Tour makes 10th annual trek
Mike Krings/University Relations
Yajaira Padilla, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese; Jorge Perez, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese; and Holly Goerdel, assistant professor of public administration, gather for a photo at the Bronze Buffalo near Oakley on day three of the 2007 Wheat State Whirlwind Tour.
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Wheat State Whirlwind TourFaculty and staff spend a week learning about Kansas' history, beauty
In Dodge City, the decade-old tour experienced its first hail delay. In Hutchinson, the group toured a brand new underground tribute to the area's salt mining history. In Barnes, bus riders dined at a family restaurant that has won acclaim far beyond the city limits.
And, of course, there were about 50 new faces on the bus.
The 10th version of the tour took faculty and staff, many of them new to KU and Kansas, on a trip to the far corners of the state, stopping to see unique, proud communities and to learn more about the state's history, landscape, culture and economy.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who created and sponsors the tour, joined the group for an alumni dinner in Colby and traveled with the group through western Kansas, eventually departing from Dodge City.
As the bus rolled through 36 counties, participants got a better feel for where the bulk of KU's students come from and learned there's more to Kansas than meets the eye, especially if the traveler is willing to explore the roads less taken.
As the old saying goes, "if you don't like the weather in Kansas, wait a minute." The weather on the tour illustrated the spirit of that quote. What started as a sunny afternoon in Dodge City turned into a hail storm and tornado scare at the Boot Hill Museum. As tour participants finished their dinner and prepared to step outside for a Wild West gunfight demonstration, a mild rain started to fall. Soon it was pouring rain, and golf ball-sized hail was pelting the area.
Tour director Don Steeples, vice provost for scholarly support and the Dean A. McGee Distinguished Professor of Applied Geophysics, learned a tornado was spotted near his hometown of Palco, another stop on the tour. The storm didn't hit the community, but the group did get a glimpse of a tornado's destructive power. The route passed near Greensburg, which was devastated by a tornado last month. Although officials restricted access to the community, the sight of flattened buildings, shredded trees and trucks removing loads of debris spoke volumes. Flooding was visible in the Hutchinson area as well, where tour participants visited the Underground Salt Museum.
The new museum is located in the cavernous underground rooms originally mined by the Carey Salt Co. The group strapped on hard hats and self-rescue breathers and rode an elevator 650 feet underground. Original mining equipment, information and videos were among the glistening salt walls. Visitors touched the walls, took a tram ride through completely dark rooms of the mine and learned about the millions of films and records stored in the mines by the Underground Vaults and Storage Co.
Though there were several firsts, many old favorites were part of the tour, too. Faculty and staff rode flat-bed trucks in a bison pasture in Logan County, toured the Brown v. Board of Education Historic Site in Topeka, rode a combine at the Steeples wheat farm and took a nature walk in the Flint Hills.
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