Of the billion great sunsets in Missouri’s history, the bluff atop Weston Bend State Park has offered the closest view. Well, OK, Forbes and Fortescue are a bit farther west than Weston. So is Winthrop and Watson, and two dozen other towns, including Iatan, whose namesake – a packet steamer – provides a history so vivid, its visage survives today on the shoulder patch worn by the crew of the nuclear submarine USS Jefferson City.

That’s another story.

The park’s trail winds through old tobacco barns and farmland featuring rich loess soil.  When you reach the bluff, you tower 200 feet above the Missouri River’s horseshoe-shaped Weston Bend. The view of the setting sun kindles inspiration.

On July 2, 1804, similar inspiration must have fueled the spirits of some of the Kentucky crew who helped propel Lewis and Clark upriver. Pryor and Bratton. Colter, Field and Field. Gibson, Shannon and Shields. And Charles Floyd.

That same bluff has witnessed 73,000 sunsets since then. And even though our path to the bluff is a whole lot easier nowadays, discovery remains discovery. Since Lewis and Clark, thousands have stood on the same bluffs above a winding waterway, seeking inspiration. No doubt, some were students at a school visible in the valley below … a school with mentors named Sherman, Price and Pershing. And graduates named Patton and Eisenhower. Mitchell, Marshall and MacArthur. Schwartzkopf and Powell and Petraeus.

I saw an inspirational sunset, and turned toward Kansas City, inspired.  Little did I know, my inspiration would ratchet up a few notches.