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

Indian Creek COE campground

Well, I finally made it to the Indian Creek COE campground around 11:30 this morning after only 109 miles from Swan Lake NWR. I had planned to drive here on Monday, but thought better of that idea due to the torrential downpours that started during Sunday night. Over seven inches of rain fell on Monday. I was glad I was parked on a cement pad. There was standing water everywhere, and it was a challenge to take Emma for her walks.

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I pulled out this morning around 8:30, and headed into Sumner to see if I could get the oil changed on the motorhome. I had an appointment for Monday morning, but didn't want to try to drive there in the horrible rain. Bob, the mechanic was glad I hadn't shown up yesterday, since he had to lay on the ground outside the shop to change the oil. That's the nice thing about a small town...they're laid back and go with the flow.

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When I got to Indian Creek, this is the campsite I chose. It is very roomy with no close neighbors. That's the way I like it! It turns out that I have better internet reception here without the antenna than I have at Swan Lake, and I received an email from my sister that she would be arriving today rather than tomorrow. They pulled in around 6:30, and took the site next to mine. I've paid for four nights and the total is $32.00 with electricity. I'm really thrilled to be reaping the benefits from my senior pass. :) I think, maybe, we'll do some touring in Hannibal tomorrow.

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

No help yet from Wilson

I tried to get in contact with the Wilson antenna folks but wasn't very successful today. I'll try again tomorrow. The amplifier not only gives me pretty good internet reception, but without it, I barely have cell phone coverage at all.

So, Emma and I went on a day trip this morning to check out the Corps of Engineer campgrounds on Mark Twain Lake. It's about 115 miles or so from here and it's where I'll meet my sister and brother-in-law next week. I had heard good things about one of the campgrounds, but it turns out I really liked the Indian Creek Campground. It has over a hundred nice, long, wooded sites next to the lake and many of them are first come/first served. Since we'll be camping during the week, there should be no problem finding two good sites together. Of course, most importantly, I'll be able to use my new America the Beautiful Senior Pass for the first time and only pay $8/night for a site with electricity. :)

The drive back to Swan Lake took me through some very heavy rain, and I was sure glad I was driving the car instead of the motorhome. It rained most of the afternoon off and on, so I didn't sit outside this evening. I guess I'll watch a netflix movie tonight.......

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