#3: [23-Jul-25]

#1: [29-Jul-01]

23-May-2025 -- As it has been my tradition for the last many years to take an extended weekend over the US Memorial Day holiday to visit railroad depots, abandoned buildings, grain silos, campgrounds, county courthouses, convenience stores, agricultural fields, and confluence points, I had been looking forward to this trip for an entire year. You would think that after 500 points behind me, I would grow tired of this, but not so as a geographer. There was always the attraction of getting out into the field. Finally, the day came.

This year, one of my aims was to connect the large number of points forming an oblong shape in the central and western part of the USA with my large shape to the eastern side of the Midwest. Several points between those two shapes would be wonderful if they could be filled in, I thought. There was a reason why I had not visited these points already--they would require some trekking. This filling-in goal dictated the first part of my trek; and the rest were points that I had never visited but were in some of my favorite landscapes, that of Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. The final statistics of the trip are below.

After spending the night in the beautiful campground at the Nebraska state forest at Halsey, next to the greenhouses for the experimental trees and plants, I set out early in the day wherein it was already raining. Earlier today, I successfully visited 42 North 100 West, 42 North 99 West, and then 41 North 99 West. Now I found myself heading south on some wonderful state highways and county roads. I knew 40 N 98 W would be just south of the state line, which was an added bonus for me as a geographer: I do love walking on and across political borders (when possible!).

I drove south from Nebraska State Highway 8 and anticipation mounted. I knew the Republican River to the south of the point would make an attempt from that side difficult and dangerous. Where I parked, at the south edge of the field, I saw "no trespassing" signs in the field to the east, but fortunately nothing was signed that way on the road leading to south toward the point. Hence, off I set, walking past an abandoned farmhouse, across a bridge, through a road accessed by the local landowner to reach these fields, across the state line, and then southwest along the field edge, to avoid damaging any plants, to the point. It was at least a 30 minute walk and highly enjoyable.

I reached the point in the early evening in late spring; windy and cloudy skies and cool prevailing for this time of year temperature of about 62° F. It was very lightly raining but fortunately no thunderstorms at present. This was one of the most peaceful points I have ever visited, after over 500 points visited worldwide over 25 years. I have decided that this is my favorite type of point: River bottomlands. They always have these wonderful tilled agricultural fields bounded by the Woodlands and fertile ground of past meanderings of rivers. I like these lands even better than the vistas I have seen from mountain peaks and ridges and other amazing locations. There are usually very few people that visit these kinds of lands and I was glad to be here.

The land is flat here in the bottomlands, and to the north is an abandoned arm of the Republican River which now flows south of the point. There are no homes visible from the point; it is tilled fields bordered by forest patches. I could see the fence and shrub line marking the Nebraska-Kansas state line to the north of the point. At the time of my visit, the field was covered with alfalfa. It was grand to be on the 98th Meridian. I reflected that it had been awhile since the last visit, though certainly the landowner had been here planting and harvesting each season and the Indigenous People traversing the area for centuries before that. I took pictures and posted this video 40 North Latitude, 98 West Longitude.

I now have a very nice collection of confluence points in Kansas and Nebraska spanning 25 years of visits but had not visited a point in Nebraska or Kansas (other than today's treks to three points) since 2021 during one of my extended confluence trips. This was my very last point along 40 North to visit for a long long ways--from Utah to the west to Missouri on the east. It took me 25 years to achieve this, but - done! I have stood on 40° north latitude in many places other than this unbroken string, including California on the west to New Jersey on the east, and then in Spain across the ocean. I have also stood on 98° West on the north end in North Dakota at many places all the way down along 98° west to Texas on the south end. These points cover an amazingly wide range of landforms, climate zones, and vegetation types.

Wanting to reach my campground before dark, I was on site 10 minutes and then briskly walked back into Nebraska, filming a video on the state line. I then traveled east, south, and then east, into Kansas, stopping for the night to camp at the Marysville Kansas city park, which very thankfully allows camping! It was dark when I arrived but streetlights helped, and there was a very nice story walk to the west of the campground and park.

Onward with gratitude!

When the trip was all said and done, here are the final statistics:

-------------------------------------------------
Days set aside to visit points:  4 + 1 evening.

Confluence points attempted:  13.  

Confluence points successfully visited:  13. 

Points where I met the local landowner = 5 of 13 points. 

Points where I met the local dogs = 2 of 13 points.

Miles = 2547, Kilometers = 4099.
  
Percent of travel on interstate highways:  25%
Percent of travel on US, state, and county roads:  75 % :-)

Campgrounds = 4.  

Windy confluence points:  4 of 13.
Rainy confluence points:  4 of 13.
Beautiful confluence points:   13 of 13.

Convenience store stops = 8.  

Points that turned out to be

                easier than I thought they would be =           1 
                about the same as I expected them to be =       4 
                more difficult than I thought they would be =   8 
		-------------------------------------------------------
			                                     13 points.
Points          in woodlands             2
		in non-tilled fields     4
		in agricultural fields   7
		-----------------------------------
			                13 points.

Points along 	42 North = 2 
		41 North = 1 
		40 North = 5 
		39 North = 3
                38 North = 1
                37 North = 1  
		----------------
			   13 points.

Points visited on 	Day 1 = 4 
			Day 2 = 4 
			Day 3 = 4 
			Day 4 = 1
		-------------------
			   	13 points.  

Points visited in the 	morning = 	5 
			afternoon = 	5 
			evening = 	3 
		-------------------------------
			   	       13 points

Points visited in 	Nebraska =       3
			Kansas =         2
			Missouri =       5 
			Illinois =       3
		-------------------------------
			   		13 points 

The most frequently visited longitude line:  
-------------------------------------------- 
                                      92 West:  3 points.

2nd most frequently visited longitude line:  
---------------------------------------------
                                      89 West and 99 West:  2 points each.

Get out there and explore!