May 23, 2009 – Off the Beaten Path: The Twister Movie Musem

• Trip meter: 269 miles (2850 miles total)
• Time: About 6 hours
• From: Hutchinson, KS to Norman, OK
• States: Kansas, Oklahoma
• Summary: Visited the Twister movie museum, and moved in to my apartment in Norman.

Today I took my time traveling from Hutchinson to Norman. I went a little out of the way to stop by the Twister Movie Museum in Wakita, OK (note: the movie version of Wakita is in Kansas).

I figured this was a storm chaser Mecca, of sorts; I turned out to be right. VORTEX2 had been there a few weeks ago, and Cloud 9 tours was there this week. A lot of international visitors come here, as well.

The museum is in downtown Wakita. For the movie, the entire downtown was turned into a disaster scene. They tore down many buildings and made main street ground zero. The museum had lots of photos of the entire process. The curator there told me that Bill Paxton was a really nice guy and would often hang out and play football with the locals, but Helen Hunt “was the complete opposite […] she didn’t make many friends here.”

They also had the Dorothy prop that fell off the truck in the movie, along with lots of signed goods, and even a Twister pinball machine donated to the museum from Bill Paxton (“He didn’t want it”).

The pictures aren’t that great, but I do have one thing to remember this by… a replica Dorothy probe ornament, complete with Pepsi can windmill, made by the curator lady herself:

From OBP – Twister Movie Museum

I continued on to Norman after that, and moved into my apartment on campus. This evening there was a severe thunderstorm warning in downtown Oklahoma City, just twenty miles away! If it weren’t in a metropolitan area, I definitely would have chased after it.

I hope this is a good omen.