JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri has been named the “Best Trails State” by American Trails, a national, nonprofit organization working on behalf of the nation’s hiking, biking and riding trails. The award was announced today at the International Trails Symposium in Arizona. The national award is presented every two years to the state that has made [...]

Reader Mike Elliott of Salem, Mo., sent us this fall photo with caption of one of his favorite places a few days ago.
We liked it enough to share. Traveler goes up and down Hwy. 19 several times a month, too, and it is one of Jo’s favorite fall drives.
Not every road needs to be [...]

The Missouri Dinosaur needs a name. For the last ten years we have been calling her “The Missouri Dinosaur.” We need to give her a name that will stay with her forever. YOU can give us that name by emailing your nomination to the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History at bcmnh@sbcglobal.net.
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By Jo Schaper
It’s interesting to find out that mountain lions are being used in political campaigns these days.
I was riding back on N Highway from Johnson’s Shut-Ins in Reynolds County on Friday, July 6, when this sign caught my eye, and I just *had* to go back and snap a quick photo [...]

The Perryville Republic-Monitor reports the city is looking looking for non-profits, vendors and volunteers to help them manage their first ever Mud Festival on July 14
Perry County, in case you don’t know it, is home to lots of deep, fertile gumbo mud, as well as thousands of sinkholes, beneath which lie the longest caves in [...]

If you’ve ever tried to get a cell signal or decent internet speed in Traveler Country, you know we live in that “blank” part of the coverage map. Low population and rugged terrain make it both technically difficult and not particularly profitable to bring such coverage to rural Missouri.
FARMINGTON, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon [...]

By Tom Uhlenbrock
Missouri State Parks
MIAMI, Mo. – Wave after wave of migrating waterfowl moved in V formations across the winter sky on this late afternoon. The landscape below of marsh, wet prairie and forest known as the Oumessourit Natural Area was filled with the cries of Canada geese, snow geese and ducks. A bald eagle [...]

One of the hallmarks of rural living is growing up working on a family farm. Farm kids have always grown up faster than city kids out of necessity: kids have always been expected to take on responsibilities in caring for animals, crops and fellow family members generally earlier than those who live in town.
The [...]

By Jo Schaper
One of the most remote areas of Missouri is Douglas County. Just to the west of Willow Springs, one tier up from the more touristy Ozark County along the North Fork just before it runs into the White River, Douglas County is hilly, forested, and remote.
This area isn’t a tourist destination. [...]

There are some things one simply never expects to do in one’s life.
By Jo Schaper
Meeting Governor Jay and First Lady Georgeanne Nixon whilst wearing jeans, a caver T-shirt and a caving helmet, setting up, running kid tours and crawling around in a portable cave on the Missouri Governor’s Mansion lawn, helping to cycle 337 [...]