Across the Mississippi

After breakfast with Kent and Mary on our first morning in Jacksonville (highlight: the ripest cataloupe and peaches you could imagine), we headed over the Mississippi to Hannibal, Missouri, the childhood home of Mark Twain and the people who inspired the characters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.


We saw the famous fence that Tom Sawyer was assigned to paint:


A replica of the house where the boy on whom Huck Finn was modelled lived:


And the house where the girl on whom Becky Thatcher was modelled lived. This is the view from the house that Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) grew up in.


This is the drugstore where the Clemens family lived after the father died.


After lunch in a local restaurant, during which Sara ate the only barbeque of the entire trip (can you believe that?!) and Kelly had a substandard catfish sandwich, we strolled through downtown Hannibal. At an antique shop we gave our second explanation of the Canadian health care system (the first was in Grandma Margret’s kitchen in Centralia to one of her neighbours) and then visited an arts shop where we bought a couple of souvenirs. Everyone needs a scrap metal bat to hang up in their back yard.

We also went to take a look at the mighty Mississipp. Hawks circled overhead.


We were dutifully warned of some serious danger:


And we were reminded that this is still a working river:


These young boys were fishing for catfish, and one of them yelled that he hooked a big one.


Here the Mississippi heads north. It goes on, and on.


After crossing the bridge in that picture back into Illinois, we detoured south and drove through Pittsfield, Carrolton, and Whitehall, where various members of the Kelly and Alexander families were born or lived. Pittsfield and Carrolton are county seats with very nice courthouses.

Pittsfield:



Carrollton:


Kelly sticking her head in a picture in Carollton. No vacation would be complete without Kelly sticking her head in a picture.


An abandoned schoolhouse between Pittsfield and Carrollton.


On our way east to Carrollton, we passed a series of summer places built on stilts alongside the Illinlois River. Then, at Kampsville, we noticed that the road ended at the river. Ferry ride!


The view down the Illinois:


Who says the Midwest is nothing but cornfields?