You can run this trip in either direction and begin on either bank. I am starting from the outskirts of Kansas City and running east along the north bank, and after crossing the river at Lexington returning westwards. You need to follow the locations on a map as all sites are off major roads. Facilities are available long the south bank, and, of course, in Kansas City and the town of Lexington.
Missouri City, a small village with an imposing name, has an interesting main street with this remnant of a hotel.On the south road back to the main highway from Missouri City, a small road leads to an old cemetery with some magnificent trees. This shot and all the later ones in this blog was shot on January 2, 2009 so that the trees lack leaves. This gave me the opportunity to work the shot over in Adobe Photoshop, eliminating the color and reserving the black and white to make this dramatic, if a trifle erie picture. A little sepia toning also helped. This shot is posted on my web site in the Rural Scenes Album - use this link
There is not a lot of photographic interest further along this bank of the Missouri but after crossing to Lexington and taking the road closest to the river back on the other side there is an interesting mixture of villages with 'Franco-Anglo- Bellum' names - Wellington, Napoleon, Waterloo. The next shot was taken on the eastern edge of Napoleon. The last time that I checked, the implements were still there, but you may have difficulty in finding them as the shot distorts their real size.
This shot is posted in my Missouri River Album on my web site - use this link. Again I have 'improved' the shot by converting to black and white with a sepia tone and, in this case, a vignette to make it appear much older than it really is.
There are many places along the road where you can approach the railway tracks on foot and get close to the relatively frequent coal trains as they thunder by. It is fascinating to watch the rails bend under the weight of each car.
There are many opportunities to view the river and to photograph interesting trees. The one below was taken as the sun was going down in Sibley, just outside Fort Osage, a reconstructed 18th. century fort that you can visit.
By the way, Lexington is worth a blog to itself. It has fine, old residences, a civil war battlefield, a county court with a civil war cannon ball still lodged in its facade, etc. May be next summer.
