#3: [17-May-17]

#2: [09-Aug-09]

#1: [03-Feb-01]

25-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 last night in a beautiful campground in northeast Missouri, I visited three confluence points in Illinois this morning and afternoon. After driving southwest through St Louis I now found myself heading southwest on I-44, eyeing the sky and the lateness of the day and wondering: Should I attempt 38 North 92 West before the sun set and the rain fell more heavily than it was currently?

I decided to go for it, which involved nearly an hour of driving narrow winding beautiful hilly roads off of the interstate highway.

It was early evening in late spring, windy and cloudy skies and cool for this time of year temperature of about 62° F. It was moderately raining but fortunately no thunderstorms nearby. This was one of the most peaceful points I have ever visited, after over 500 points visited worldwide over 25 years. So far this weekend, I visited several points that were a lot more difficult than I thought they would be: This one was exactly as I expected - wet, grassy, and a somewhat lonely place.

I drove in on Highway W and then south on Marie's Road 501. The rain made everything very gloomy, and the road conditions were deteriorating, but I pressed on, parking at the bend in the road where the creek crosses. I made haste in the field to the south-southeast but the grass was waist-high and I quickly became soaked. I was a bit concerned to hear dogs barking to the east; I would be walking to the southeast. Once past a large hay bale for cattle or horses, after about 10 minutes I found the triple-trunked tree identified in the past by my colleague Ross F who visited here as well, and found the point after about 10 minutes from the vehicle.

I have decided that this is my favorite type of point - low places and river bottomlands. On Google Maps it is called Dodds Hollow. These bottomlands often have wonderful tilled agricultural fields bounded by the woodlands and fertile ground of past meanders of rivers. I like them even better than the vistas I’ve seen from mountain peaks and ridges and other amazing sites. There’s usually very few people that check these kinds of lands and I was glad to be here. The land to the south moves up a ridge covered by forest; there is no way I could have attempted this ridge with the rain and the lateness of the day. There are only a few houses visible from this point. I saw no birds; only past evidence of cattle. It was grand to be on the 92nd Meridian. Certainly the landowner had been here planting and harvesting each season and the Indigenous People traversed this 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 created posted this video 38 North 92 West. It is difficult to hear on the video how much rain was falling right then. I was wearing my "Map This" shirt underneath my long sleeve wrap.

I now have a very nice collection of confluence points in Missouri spanning 25 years of visits. All I have left in the state are some fairly lengthy hikes in the Ozarks. I have stood on 38° north latitude in many places from California on the west all the way east to Virginia. I have also stood on 92° West on the north end in Wisconsin many times all the way down along 92° west to Louisiana on the south end. These points cover an amazingly wide range of landforms, climate zones, and vegetation types.

Wanting to be respectful of the landowner in case they were watching me from the house to the east, and also because I was getting very wet out here, I was on site for only 10 minutes. I then walked back the way we came in, driving up the roads that were quickly turning into little rivers, but I emerged 15 minutes later on the pavement. Then I made my way west and southwest along country roads; night fell, and then a difficult stretch along I-44 ensued. Fog descended and I made very slow progress; I had been driving and hiking all day, besides, but I was grateful for a wonderful day. I arrived at my destination campground in Springfield at 11:00pm and once there, after spraying myself multiple times today with insect repellant, was thankful to spend $40 for a hot shower. Get out there and explore!

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!