50 States in 52 Weeks: Missouri

Sorry, not the best photo, it was taken with an early phone camera.  

I have been to Missouri several times, starting as a child, going back in my late teens when I was exploring with my grandmother (she wanted someone to drive and didn't want to travel alone.) Sweet Bear and I went once, exploring my family history, and I have been to a conference in St. Louis - when the photo above was taken. 

My great-grandparents on my paternal grandfather's side, were married and lived in St. Louis in the late 1800's. He was a trust fund baby, he married, moved into a suite in a hotel, started a family, and lived really well, until the money ran out a few years later.  He then moved to a farm northeast of there, across the Mississippi River in Illinois, where my grandfather was born. Later moving to Detroit seeking Ford's $5 a day.  

The Mississippi River is not the geographic center of the country, but in many ways it marks the division between east and west. Missouri is about half way north to south on the country, with it's eastern border being the River, so in one way, Missouri is the center of the country. Because of the River, and later railroads, it was a major transportation hub.  When TWA was still flying, it was a major air transportation hub. (I flew TWA once, changing planes in St. Louis before they were merged out of existence.) 

Most of the state is rolling farmland. The start of the great plains. 

It is a moderate climate. If there was anything there, there, it would be a pleasant place to live.