I love to see the Missouri River. This photo was taken as I was crossing into the city limits my last day of walking. It was taken from the Chouteau Trafficway bridge. I am from what was called in the early 1800’s the Great American Desert. Utah is the second driest state in the USA. The next biggest river that I crossed was the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, crossing it near the Utah-Colorado border.
Here are some of the stats for my walk. I use two categories of camping nights: “nights in a park” and “nights camping.” “Nghts in a park” includes camping in a park in a town, but I also grouped sleeping next to a church building in the park category. “Nights camping” included camping next to the road, camping in a Forest Service campground, and camping at a farm. I paid for 6 “nights in a hotel/condo/motel” along the way. The three nights my wife joined me in Denver were spent in a hotel. I wouldn’t want her to sleep on a picnic table. I spoiled myself 3 nights in a hotel/condo which I paid for before I reached my destination. I “walked all night” for that 70 miles without a nights sleep. Looking at the “nights in a home,” it is heart warming to see that people invited me, a stranger, into their homes 10 nights and an additional 3 nights someone else paid for a hotel room for me. I love all you great people and you know who you are.
I had 82 days and 81 nights from Salt Lake City to my end point in Independence, Missouri. I consider it one of my 61 “days walking” if I ways actually moving forward along the route. Most of the 21 “rest days,” I walked a few miles, like to church, to the store, or moving my camp across town. The straight through distance from Salt Lake City to Kansas City is approximately 1083 miles. However, with all of the little side detours like walking to the store, the park or church, the total miles estimated for all days was 1281. Pulling the mileage on rest days out of the total gives 1237 on walking days. Dividing that by 61 walking days, I averaged 20 miles per day when I was moving forward along my route.
Walking Statistic
| Days | Nights |
| 61 Days Walking | 20 Nights Camping |
| 21 Rest Days | 41 Nights in a Park |
| 10 Nights in a Home | |
| 9 Nights in a Hotel | |
| 1 Night walking | |
| Average Miles | 20 |
| Total Miles | 1,237 |
As I crossed into the city limits, I took this photo which shows the population of Kansas City at 441,545.
There is a lot of train traffic going through Kansas City. This photo of the trains is taken not far from the Chouteau Trafficway bridge.