20-Jun-2004 -- I first would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Keith Barnes for allowing my to use their property to access this confluence.

My wife and I were in Missouri visiting my family. We currently live in east-central Illinois and since we weren't going to be back this way in a while, I thought I'd take the opportunity to visit a confluence while we were in the area.

The intersection of 39N 091W is just northwest of Troy, Missouri. I thought this would be a rather easy visit given the photos from the previous visit to this confluence. The pictures from 1998 showed that the confluence was in an open field next to a wooded area. However, more up-to-date information showed that it was actually in the wooded area.

In the 5 1/2 years since the previous visit, the real estate scene there had developed quite a bit. There are two east-west roads that seem equidistance north and south from the point, so I first chose the house on the north road that seemed to have the easiest approach according to the satellite imagery. From that home, it was just an open field then about 40 feet into some woods to the point. However, no one was home. So, we swung back around to the southern road. The houses here were closer together so I went to the one that seemed to be directly south of the point but, yet again, no one was home. However, the neighbor to the west was home. Since there is a margin of error with the maps, it was theoretical that the point was on their property, right? I introduced myself to Mrs. Barnes who, understandably, seemed confused as to exactly why I was there, but since I was just going to take a pictures in the trees behind her home and leave, felt that it was okay with her.

I headed back behind the house and trudged into the woods. The trees weren't that dense, but there was a lot of underbrush and plants that made the trek less than direct. Also, I will try to remember to bring along a pair of long jeans next time; my legs got pretty scratched up during my outing (my wife, also wearing shorts, decided to wait for me in the car). The trees did interfere somewhat with my GPS satellite signal reception, but came in every now and then to update my coordinates. Once I got through the woods to the field on the north side (where I wanted to approach initially), I got out in to the open to get a good position fix. I was able to line up on 91W and put myself 35 feet north of the confluence. When I went back into the woods, the signal was lost again. So, though I know I was on the point, I couldn't get all the zeros to line up.

Although it was about 20 min before sunset, the light within the trees was dim and, other than the open shot into the field to the north, I needed to use a flash. After collecting the photos, I headed back to the car. I stopped by and told Mr. Barnes that I got the shots that I needed and thanked him again for letting me back there and got in the car for my long trip home.

Photo 1 is the confluence from 15 paces to the southwest, photo 2 if a shot north from the point, photo 3 is east, photo 4 is south, photo 5 is west, photo 6 is the GPS (the photo of the GPS at the site was blurry and unusable, but I did mark the waypoint while I was there and am submitting that as the GPS shot), and photo 7 show my scratched-up legs after going in there with just shorts on,

Oh, and don't be fooled, there's a lot of farmland in this area. It's just my luck that the confluence lays in a wooded area.