sounded like locomotives passing by just outside the house with the wind howling loudly in tandem. I was really quite concerned about my onward journey back.
When the rain subsided, I thanked the good company of new friends I have made and drove off towards Kansas City instead of Wichita. It was an on-the-spot decision to change course. There was no other better reason than just wanting to see for myself Kansas City which has one part in the State of Kansas, and in Missouri. I did not have much time left before dark so the visit was short.
The adventure began when I headed back towards Wichita. If you would like join me in the adventure, the full story can be found HERE. Thank you for your interest. You are most welcome to leave a comment if you like.
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