West Coast 2009 Day 6

Today was an interesting day. It was filled with meeting some of the nicest people, hearing humbling tales, and seeing breathe taking scenery.

First and foremost, Kansas is a MUST see state, and is now by far my favorite state, that I will come back and spend a few weeks. The people, feel, and everything about the state is just WOW!

Now for the days events and tales (this is long...sorry, but I want to memorialize my thoughts):

As many of you know I have been battling something since the trade show in Florida 5 weeks ago. Well it turns out, after a trip to the hospital yesterday that I have bronchitis and a sinus infection. Now the "Hospital" is not like the hospitals you are thinking. It is the equivalent of a "Medi Merge" in NJ. a building attached to a large corn field with 18 beds, 20 for "Emergency's".

The reason for this story is not about my sickness, but about the people we met. They greeted us like they knew us forever, attended to us within minutes, and spent time like you wish doctors and nurses would when we go somewhere in NJ. Now, I understand the work load is not the same, but the atmosphere was filled with warmth and compassion.

Well we walked in and were brought into a room within 5 min by a nurse named Molana (more about her in a minute). 15 minutes later, I had blood work, x-ray, EKG, and all my vitals were taken. Simply amazing and each person we met was nicer than the last.

After 30 minutes when all the results were done, the doctor whom was the visiting doctor came in and spent time like I have never had with a doctor. She was also an anti medicine doctor and gave both medicine and local remedies non-medication. Simply just an awesome experience. Even the kids enjoyed this, and the hospital visit is now a highlight of the trip so far...simply because of the people.

After the hospital we went to a local pharmacy, and that experience was equal if not better. Not only was the pharmacy the nicest I have ever been in, but the pharmacist a trained native Indian healer, spent so much time with us 1.5 hours flew by like it was minutes. I can ramble for hours about Jim, but I won't except to say, next May God willing we will be visiting Jim and his fellow Scotsman for a festival of biblical proportions...Th Gathering. (Th, not mispelled)

Ok, now back to Molana...She was one of 3,477 survivors of the worst Tornado Kansas has ever had. The Greensbug tornado of 2007. Now many of you like me did not even remember this event, but it was a town of 3,500 which got DECIMATED and had 13 deaths in 10 minutes of sheer horror. Not a single building or home was saved.

She explained in DETAIL and showed pictures of the aftermath, and how she evacuated the patience of the local hospital to a basement shelter, after she was called in to help. Thank God as she states she brought her 2 little girls to work, since their house was severely damaged when the tornado came through.

The storm, was a story like others, but it was the year battle after of living in tents, trailers, and using porta potties for months. It was the tale how not a single resident of the town moved back, due to the new "Zoning" the local government put on. It was a tale of the fear the locals live with every time a tornado warning happens. It was the tale of starting over that simply HUMBLED Patty, Michael, Nicholas and me. The story, brought fear, sadness and mostly ANGER after we heard the story of the town of Greensburg. In short, after the storm the local government stated that if you wanted to rebuild you needed to triple the size of your lot (basically buying out your neighbors in a bid) and building minimum sizes homes that were in some cases 4 times larger than the homes that were destroyed. Needless to say, not one resident has or will be moving back. The storm and government wiped out and made an ENTIRE community relocate!

If it were me, I would be bitter, but the love and compassion of the local people is unbelievable, and made me step back and just say wow!

Patty, Michael, Nicholas and me left very humbled and Grateful for everything we have, but more importantly grateful we met these people of Kansas, and saw that the USA is filled with genuinely Nice people, and it is not the gloom and doom that is portrayed by main stream media. I guess wholesome niceness isn't popular....

In closing, I can honestly say ALL the people we have met in Kansas are some if not the nicest and kindest people we have ever come across, and this was measured by Patty and the boys standards each independently

The rest of the day after that was somber in some regards, but a fantastic day with once again awesome sites. The vastness of Kansas is still unbelievable and should be a "Bucket List" item for all.

Today we will be heading to the outer edges of Colorado and driving through the Rockies. It should be a day of great scenery.

Well, God Bless America, God Bless the families of Greensburg and other such communities, and God bless all of you.

Looking forward to speaking with you all tomorrow, and once again thank you for taking this journey with us.