#2: [12-May-17]

#1: [27-Oct-00]

24-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 that the city of Marysville Kansas maintains, I drove east into Missouri and successfully visited 40 North 94 West by noon and now found myself heading east and south through some beautiful and wonderful small towns, fields, and rolling hills.

Given my goal today of four confluence points, I only stopped en route a few times to take some pictures of some wonderful small towns and grain elevators. Therefore, by mid afternoon I was very close to 39° north 93° west. After examining the satellite image imagery, I considered that the river running to the west of the point would be too difficult to cross. After crossing it over the bridge in my vehicle, and noting how deep the river was, I decided that this was indeed wise. Therefore, I drove on a short ways, then parked to the south southeast of the point in a bed of gravel on the north side of the road that also a few trucks and other vehicles were parked in. I then walked with landowner permission letter in hand to the house to the east of here, but despite the TV being on and obvious signs of life, nobody answered. I even tried the back door.

Not wanting to be a nuisance, I walked back to my vehicle and gathered some supplies and set out to the north, walking down the landowner access road to the ravine bottomland beyond, and then gaining altitude to the uplands beyond. Given the winding course of the river to the west, and the steep ravines with trees along its banks throughout this land, I decided to approach this point while walking along the edge of the fields. This proved to be the right course of action, although the numerous field edges required a lot of walking, and it was almost an hour before I reached the vicinity of the point. I did find a few trails, perhaps by humans or cattle along the field edges in a few places. When I did need to traverse the fields, I took great care not to step on any of the corn, which was the predominant crop planted here. Yes there were a few thorns and branches where I scratched myself, but onward!

I pressed on. As I walked down the final slope with one left turn before me, to my dismay, I found a fairly sizable wetland and pond where I thought the confluence might lie. Fortunately, upon closer approach, I found the confluence a bit to the north northwest of this wetland. There were some very nice frog sounds coming from it even at midday, and it was a peaceful spot. This was the hottest temperature I would experience during my four days of confluence hunting that I was on right now, with the temperature about 88° F and the humidity fairly high. Some clouds were rolling in to the south so I didn’t stay long. I took photos and posted this video 39 North Latitude, 93 West Longitude..

So far this weekend, I have visited several points that were a lot more difficult than I thought they would be: This one was more difficult than I expected just because of the length of time to hike in. This was one of the most peaceful points I have ever visited, after over 500 points visited worldwide over 25 years.

The land is quite hilly in this area although right at the confluence point it is flat. There are no houses visible from this point. I saw a few birds and deer. It was grand to be on the 93rd Meridian. I have stood on this Meridian numerous times in the past from Minnesota on the north side to Missouri on the south. I’ve stood on the 39th parallel even more times — All the way from California on the west to Maryland on the east. I think 39° north is my most common latitude that I have stood on across the world. Besides the confluence visitors here, certainly the landowner had been here planting and harvesting each season and the Indigenous People such as the Osage traversing the area for centuries before that. I took pictures but no doubt looking disheveled as I had slept for the entire weekend's nights in a rental car, but it was all part of the adventure! I posted a video.

As a geographer, I do like loop hikes. But I resisted the temptation to dip down into the ravines and loop back to my vehicle--too many unknowns there, ticks too. Thus I walked back the way I came in, not seeing anybody the entire time. I arrive back at the parking area and didn’t see anybody there either. My vehicle was roasting hot. The hike plus visiting time came in at about two hours. I drove then to the east to the south and then east in an attempt to get 39° north 92° West before the afternoon was over, and then to 40° north 92° West before the end of the day. Would I make it? There was only one way to find out.

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!