Prairie Wildflowers, June 10, 2011

Four years ago I sowed a sunny, clay bank on my property at Kingsville, Missouri with a seed mixture of native Prairie wildflowers and Prairie grasses. This year, I took these photos of the result to demonstrate the exuberance of tall grass prairie in late spring and early summer. 

View more photos of Prairie wildflowers taken at Kingsville this time of year at www.imagesmidwest.com

Missouri Photo Trip 3 - South Bank of Missouri River from I70 South to Jefferson City

September 18, 2010 - trip length from I70 at Boonville approximately 3.5 hours. Note the first and the last two shots were taken earlier this summer.

In contrast to Trip 1 along the other bank of the Missouri, this one has many 'historic' features. The area has not experienced the 'suburban invasion' of Columbia, and its hills have kept large corporate farms away, except in the flood plain of the Missouri. There are many old homes, this one is outside Prairie Home on Highway 87 near its junction with highway 179 - the house can be found in this album on my web site.

Like the other bank, access to the Missouri is quite restricted. The next shot was taken at Lupus -  this is the link to the album on the River where it is stored.

Lupus has less than 50 occupants. It has a few interesting homes mainly because, like homes in the Florida Keys, the ground floors contain little or no rooms, and some houses are literally on stilts - presumably because the area flooded frequently (perhaps it still does). Go to this link for more information about Lupus.

The charm of the trip is not determined by the River but by the lush vegetation, and the many ruined and old homes and barns that present many opportunities for interesting photos. Some follow - all are found in this album.

If you leave the paved highways you will find yourself almost enveloped in places by trees - almost like country lanes in England but without the congestion!

On your trip you may find interesting relics like these cars on Range Road near Lupus - now stored in my Automobilia Album.

And the usual inhabitants, like this Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly (minus one tail) - now in my Birds, Butterflies and Other Insects Album -although people on a fine Saturday morning were few and far between.

You will find the usual closed but picturesque stores in Wooldridge and Lupus, the main but small settlements on this stretch of the River. I will publish a separate blog on Wooldridge as it contains an interesting remant of an unidentified building. Suffice here to mention this shot taken just outside of Wooldridge in the River Bottom. As in all the River's flood plain, agriculture dominates. The only extensive exceptions to this rule are the Kansas City area, and where the State has established conservation areas for enhancing waterfowl migration. This shot is part of my Missouri River album .

After Lupus you can drive to Jamestown passing a pretty chapel at Mt. Zion on the way - the photo is now part of my Churches Album. You may have better luck in Jamestown, on two occasions the interesting-looking antique stores there were closed, and I drove on to Marion.






Marion has a nice view of the Missouri from its Landing - now part of my Missouri River Album.

After Marion, you can continue to drive on Highway 179 to the State Capital, Jefferson City, in time for a late lunch as there is a very limited range of active services since leaving the I70 corridoor.

This photo is of the Capitol Building is found in my rural Scenes, Kansas and Missouri Album, as I could not find anywhere else to place it. The album also contains a couple of photos that I took in Wooldridge.

I would rate this trip as 3 out of 5 stars, as the landscape is quite lush and charming off the main roads. I would give it a similar rating for photographic opportunities as you can be sure to bring home a few pictures that you will be proud of from the trip. Combining it with a visit to Jefferson City could raise the score for you.