A riverboat ride, and back to the refuge

Yesterday afternoon, Pam, Stan, and I headed back to Hannibal to take a ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat for a short tour up and down the mighty Mississippi.

The Mark Twain.......

Going up....

and down the Mississippi River.

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After the tour, we went to the Mark Twain Museum that we had missed the other day and enjoyed seeing the original Norman Rockwell illustrations that were painted for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" book when it was re-published. I have always admired the work of Norman Rockwell, so this was a real treat.

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We planned to go out for dinner, and ended up at Lulabelles' Restaurant that was a working bordello until the 1950's. It is now a fine dining establishment that has an early bird special. Since we arrived at 4:00, we qualified. We had an excellent meal at only $11.00 a plate. Stanley and I ordered the prime rib, and Pam had the blue fin tuna. The meal started off with a shrimp appetizer, followed by salads and home baked bread, and then the main entree. We had more food than we could eat and took home doggie bags.

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We also stopped to see the bronze statue of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn while we were in town.

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Heading back to the campground, we were trying to outrun very threatening black skies and were able to arrive to take the dogs out before the rain began. It turned out that the campground was on the edge of the storm, so we were able to enjoy another campfire in the evening.

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What a great time we all had for the last four days. It was a very refreshing break from Swan Lake.

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This morning, I hit the road about 10:00 and began the 109 mile journey back to Swan Lake. The trip was uneventful, and I was able to get fully set up and go work at the visitor's center by 3:00. Only eight more days until I blow this popsicle stand!

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Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Mark Twain State Park

Boy oh boy, what a rain storm we had last night! It rained for at least five hours, but wasn't enough to wake me up too much. Since it was so overcast and threatening looking this morning, we decided to postpone our return trip to Hannibal until tomorrow, and just chill out today.

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Emma and I went on several walks in the morning, and by the afternoon, the skies had cleared. Pam and I hopped in the car and headed out to investigate a sign we had seen about produce. After a half mile down a one lane gravel road, we came to a sign to turn right onto a muddy path to a residence. It turned out to be the home of an Amish family that sold produce. After knocking on the door, we were invited in to see what they had for sale. The man of the house answered the knock and apologized for being somewhat speckled on his clothing. He had just returned from slaughtering chickens, and sure enough, there was a wheelbarrow full of dead, but very clean, chickens in the mud room of the house. There was also a grand selection of home grown tomatoes, green peppers, and new potatoes at very reasonable prices. I was thrilled to pick out some luscious tomatoes and new potatoes, and Pam did likewise along with a cucumber and five peppers for 20 cents a piece!

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From there, we headed down the road to Mark Twain State Park.

The original house that Samuel Clemens was born in is preserved inside of a large memorial building. We paid the $2.50 fee to watch an excellent movie on Mark Twain's life and to tour the museum.

Samuel Clemens spent several years as a captain of a Mississippi Riverboat, and here is Pam at the huge wheel of one of those vessels. I really found this state park museum more informative about the life of Mark Twain than the museum in Hannibal.

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On the way back to Indian Creek, we drove past an interesting billboard that I had to turn around and get a picture of. I'm guessing there is a problem with STD's with the local farm communities! Oh my!

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Pam and Stan provided the excellent dinner of pork chops cooked over the campfire, along with the tasty Amish potatoes and green beans. Mmmm....afterwards, we began to enjoy stimulating conversation around the campfire until dark clouds rolled in and the wind suddenly picked up. I hurriedly took Emma back to the rig so I could stow my outside furniture and close all the windows. I managed that just in the nick of time. As I headed back over to Pam and Stan's, the skies opened up and we had a real downpour for about a half an hour. We were all happy that we had finished dinner before that little interruption.

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The plan for tomorrow is to do the riverboat ride on the Mississippi in the afternoon. We'll see what happens..........

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Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Phoebe Jo has arrived!

The most important news of the day is that my fourth grandchild has arrived! Phoebe Jo arrived at 7:41 this morning (7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20").

One of the most amazing things is all that dark hair! All of my kids and Robyn's first daughter came out close to bald and were blondes when they were young. I can't wait to see this latest addition next month!

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After that early morning excitement, Pam, Stan, and I headed out to Hannibal to do a little sightseeing. The weather forecast for the day was for heavy rains, so we did the Mark Twain museum (indoor) tour. Then we headed for lunch at a place with home made root beer. Lunch was very tasty and a great shelter while the rain poured down.

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By the time we got back to the rigs, the skies had cleared and it was my turn to provide dinner. After some challenges getting the campfire to light, I cooked a shrimp dinner over the fire. The three of us spent an enjoyable evening chatting around the fire afterwards, before the predicted further rains began.

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The forecast for tomorrow seems better, so we'll go back to Hannibal and plan to take a riverboat ride on the Mississippi. I hope the weather improves so we can do this.

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Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy

Slow progress

After working with one of the staff here to check out my 12v converter for the Wilson amplifier, he came to the same conclusion that I had. ;) So, I had a brief interval of semi-good connection and went back to a Wilson Electronics site. I decided to order 120 to 6 volt converter from them. That means I can plug into a regular outlet and have power to the amplifier. I really don't need the 12volt converter since I most always have an electrical hook up, and when I don't I'd have the generator on to use the computer anyway. I don't have an inverter which changes battery power to 120 volt, so I'm hoping this fixes the problem. I'd like to hope the hook up arrives before I leave for Hannibal next Monday, but since it's coming from California I'm not optimistic.

Today is July 29, and in 1917, my mother was born. I would like to wish her a very happy 92nd birthday! Think of everything that has happened in the world in the last 92 years...WWI, WWII, the Korean War, television, the Vietnam War, electric refrigerators, the internet, man on the moon, Iran, Iraq, etc, etc, etc....it's mind boggling, and my mother has lived through it all. I wish her the best..........

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later, Judy