11-Aug-2010 -- The primary reason for this trip was my 50th high school reunion in Benedict, NE. As usual we planned a few GPS events along the way. One of my current goals is to visit confluences and dashpoints in as many different states as I can. Hence, for this trip I wanted to visit confluences in Iowa (41N95W) and Nebraska (41N98W) as well as dashpoints in Kansas. I was successful on all counts.

Previous visits to this confluence have been in either winter/spring or late fall when crops were either very young or had already been harvested thus making passage to the confluence spot relatively easy. This visit in mid August found the confluence in the middle of a mature soybean field as evidenced by photos in all four directions. Photo 5 shows a close up of the mature soybean plants. The confluence is near the intersection of US-34 and Iowa 71. It is a little over a quarter mile east of T Avenue. I was able to walk east to 85W between the soybean field to the south and a cornfield to the north. Standing there, the confluence was about 400 feet south in the midst of the mature soybeans. With some difficulty, I walked in a slight separation in the plants probably made by standing water without tromping on many plants. I got to within 280 feet and decided to minimize my intrusion by stopping there. I took my documentary photos and returned to the car.