#2: [13-Sep-10]

#1: [07-Aug-00]

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. When I look at the line "points that proved to be about the same as I had anticipated", 41 North 99 West stands out! In fact, I would say it was the easiest of all of the 13 points I visited on my trip.

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 and 42 North 99 West and now, I found myself heading south on some wonderful state highways and county roads. I knew 41 N 99 W would be behind someone's home in their field, so with landowner permission request letter in hand, I stopped and parked at the entrance to their driveway.

During this entire weekend I would have very fortunate occurrences where I was at the right place at the right time. Here is another example: Right when I was walking south toward the home, I saw the landowner driving toward me in his ATV! He stopped and we discussed my mission; he very kindly agreed; I asked him to come with me in part so that he would know I would not be stepping on any of his new crops of soybeans or corn. We set out together to the south. En route, I learned all sorts of things from my questions about crop rotation, when and where to plant, irrigation, and much more.

It was midafternoon in late spring, windy and cloudy skies and cool 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 do love the Nebraska landscape. The land slopes gently toward the south and is a bit rolling. There are only a few houses visible from this point. We saw a few birds. It was grand to be on the 99th Meridian. I reflected that it had been years 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 41 North Latitude, 99 West Longitude.

I now have a very nice collection of confluence points in Nebraska spanning 25 years of visits but had not visited a point in the state (other than this morning's treks to 42 N 100 W and 42 N 99 W) since 2021 during one of my extended confluence trips. This was my last point along 41 North to visit for the state! It took me 25 years, but - done! I have stood on 41° north latitude in many places from a Utah attempt on the west all the way east to New Jersey. I have also stood on 99° West on the north end in North Dakota many times all the way down along 99° west to Texas 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's time, we were on site for only 5 minutes. We then walked back the way we came in, careful not to step on any plants. I thanked him and departed the area, traveling east and then south through some wonderful towns en route to my last confluence destination of the day--40 North 98 West. Could I make it before the sun set? As I traveled I reflected on my chats with two landowners so far today. I do love learning from and talking with people who are our land stewards.

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!