Tarkio Turn

[route56]

My family has roots in Tarkio, Missouri - it's a small town in the
northwest corner of the state where US 136 and US 59 meet. I decided
to take a trip up there on Friday. Intending to make a round-trip
Friday while my parents and grandmother visited friends and paid their
respects to loved ones buried there, I wound up staying with my
parents in the motel Friday night and returned Saturday morning.

The cutout MO 111 markers in Rock Port, along with the trapizodial
yield sign, are right where I last saw them (in 2002). There is
something new in Rock Port, however: Four wind turbines are connected
to the municipal grid. Those four turbines generate enough juice to
power Rock Port, and thus they stake the claim to be the first city to
be "100% wind powered."

Coming Home, I went to US 59 to catch the truss bridge south of
Tarkio, then turned around to follow MO 111. I caught three more
bridges, 1 through girder type bridge, and 2 truss bridges. One of the
trusses was on a county road, and it had been damaged to the point
that the bridge was abadoned in place.

From the south end of MO 111 in Oregon (where there was an END! sign
and a old-school phone booth) I followed I-29 to St. Joseph, where I
collected information for a I-229 and US 36 exit guide. I stopped to
get the new "Welcome to Kansas" sign on K-238 and the ENDS! of K-136
(of 6 markers, 4 of them are two-digits versions) and the east END! of
K-20 at K-7 between Troy and Atchison before heading home via US 59
and Lecomption.

The photos from the trip are posted at:
http://www.route56.com/gallery/photo/052309

an UPDATE! to the I-29 exit guide, and the new I-229 and US 36 St.
Joseph exit guides will be forthcoming.