#5: [06-Jul-25]

#4: [06-Apr-11]

#3: [11-Jan-06]

#2: [25-Aug-04]

#1: [05-Dec-99]

28-Jul-2025 -- In the final days of July 2025, I embarked on a great peacemaking journey between two warring cities: Oklahoma City and Indianapolis. Back in June, the NBA teams in these two markets (the Thunder and the Pacers, respectively), had battled tooth and nail in a hard-fought, seven-game 2025 NBA Finals , with the Thunder emerging as victors. Scared to see the state of affairs in Indy and wondering how they’d treat an Oklahoman visitor, I decided to delay the inevitable by visiting a confluence along the way. All joking aside, a visit to a confluence never fails to make a relatively mundane roadtrip a little more interesting.

I visited this confluence–35°N 92°W–just 22 days after my good friend and fellow explorer Jacob W visited. His narrated experience was extremely similar to mine. Like him, I picked this confluence with a few things in mind: I had broken up my trip by staying at the house of another good friend who lives in Central Arkansas (the same friend who had hosted our Fourth of July gathering that Jacob alluded to in his narrative). From this region, I had the option to take Interstate 40 east or I-57 north toward the Lower Midwest, and with this point just off I-57 (i.e. within 200 feet [60 m]), the option was clear. Additionally, taking this route would clinch a plethora of new counties in northeast Arkansas, southeast Missouri, and southern Illinois, further enhancing the experience.

After paying homage to the Natural State by stopping at a North Little Rock Walmart (the superstore chain, of course, has its beginnings and headquarters in Northwest Arkansas), I headed up I-57 to my abstruse destination. Having just been designated in November 2024 , this stretch of the highway is one of, if not the newest, Interstate Highways as of this writing. The point lies just off Exit 21, about a mile (2 km) to the west of downtown Austin, a northeast exurb of Little Rock that is located in the northwest corner of the oblongly shaped Lonoke County.

Upon taking Exit 21, one must briefly jaunt northwest on the Arkansas Highway 38 connector, and this road immediately ends at a T-intersection with Willie Ray Drive, which, as Jacob mentioned, serves effectively as a freeway frontage road. The confluence lies between the freeway and the frontage road, and the east (confluence) side of Willie Ray has a few somewhat defined gravel pulloffs interspersed with a couple of “NO STOPPING” areas–almost as if the county is directing confluence traffic where to park! Much like Jacob, I parked in one of these gravel areas and started my walk south-southwest toward the confluence.

The stroll was a straightforward and easy (though somewhat weedy–I recommend wearing long pants and decent shoes) trek that totalled less than 300 feet (90 m) each way. Upon getting to the point at around 11:30 AM, the crappy GPS app on my phone tried and tried and tried and tried to get all zeroes (and succeeded for longitude), but it never got quite there despite my complete confidence that at some point during my confluence dance I hit the point (I need to invest in a quality GPS soon…). The confluence lies in a seemingly occasionally mowed field about 75% of the way from Willie Ray Dr to I-57, and being so close to the freeway made this easily the loudest of the now 19 confluences I had been to. Luckily. I could not see the cars and semis and vice versa, as there was a line of dense trees dividing this field from the freeway. I could, however, be easily seen from Willie Ray, and this road had a good bit more traffic than I expected, so I am sure there were at least a few confused passersby! Other than that, this point was, I hate to say it, remarkably sterile (for a confluence, which means it was still a 9.5/10 experience). There was absolutely nothing distinguishing this point from any other side of a North American freeway–just a typical, loud and boring snippet of the highway infrastructure that snakes all across the developed world. Nonetheless, this was my first Arkansas confluence, my fifth time intentionally standing on the 35th meridian (the easternmost of those five ventures), and my first time for the 92nd parallel. All said and done, my journey was a success! This visit was a little extra special, as it marked the one-year anniversary of my first confluence visit– 35°N 97°W in Oklahoma on July 28, 2024.

The weather on today’s visit was…not very comfortable. Amidst a moderately intense heat wave, my visit was in the early stages of what was shaping up to be a very hot day for Central Arkansas, even by midsummer standards. Under partly cloudy skies, temperatures were already in the mid-90s F (~35°C) with dewpoints in the mid-70s F (~23°C), bringing the heat index to the mid-100s F (~40°C), and it wasn’t even noon yet! In just a half hour, a Heat Advisory would take effect, with the National Weather Service’s Little Rock office warning for afternoon heat indices of up to 111°F (44°C)--truly miserable weather. Already sweating bullets after just a couple minutes taking in the sights, it quickly seemed to be high time to head north.

It only took a few minutes to get back to the car for some much-needed air conditioning and ice water. Once cooling down, I instantly got back on the freeway and continued my journey northbound. Feeling that Walmart may not have been sufficient for a goal I have to support a local-ish business on each confluence journey, I stopped for lunch in the stiflingly hot Poplar Bluff, Missouri (about 2.75 hours northeast) at a local fast-casual Mexican joint named Taco Taco , which operated nearly identically to a Chipotle/QDoba-type place. It was very good with HUGE portions, and I would highly recommend stopping if you find yourself in the area! My heart and stomach full from a chicken bowl and geographical satisfaction, I continued the long journey north to the Lower Midwest, where a new region of confluences awaits unlocking…