Hannibal, Missouri

We left Springfield on Sunday morning and drove to Hannibal, Missouri, in time to watch the Nascar race. It was a beautiful day and warmed up nicely from the cold, rainy weather we left behind. We camped at the Mark Twain Cave and Campground.

Before we left Springfield, however, we made a stop at the Maid-Rite drive in. For those of you who don't know what a Maid-Rite is, it is a "scattered meat" sandwich. Ground beef is browned with onion and thrown on a bun. Great eating!

At Hannibal, we first made the drive up to Lover's Leap. I'm sure you know the legend--a love between an Indiana maid and a warrior from warring tribes. They were pursued one night and found themselves atop the cliff on the Mississippi river and leaped to their deaths rather than be captured and killed. It is a very nice view from atop the cliff.

We did a little driving around and found the Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer statue in town close to the waterfront. It was very close to the Mark Twain boyhood home. The historic area of town was interesting with several shops. We found it hard to find a parking place, even early in the morning, leaving us to believe that people must live in the buildings downtown and park on the street. Later in the afternoon, we took a riverboat cruise on the Mark Twain. This is a boat that also had a dinner cruise, but we just took the scenic cruise lasting one hour. It was nice and relaxing and the water was calm so it was very enjoyable except for the kids running all over the place. Not sure why they weren't in school. . .

We went back to the campground and visited with more of the campers. When we first arrived, most had left, but more came in and it seems most are passing through now on their way to warmer weather. Met a few dogs as well. Neal was happy.

We are now in Emporia, Kansas. Our Brake Buddy that failed on us a month ago was built here. We took it back to the factory this afternoon. They rebuilt it free of charge and we have it back already. Hurrah! We are stepping up our journey across the midwest as we are finding colder temperatures and we don't want that. We are going to visit some friends on the western side of Kansas next week and then we are on to Pueblo. From there we will drop down to New Mexico and make our way over to northern Arizona.

Till next time. . .

Dale