Week 51: Approaching Kansas City

For my bucket list quest to see all of the 50 states plus Washington, DC, I count Missouri as a state I have already visited, because I vaguely remember seeing the arch, probably in January, 1966, when my family moved from Ohio to California. Of all the states I have visited, my memory of this one is the least clear.

The arch is the most well-known attraction in Missouri, but there are plenty of things to see, including the Missouri River and Kansas City on the west side of the state, and the Mississippi River (and the end of the Missouri River) and St. Louis on the east side. Branson, the country music alternative to Nashville, is in Missouri. Also, Lake of the Ozarks, setting for the TV series Ozark, is here. The lake wraps around and looks a bit like a dragon, and it must have hundreds if not thousands of miles of shoreline. (Just looked it up: 1,100 miles.)

This week I am on the outskirts of greater Kansas City, about 6 miles from the spot Google Maps designates as Kansas City proper, so I will be there tomorrow. According to Google, Kansas City has about 11,000 more people than Omaha, so it becomes the biggest city on my trip so far (491,000 population.) My remaining 300 miles in Missouri will be through much smaller towns.

Kansas City is famous for steaks and barbeque, and also has some history of jazz music. I am going to post a bonus picture from the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in KC, because I like the sculpture:

At Kansas City, I will cross the Missouri River for the third and last time, this time crossing the Heart of America Bridge, so named because one of Kansas City's nicknames is the Heart of America due to its location.

I did not post last week, because Mike was here and I was doing other things, but I continue to get 10,000 steps every day - two more weeks will make it six months without missing. Also, I passed 2,000 miles of walking a few days ago, which is nice because, you know, I am getting there.

Next week will be one year on the road to Miami. I will try to think of something to say about that.

Week 49: Missouri

This week, I am about 35 miles into Missouri, near a place called Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. From the looks of it, lots of birds spend time there.

I entered Missouri in the northwest corner of the state, near the town of Westboro, and am walking not far from the Missouri River, which is the western border of Missouri here, with Kansas on the other side. 100 miles ahead, at Kansas City, the river turns east and runs across the state to St. Louis, where it meets the Mississippi, but I will cross the river at Kansas City and head south and east, toward the southern border of the state at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas.

The entire eastern border of Missouri is defined by the Mississippi River. This is also true of Iowa and Arkansas. However, I won't be crossing the Mississippi just yet, not until I leave Arkansas and enter Tennessee at Memphis.

Missouri is a fairly big state, at least by Eastern US standards - it is slightly larger than Washington. The walk from the northern border to the southern border is 420 miles, which will take about 10 weeks. Within a couple of weeks I will hit 2,000 miles - I'm at 1,941 right now - and still have 300 miles to go before Arkansas.

Week 48: Shenandoah, Iowa

It is time for a few words about Iowa, although I am actually with ten miles of the northern Missouri border by now, several miles past Shenandoah, the last town in Iowa. The whole trip through Iowa is only 72 miles, or less than two weeks.

A small bit of forward-looking information: the first town I will pass in Missouri is called Westboro, but it is not the home of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. I checked; the church is in Topeka, Kansas. Good thing, because I might have had to avoid the town, even virtually, if those jackasses were in it.

A few things about Iowa:

The biggest commodity produced in Iowa is corn. After that comes hogs and soybeans.

The top attraction in Iowa, per the Internet, is the state capitol building. Number 5 is a water park. Number 11 is the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. Number 13, my favorite, is a recreation of Herbert Hoover's childhood neighborhood.  I don't want to be dismissive of the middle of the country, and I thought Nebraska seemed interesting enough, but the list of things to do in Iowa is pretty uninspiring.

On the good side, the Field of Dreams is in Iowa, and there is a place called Okoboji that looks interesting. And that state capitol might actually be worth a visit.

August

 

White Cloud, Iowa, is in the middle of this image

At the end of August I was near White Cloud, Iowa, which appears to be a spot on a road, not quite halfway from Omaha to Missouri. This weekend I will still be in Iowa, but the next week will get me to Missouri. The journey through Iowa is a short one, through the southwest corner.

For the first time since March, I averaged less than 12,000 steps per day for the month, although not a lot less. This comes despite several days in the 14,000-15,000 range, but I suppose I am backing off a little on my day-to-day distances. Still, I walked at least 10,000 steps every day, and my average for the month was 11,900 steps, so not completely slacking. I am up to 149 days in a row over 10,000 steps per day.

A couple of things should help me keep my steps up. First, I have been playing bridge, so far only once per week, but could get up to two times. Unless it is really hot, I walk to the clubhouse to play, which adds 7,000 steps to my day. Second, I have been walking with Joel on Fridays when we both are available, and we take a long morning walk. My bridge days and walk-with-Joel Fridays account for those 14,000 to 15,000-step efforts I mentioned.

I will hit 3,750,000 steps today, so another quarter-million steps in the books. My goal is to reach Miami on June 28 of next year, but I am five days ahead of schedule and getting further ahead by two to four days each month (remember, I used to be fifteen days behind.) For now, I feel good and see no reason to think I cannot make it to Miami as planned.