#4: [19-Apr-25]

#3: [05-Nov-21]

#2: [03-Apr-11]

#1: [19-May-01]

26-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 Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. The final statistics of the trip are below.

I had spent the night in a campground at Springfield, Missouri, where I had paid $45 to park the car and take a shower, but that shower was well worth it as I had been spraying myself with tick spray for three days. Once dawn broke, I headed west into Kansas on US 166. I found myself heading west just north of the Kansas Oklahoma border toward 37 North 95 West. So far this weekend I had been able to make 12 successful visits--4 each on Days 1, 2, and 3. This point today would be the 13th and last as I had a long way to go before I got home. Would I be able to make this one in the rain?

After migrating westward, I drove south along a very lonely gravel road named SW 90th Street, all the way to the Oklahoma border. Fortunately in the rain it was still driveable. At the road’s bend to the left, or east, at the state border, a large No Trespassing sign stood on the west side of the "L". I found out later that there was a deep flooded ditch not far west of the sign and I wouldn’t have been able to walk that way anyway. But due to the sign, I drove back north to the entrance gate for the land where the confluence would lie. It was steadily raining and had been all day; I knew it would be a muddy trek. So far this weekend, I visited several points that were a lot more difficult than I thought they would be: This one was a bit more difficult than I expected largely due to the rain and mud. But considering that this point could’ve been miles from any road, I considered myself fortunate as I trudged toward the point.

It was mid morning in late spring, windy and cloudy skies and cool for this time of year temperature of about 69° F. It was raining but fortunately no thunderstorms existed at present. This was one of the least enjoyable points I have visited, after over 500 points worldwide, simply because I was pretty miserable with the weather conditions. Still I was glad to be here. I walked due west along the landowner’s access road. It was slow going in the rain. I heard a barking dog to the north, which made me a bit nervous. The visitors who logged a visit just last month heard the same thing and they too had a wet trek. It looked like something had been planted to the south and with respect to the plants and the landowner I did not trek through the field at this point. I decided to walk all the way west along the road/trail to the edge of the field, and then skirt the field to the south and then back east and then south again. I encountered some thorns but made great care not to step on any planted crops. At the point at 37 North when I was about 25 paces from the confluence point I decided to very gingerly step into the field without trampling on any corn plants -- for that is what they appeared to be, about 3" (7.6 cm) high; just appearing over the puddles.

The land is largely flat here with a few very gentle rolls. There are only a few houses visible from the point--one in Oklahoma that could have been abandoned, and the one to the north-northeast in Kansas. It was grand to be on the 95th Meridian. I thought about the fact that the landowner had been here planting and harvesting each season and the Indigenous People were traversing the area for centuries before that. This point looks very different now than during the November visit about 4 years ago that one of my confluence colleagues made. I took pictures but no doubt was looking disheveled as it had been raining and I had slept for the past four nights in a car, but it was all part of the adventure! I posted this video 37 North Latitude, 95 West Longitude.

It is amazing that this point is actually fairly easy to visit, but I am only the fifth visitor. Could that be true? Yes it is off the beaten path, but the entire hike took only about an hour and 10 minutes. It felt like longer because by the time it was finished, I was moving through knee high water and was thoroughly soaked. I did have the presence of mind to take a video as I walked along the fields edge on the Oklahoma Kansas border as I do like walking on political borders as a geographer.

I now have a very nice collection of confluence points in Kansas spanning 25 years of visits. This was my last point of the weekend. I have stood on 37° north latitude in many places from the Arizona Utah border on the west side all the way east to Virginia on the Atlantic coast. I after this point I believe I am only missing one point on the Oklahoma Kansas border just 1° to the west of here. I have also stood on 95° West from the north end in Minnesota many times all the way down along 95° west to Texas on the south end. These points cover an amazingly wide range of landforms, climate zones, and vegetation types.

Needing to get on my way, I was on the actual site for only 5 minutes. Midway through my video there is a pause: This is where my shoe was so sunk into the mud that I had difficulty extracting it. I did not want to lose that shoe out here in the field: It was not inexpensive. Plus, I was not relishing walking all the way back to the vehicle in my socks. Once I extracted my shoe, I then walked back the way I came in, careful not to step on any plants. Then I completed my circuit of the field, walking south and then east along the state line, then north to the gate and the road. I saw a car approaching from the east and made my exit. About 25 soggy minutes after driving out of the area, I stopped at the town of Chetopa Kansas and changed out of my wet shoes and socks for another pair of wet shoes and socks that were still not dry from the evening before! It turns out that the April visitors to this point stopped in the same town to dry out. It would be a day of about 850 miles driving and I was looking forward to the Kansas landscapes.

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!