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.