May 4, 2007 - Liberty to Hannibal, MO

We stayed in a motel on Wednesday night. Nice place to stay but not nearly as nice as our RV. The next morning we were delighted to discover that, because we had left our RV at Liberty RV for some work, they informed us that we would be finished at noon on Thursday. That meant that we could go on to Hannibal on Thursday. Rain was in the forecast for several more days so we would have to travel in the rain no matter what we did. We had an e-mail from one of our readers, asking to meet with us in Liberty. Marianne and Gene were staying in...

Oct 14, 2006 - Home to our home on wheels!

How good to get back home. I have found that home is the 5th wheel and not the place it is parked. Home in our little trailer! How good it is! After unloading the car, Marilyn went to the grocery store while I picked up a new DISH antenna and called Cingular to get our plan changed to give us more "anytime" minutes. Of course, we had friends we had just met at the Mark Twain campground, watching things for us while we were in Branson. They had disconnected our water hose on the night temps were below freezing. They also had turned our...

Oct 11, 2006 - Back on the Great River Road

Gee, I spent a few hours last night telling you about our great second day in the Amana Colonies and when I went to copy it to my website, I cut it instead and there is no way I could paste. I lost it and decided to call it a night. Going back though, we spent the day going to all seven colonies of the Amanda's and did all the historical things this time instead of the tourist things. We went through the Amana Woolen Mills and watched craftsmen at three different furniture factories create their beautiful furniture. I always thought the...

Oct 11, 2006 - Hannibal, Missouri

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 We awoke to drizzle and wind. While drying my hair the lights went out. We still had electricity from our batteries but not the 50 amps we needed. Rick went to check our electrical cord and the power surge had been tripped. Rick disconnected the power surge and plugged directly right into the park's electrical post. Our electricity was once again up to the 50 amps. About 11:00 am we left to go to Hannibal, where Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) grew up. After driving around the town and down to the waterfront we went...

Sep 29, 2006 - Sept 29. Travel day to Hannibal, MO

Today we traveled to Hannibal, MO. I must caution RVers who intend to travel Route 36 across northern Missouri that this is a very rough road. In spite of the air ride system on our RV, this four lane divided highway is rough from Chillicothe eastbound to Macon. The eastbound lane is the old highway, so the westbound direction may be a bit smoother. It seemed odd to go past placed that we know so well, and to pass homes where we knew the people who live inside, as we neared our destination. We arrived at the Mark Twain Campground and got...

Jul 2, 2006 - Hannibal Missouri and Tom Sawyer Days

Now we're going up river from St. Louis, the Mississippi River, for you who don't know, to Hannibal and Tom Sawyer Days, big festivities for the town on the river of Mark Twain fame. We saw his boyhood home, Becky Thatcher's character's girlhood home, Unsinkable Molly Brown's childhood home and museums and memorials to them all. We really enjoyed the annual Mud Volleyball tournament and we enjoyed the frog leaping contests and the state finals of the fence-painting contest. A few Mark Twain quotes: Golf is a good walk spoiled. Let us be...

May 30, 2006 - Hannibal, Missouri

While traveling from Branson, MO to Hannibal, MO, we stopped at a McDonald's for lunch and were suprised to see this vintage sign from the 50's. For you youngsters, these signs featured a count of hamburgers sold. Everytime a store sold a burger, all of the signs in the system were updated. After a while the number became so large that they began updated every million burger sold. The Statue of Mark Twain is at the entrance of Injun Joes Campground where we stayed four days. Unfortunately, Trina had a problem with a tooth and ran a fever...

Apr 26, 2006 - Hannibal, MO

What a great place! I had visited Hannibal many years earlier but had forgotten what a nice little town this is on the west shore of the Mississippi River. Mark Twain Cave and Campground is set in a mixed wood forest away from any major roads. It is very clean and well maintained. The only negative is the Internet service. It was the slowest DSL that I have ever seen and it was difficult to even check e-mail or handle any banking. There are a couple of caves at the park and we took at tour of Mark Twain Cave. The main feature of the cave...

Oct 8, 2005 - Missouri - River Towns

I followed the Great River Road (a scenic byway) north from St. Louis. Quaint towns provide a break from field after field, all of which have been recently mowed. Views of the river are peaceful, but few and far between. I pulled into Hannibal at dusk, so I only caught a glimpse of the town. A wonderful collection of Victorian commercial architecture was much more interesting, and authentic, than the Hannibal (Mark Twain) Historic District. I did resist the urge to paint Tom Sawyer's fence.