Thursday, September 15 - Hannibal

We went to Hannibal today. Weather was a little warm, but not bad. 

An empty campground this morning and again tonight.

If you visit Hannibal plan on spending at least two days. Everything here is Mark Twain this and Mark Twain that, but I found it interesting.

I got immersed in finishing a Letter to the Editor for the Jefferson City News Tribune this morning. We didn't leave the campground until after 10. Kathy had made online reservations for us to take a boat trip at 1:30, boarding started at 1:00. The campground is about 25 minutes from downtown Hannibal. 

We hit the Mark Twain boyhood museum complex first. I could have easily spent 2-3 hours there (if I hadn't wasted so much of the morning with the LTE), but we had to cut it short in order to grab some lunch before the boat trip.

We had lunch at the Mark Twain Dinette. My breaded tenderloin was great. Kathy said her grilled tenderloin was tough. Mine was huge and I'm a slow eater. We had to do a hurried hike to get the 6-7 blocks to the boat. Our car was parked about halfway between the restaurant and the dock. If we had walked a block out of the way to get to the car, drove to the dock and parked, it probably would have taken more time.

The one hour boat trip was nice, but to slow, especially upstream. 

Saw a couple of people fishing. One is hidden behind the post.

Have no idea what this structure used to be. It looks like it was the face of something dug back into the bluff.

I can't help myself, but I  only included one photo of this lift bridge with a tug and barges going under it.

Below are a couple of photos of "anchor barges". They are anchored out in the river and used as mooring points for "switching" barges. One of these had 5 barges loaded with cement, ready for shipping. The other one had around 15 empty barges. On the way downstream we saw a small tug over working with the empties. On the way back up river he was pushing them downriver to the cement plant, for loading.

We saw a tour bus at the John Hay Recreation Area, on the Illinois side. No idea why all the people were milling about. Maybe it was a mass baptism. Maybe they were happy to be able to wade in the Mississippi without sinking knee deep in muck like Kathy did.

This is supposed to be the island written about in Tom Sawyer.

Headed back into Hannibal.

One of the main tourist streets in Hannibal.

I'm tired as I put this together. Forgive me if I made to many mistakes.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.