Missouri - updated
From the 50 State Visitor Guide :
R.S. Mo. 2019. R.S. Mo. §43.650. R.S. Mo. §566.147 through 566.150. R.S. Mo. §§589.400 through 589.426. AWA Compliant .
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
3 days for initial registration and updates.
"Residence" is defined as “any place where an offender sleeps for seven or more consecutive or nonconsecutive days or nights within a twelve-month period” §589.404(5).
Visitors: “Any registered offender from another state who has a temporary residence in this state and resides more than seven days in a twelve-month period shall register for the duration of such person's temporary residency” §589.400.11. However, “temporary residence” is not defined.
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence restriction: offenders may not reside w/in 1,000 ft. of school or child care center. §566.147.
Presence restriction: offenders cannot be present w/in 500 ft. of school, day care center, park with playground equipment, childrens athletic facility, pool, or Missouri department of conservation nature or education center. §§566.147-566.150. Updated Aug. 2022.
Missouri applies Halloween restrictions to all registrants, including sign posting mandate. §589.426. However, as of Oct. 2023 this requirement is under a restraining order pending a lawsuit brought by ACSOL.
Duration & updates:
15 years to life. Updates: Tier III – 90 days. Tier I & II – every 6 mo. §589.400
Most recent visit: April & May 2025
Missouri is a beautiful state, but you’ll have to be pretty darned careful if you travel there. Visitors must register if in the state for more than 7 days in a 12-month period. §589.400.11. However Missouri, unique among states, defines “residence” as “any place where an offender sleeps for seven or more consecutive or nonconsecutive days or nights within a twelve-month period” §589.404(5).
Now consider how this affects you as a visitor. Unlike other states, you don’t need to worry about partial days or whether the “day” starts at midnight. The only thing Missouri counts is the number of times you sleep there. There can be only one “day” attached to each night’s sleep and logically that has to be the day leading up to it, not the day following. Therefore when you wake up on your last morning never to sleep in Missouri again, that day does not count.
Now let’s review Missouri’s onerous restrictions that you should assume will apply to you as a visitor:
• Offenders may not reside (i.e. sleep) w/in 1,000 ft. of a school or child care center. §566.147. Since I am from Florida, where similar restrictions apply, I can tell you 1000 feet can be a pretty hard standard to meet. Be careful in selecting your motel room.
• Missouri used to apply Halloween restrictions to all registrants, including a sign posting mandate. §589.426. However, recently ACSOL took the state to court and there’s now a restraining order in place against the state – although MO’s attorney general is currently appealing that decision. So for now you can be there on Halloween.
• Offenders cannot be present within 500 ft. of school, day care center, park with playground equipment (which is most of them), or swimming pool. §§566.147-150. Recently they added childrens athletic facilities and Missouri Department of Conservation nature or education centers to that list. You may want to think twice, for example, about a motel with a pool – especially if you are reporting this as your “destination” at your own local sheriff’s department. You may say, oh please! Who’s going to check? But my job here is to warn you about any potential problems you may face while traveling.
Missouri’s restriction against being present at or within 500 feet of a “park with playground equipment” is especially problematic for vacationers. If you think about that wording – it could be a 1000 acre state park and yet if it had just one playground anywhere, you can’t go anywhere in that park. It makes no sense, but it means most state or local parks are OUT. For all these reasons I have to give Missouri a travel rating of 4 thumb screws.
However, when it comes to national parks you’re okay because like most states, Missouri considers national parks to be “out of their jurisdiction.” Unfortunately Missouri has few national “parks.” Yes, St. Louis’s Gateway Arch is definitely a park and has no playground. What about Ozark National Scenic Riverway? It’s administered by the National Parks Service so you’re good there too. Mark Twain National Forest, which is extensive but includes few Ozark attractions, is definitely not a park. And speaking of Mark Twain, his Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal is a privately owned attraction, not a park.
Now that I have a summer home in Iowa and a winter home in Florida I travel back and forth several times per year, and one of the best routes for this long two day trip is south through Missouri. However the half-way point for this route is not in Missouri but rather at either Memphis (if I continue south on I-55 from St. Louis) or south of Nashville (if I turn east from St. Louis). Therefore I have been safely passing though without sleeping, hoarding my 7 days per 12 months for when I wanted to spend more time in this beautiful state.
For the vacation traveler you should know that most of Missouri’s travel points of interest including its many caves are in the Ozarks, in the southern half of the state, whereas the northern half is mostly wide open prairie. There are a lot of state parks up there and I’m sure they’re lovely but remember, you can’t visit any of them and I can’t camp there.
However, there is Mark Train’s Boyhood Home in Hannibal. In May 2023, that was my first stop after entering the state from Iowa on U.S. 61. It’s an interesting attraction and includes many restored original buildings occupied and owned by the childhood friends and neighbors who inspired Twain’s most famous characters. There are also two caves that Twain explored as a boy – he even graffitied his name in one of them.
In the northwest part of Missouri there’s also Jesse James’ family home, which like Twain’s home is not a park but a privately owned attraction. However, it’s little and not worth driving all the way over there unless you happen to be in the area anyway.
Small town notes:
Buffalo – Yes & no. West side good but on east side the crumbling downtown fronts the old railroad.
Versailles and Tipton – good.
Fayette – has a small college, so that makes it a “small college town.”
Macon – kinda okay
The Ozarks
I have posted a separate blog entry about vacationing in the Ozarks dated October 2025. Enter “Ozarks” in the search box or click on Oct. 2025 in the blog entry list.
Kansas City
In 2023 I visited downtown Kansas City, rode their trolley and saw the City Market, Union Station and the National WWI Historic Monument & Park. It’s a national park and anyway, there’s no playground there so it was no problem.
Then I had Kansas City BBQ at Slap’s, but that’s in the other Kansas City in Kansas – so when I found a nearby motel I wasn’t “sleeping” in Missouri. Therefore even though I came back and spent a second partial day it was still zero days as far as Missouri’s registry is concerned.
St. Louis
In May of 2024, traveling from Iowa, I began what I hoped would be a four day tour of Missouri with the first night’s stay at a motel (with no pool) in St. Louis, but after that I was turned back by car troubles so severe that upon returning to Iowa ended up junking my car and getting another (used) Toyota Sienna. Now I have a car that’s registered and tagged in Iowa but my driver’s license is still from Florida. Neither Iowa DMV nor my Iowa sheriff’s department seemed to care about this, but what would Florida say when I returned there next fall? Well, a year later I can now tell you that Florida didn't care either!
But meanwhile there I was in St. Louis overnight at a really crappy Days Inn, so I made the most of it by going on the Anhueser-Busch brewery tour. Very enjoyable! Then the next morning I decided to live a little dangerously by going to the St. Louis Art Museum, which is justly recommended by all the tour books as a St. Louis must see. Unfortunately it’s located within Forest Park – which is another recommended must see, but not for us.
It’s a huge park and although I didn’t see any playgrounds either while entering from the west or later exiting to the south (after a stop at the Jewel Box), I assume there is probably one on the far side of the park, half a mile away at the Visitor & Education Center. I just stayed as far away from that as possible. Upon entering the museum I also checked the map thoroughly to make sure they didn’t have an on-site playground or children’s rec area. I am happy to report there are none, so if you want to follow my lead and see great art while visiting St. Louis, do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment