What an interesting evening...

Every morning on my drive to work, I have a great view of the Missouri River and La Benité Park from the bridge on 291. For the last two days, the park has been closed as the river approaches ever closer to the playground equipment. For the last week or so, weather.com has been carrying "FLOOD WARNING: NAPOLEON, MO" at the top of it's local weather page. I decided tonight that we would go find out what that actually means.

We took 24Hwy. out of Independence, diverted onto the Katy Trail east of Napoleon and took back roads into town. There, as our introduction to the town, we found a church on a high hill overlooking the Missouri River. Every name in the cemetery but one was German, and we learned from a family out walking that even the church services there used to be in German. The view from the overlook - a brick patio with war memorial plaques in the crenelations - was breathtaking. You could hear the river, a half-mile away, moving quickly in its banks.

Just on the outskirts of town, here (link to Google Maps), we found a park where we could get right down to the river, even dip our toes in if we cared to, which we didn't. The water was muddy, nothing visible further than a half-inch below the surface. The kids and I took some ker-plunk therapy, aided by the rocks from the railroad bed several yards away. The river was very high, having nearly swallowed the sidewalk. According to some local folks, the sidewalk under normal circumstances extends another thirty feet or so. The variety of detritus floating by was quite amazing: trash, of course; limbs; bottles; an abandoned red and white Thermos cooler; most of a tree.

From there we went on to Wellington (no, I'm not making the names up - halfway between the two towns is "Waterloo", population 107) intending to continue on to Lexington, but the road was underwater just east of town. The water was about two feet deep: I know this because I watched a jacked Ford F350 ignore the barriers and drive through it, and the water was just to its bumper.

We found our way back to the highway and came home.

Supposedly, the river hasn't crested yet. I'm tempted to drive back Thursday, when it's risen a few more feet, just to see what happens to the sidewalk. I'd also like to go back when the water level drops again, for the same reason.

What an interesting evening...

Every morning on my drive to work, I have a great view of the Missouri River and La Benité Park from the bridge on 291. For the last two days, the park has been closed as the river approaches ever closer to the playground equipment. For the last week or so, weather.com has been carrying "FLOOD WARNING: NAPOLEON, MO" at the top of it's local weather page. I decided tonight that we would go find out what that actually means.

We took 24Hwy. out of Independence, diverted onto the Katy Trail east of Napoleon and took back roads into town. There, as our introduction to the town, we found a church on a high hill overlooking the Missouri River. Every name in the cemetery but one was German, and we learned from a family out walking that even the church services there used to be in German. The view from the overlook - a brick patio with war memorial plaques in the crenelations - was breathtaking. You could hear the river, a half-mile away, moving quickly in its banks.

Just on the outskirts of town, here (link to Google Maps), we found a park where we could get right down to the river, even dip our toes in if we cared to, which we didn't. The water was muddy, nothing visible further than a half-inch below the surface. The kids and I took some ker-plunk therapy, aided by the rocks from the railroad bed several yards away. The river was very high, having nearly swallowed the sidewalk. According to some local folks, the sidewalk under normal circumstances extends another thirty feet or so. The variety of detritus floating by was quite amazing: trash, of course; limbs; bottles; an abandoned red and white Thermos cooler; most of a tree.

From there we went on to Wellington (no, I'm not making the names up - halfway between the two towns is "Waterloo", population 107) intending to continue on to Lexington, but the road was underwater just east of town. The water was about two feet deep: I know this because I watched a jacked Ford F350 ignore the barriers and drive through it, and the water was just to its bumper.

We found our way back to the highway and came home.

Supposedly, the river hasn't crested yet. I'm tempted to drive back Thursday, when it's risen a few more feet, just to see what happens to the sidewalk. I'd also like to go back when the water level drops again, for the same reason.