10 States in 8 days - Day 1

Yes, we really did it.  We traversed through 10 states in just 8 days.  It was a killer!  But we saw some beautiful sites along the way.

DAY 1

OLATHE, KANSAS -
Our journey began in Kansas because that is where we were living.  We headed southwest on I-35, which took us through Emporia and Wichita.  Between these two cities lies the most beautiful prairies I've ever seen - in the Flint Hills. Check out National Geographic - Richardson-photography for some magnificent pictures of this area.  I was mesmerized the whole way through.  The colors were so rich!  We've had a lot of rain this year which made it all the more beautiful.

After admiring the Flint Hills we skimmed through Wichita and headed west along highway 54 to Greensburg, Kansas.  There, we stopped and took a look around.  If you don't remember, Greensburg was hit by a tornado in May 2007 and the whole town was destroyed.  They are rebuilding the whole town to be "green".  Residents say the rebuild is going slowly - due to red tape and special permits required to build "green".  I took a few pictures while we filled up with gas.

There are lots of little sample houses built by students from Kansas State demonstrating, I guess, what "green" is suppose to look like.

Don't know for sure what this building was, but it's about the biggest in town.  Looks like a city center.

Lots of damaged trees around town.

The Big Well is still standing...underground.

There's some construction underway.

A brand new church across the street from the gas station.

Find out more about their city project at this link - Greensburg, Kansas

Leaving Greensburg we continued to travel on Highway 54.  Most of my pictures were taken on the fly - just right out the window as we were travelling.  We had places to go, so we had to keep going.

 Lots of Grain Elevators in Kansas, folks.

And I just love the farm fields and the big blue sky!!

We headed on down Highway 54 through lots of little towns like Kismet and Liberal, before we finally crossed the border into the panhandle of Oklahoma.  We couldn't help but see there was trouble ahead.

OKLAHOMA and TEXAS - The Storm

By this time it was starting to get dark, and we could see storms all around us.

It was still a ways off, but it didn't look like we were going to avoid it.  Luckily, it didn't hit until after we'd entered the Texas panhandle.

[For all you Westerners - this is NOT a tornado - it is just a rain shaft.]

It was Jaimie's turn to drive, so she got some good experience with heavy wind and rain; along with the wonderful fun of navigating through towns following small highway signs that lead you in all sorts of directions before you find the highway you want to be on.  She did a great job - no fooling!  Her first experience with driving in a bad storm and she survived Mom and Dad's back seat driving as well.

NEW MEXICO
The storm finally ended and we found ourselves, at last, in Tucumcari, New Mexico.  At this point Jeff drove a bit, but decided to pull over after awhile to sleep.  Total hours on the road - approx. 14
(to be continued)