Jun 6, 2010 - Hannibal

Today I decided I had to choose to go to the Daniel Boone historic site or to the Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) boyhood home. I chose Mark Twain. I parked in front of the museum and took in the statue of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. On the hill behind the statue was the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse. That was 244 steps up the hill but I did it. The lighthouse was never an operating lighthouse but a means of commemorating Samuel Clemens’ time as a river boat pilot. It was dedicated in 1935 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Mark...

May 18, 2010 - Meeting the Dray's & Bertelsens.

I did it! Actually drove 400 miles in a day and enjoyed every bit of it. I have settled into my little routine driving behind Tony who tows at 65 mph. Driving through St. Louis was no problem traffic wise but my goodness that city goes on and on forever. Tony was looking for a truckstop to fill up with diesel and there was nothing. We were eventually on the 61N when he buzzed me on the Walkie Talkie and said "if we don't get a truck stop in the next few miles he is going to run out of gas". Amazing the very next ramp there was a gas...

Mar 28, 2010 - Arrived in Hannibal

What a Day! More later.... Later...... Most of the time we are very flexible with our travel plans, but when we are headed to Hannibal to visit with our kids and grandkids, we are sort of on a mission. We had promised that we would be in Hannibal on March 28th and we knew that it would take us four days from New Orleans, if we stopped to see our friends along the way. We also planned to drive through St Louis on a Sunday morning, the earlier the better. Therefore, we made some definite plans. We have changed location on each of the last...

Oct 10, 2009 - America's Hometown!

As you probably know, Samuel Clemens spent his childhood in Hannibal, MO and it inspired his books about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The town loved him for bringing fame and notoriety to this small town. Everything in town is centered on him or the characters he wrote about. I ate at a family restaurant last night that serves the original Mark Twain fried chicken. I didn't get that, though, because I didn't see that sign until I was leaving! I visited Huckleberry Finn park, Riverview Bend park, and Tom Sawyer square this morning. With...

Oct 3, 2009 - On the Road, Howe, IN to Hannibal, MO

Last night I went to bed around 9:30 and read my book for awhile. I’m sure I was asleep by 10:00 PM. The next thing I knew, Marilyn was walking around the bed and I thought that it must be time to get up. I had really rested well! I asked Marilyn what time it was and she replied, “11:00”. What! I had been asleep for only an hour! I soon fell back asleep and the next time I woke it was because Marilyn was up to visit the bathroom. This time it was 4:00 AM and I never did go back to sleep. We were leaving today, and by 8:30 we had shared a...

Sep 10, 2009 - Third day of our trip. Topeka to Hannibal.

Once again, we pulled out of the Campground at 8:20 AM. For the next 5 hours we drove steadily toward Hannibal, MO. The day began with fog, occasional mist and solid overcast skies. By the time we were 50 miles or so north of Kansas City, we began to see some breaks in the clouds and finally some blue skies. The temperatures were no hotter than we are used to from our summer in Colorado, but the high humidity sucked the energy out of us. We are used to much lower humidity in the mountains, so this 80 to 90 percent and more, humidity is...

Aug 27, 2009 - Mark Twain

(Thursday) We stopped off in Hannibal, Missouri to see Samuel Clemens’ childhood home. Not too much to see but at least it gave us a break. We finally found the heat! Wow is it every hot and humid! Afraid this is just a hint of things to come. Hannibal is a nice town and we enjoyed seeing the Mark Twain Museum and Boyhood Home. There was also a display of original Normal Rockwell paintings of the Mark Twain characters. What amazing talent both men had. We learned that Sam Clemens and Abraham Lincoln opposed each other when Lincoln was a...

Jul 9, 2009 - Hannibal, MO

7/8/09 Today we went to Mark Twain Museum. I just finished the book “Adventure of Tom Sawyer. We saw his childhood home. One museum had interesting things about a lot of his books. I saw fireflies outside [the motorhome] tonight. Interjection: I think a combination of our “caving” experience at the Lewis and Clark Caverns helped spark Nick’s interest in reading “Tom Sawyer”. It seemed to help him relate to the story. That or the first chapter reference to a blonde named “Becky”. We parked at Mark Twain Landing RV Resort and spent the...

Jun 19, 2009 - West trip to the Rockies

Hi. Thursday 6-11-09 We left Farmer City at 8 am and arrived in Frank Russell Corps Park in Missouri on Mark Twain Lake at 12 noon, only a 4 hour trip. It was nice traveling, a little rain for ½ hour. We are staying at site 43; it has many tall trees and blacktop pad with a nice gravelled area with a picnic table. This is a very nice park, quiet and peaceful. **** Friday-Sunday 6-12-09. We went to Hannibal Friday, visited the old downtown, nice but very touristy. During the weekend drove around Mark Twain Lake, not sure, but we think we saw...

Apr 29, 2009 - Hannibal, MO (Day 2) - Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum

(Ron Writing) After a delicious breakfast of waffles and strawberries we took in the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum. Yesterday's blog had photos of most of the significant buildings in this complex and today we toured the interior of the buildings and the museum. There were many interesting exhibits documenting the life of Mark Twain, his boyhood family, and his own family later in life. It was enjoyable, informative, and sometimes thought provoking. We enjoyed visiting with a volunteer in the Museum welcome area. She is 94 years old...

Apr 28, 2009 - Hannibal, MO - Mark Twain's Hometown

(Ron Writing) This morning it was still drizzling and it stayed very cloudy all day. We left drove a short distance west on I-70 and then headed north on scenic route MO-79, The River Road, which closely follows the Mississippi River. This side of the river is very hilly so there were many points along the way where we could view the river and there were many towns along the way that were right on the river’s edge. It was another beautiful drive. We spent some time in Clarksville, MO where there is a lock and dam operated by the Corps of...

Apr 28, 2009 - Travel day. Topeka, KS to Hannibal, MO

With a travel day planned for today, we had things well prepared before we went to bed last night. Speaking of last night, we had a phone call from my nephew, John. We talked for about an hour and it was so good to hear from John. Gosh, how we miss him. He is in the army special forces at Ft Bragg, NC. We sure hope to see him before too long. He sent his love to Jen, Steve and Colby before he hung up the phone. Marilyn & I were up at 6:00 this morning and pulled out of the RV Park at 6:45 A.M. We arrived at Liberty RV right at 8:30 and they...