Sunday, January 9, 2011

Day 2 - Our Guardian

Most americans have at least heard the name Wichita, even if they do not know where it is... exactly.

Wichita is in south central Kansas, about 45 miles north of the Oklahoma state line. We moved to Wichita as one of the requirements of my employment. It is almost smack in the middle of  "Tornado Alley".  In our eight plus years here, there have been many opportunities for a tornodo to strike, and they have hit close to Wichita.  I asked a long-time "Wichitan" why it seems that even the most threatening looking storm seems to part and go around Wichita as it approaches.

"It's the "Keeper" I was told.

"The Keeper of the Plains" is a large scullpture of a Plains Indian with hands held to the sky.  I'm not sure of the sucpltor or the time of the gift to the city, but for years it has been purched at the confluence of the two rivers that pass through Wichita. The Arkansas ( pronuounced "are-Kansas" in our state, for obvious reasons) and the Little Arkansas (you can guess how that is pronounced).

The legend is that tornados do not come to an area where there are two rivers that come together. "The Keeper" should be in a pretty safe spot.


As I was taking photos of it someone asked me if I would take a picture of their group. They handed me their camera and I did so and handed it back. I turned to get my camera to get a photo of them for myself. when I turned around they had already left and were halfway across the bridge. A missed opportunity!




A few years ago, the city removed The Keeper for just long enough to build a new pedital that raised the sculpture about twenty feet in the air and built a beautiful limestone setting for it that included two suspension bridges that allowed pedestrians to go an view the sculpture close up. It really has become the signature image of Wichita, and so far, has been our "Guardian."