About 10:00 am on Sunday September 24 we departed Updog RV Park and drove 98 miles south to Hannibal MO, where we will attend the first of three RV rallies in Missouri, namely the Newmar Kountry Klub (NKK) Fulltimers Chapter Annual Rally. Many, probably most, of the members of the NKK Fulltimers Chapter are true fulltimers, meaning they have sold their homes and travel 365 days of the year. Some might call them homeless trailer trash, were they not traveling and lining in multi-hundred thousand dollar luxury motor coaches. Dorcas and I call ourselves 3/4 timers, because we still own our home in North Carolina, and we only travel about 9 months of the year.
Our drive was uneventful, always a good thing. Along much of our route from St. Paul southward we have seen signs proclaiming we were on the Avenue of the Saints. We saw nothing particularly Holy along our route and thought no more about it. At some point we learned that the Avenue of the Saints was a corridor of highways through Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri that connected St. Paul MN and St. Louis MO.
Hannibal MO is best known for its 2 most famous natives: Samual Langhorne Clemons (Mark Twain) and Margaret (Unsinkable Molly) Brown.
We checked in for 5 nights at the Mark Twain Cave Campground. The campground has on-site the cave made famous in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", as well as a number of other writings by Mark Twain.
 |
| Mark Twain themed Missouri wines |
 |
| 56 coaches were in attendance: The gang's all here! |
 |
| An aerial view of our rally venue |
 |
| And here we are |
At each campsite was an unusual fire pit. It was a semisphere about 36" in diameter made of 1/4" steel. I suspect they were recycled former river bouys. They are reminiscent of fire pits we found in Alaska, which were recycled from 48" steel sections from the Alaska pipeline.
 |
| Our huge fire pit |
One evening we had a visit from Mark Twain. Click HERE to hear Mark Twain himself!.
Some favorite Mark Twain quotes:
"Hannibal has had a hard time of it ever since I can recollect. First, it had me for a citizen, but I was too young then to really hurt the place.""Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.""Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.""Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel."We do not deal much in fact when we are contemplating ourselves."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
"I don't know anything that mars good literature so completely as too much truth. Facts contain a great deal of poetry, but you can't use too many of them without damaging your literature.""Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."
These last 2 ideas represent one of my guiding principles when producing this journal, namely, don let the facts get in the way of a good tale.
 |
| With Richard on the trolley |
 |
| Tom and Huck |
Hannibal is a river town, and a rough town back in the day. When the steamboats arrived it was said the captain could identify a safe restaurant if it had a backward-spelled name. Check out LaBinnah Bistro, a high-end establishment a few blocks up the hill off the waterfront.
 |
| A local mansion |
 |
| Another local mansion |
 |
| Old Sam himself at Riverfront park |
Margaret Tobin, known as Maggie, and later as Molly Brown, was born in Hannibal, to a poor family. When she was 18 she moved to Leadville CO with her brother Daniel Tobin. In Leadville, she met and married James Joseph Brown. He was not a rich man, and she married J.J. for love. After his death she said:
"I wanted a rich man, but I loved Jim Brown. I thought about how I wanted comfort for my father and how I had determined to stay single until a man presented himself who could give to the tired older man the things I longed for him. Jim was as poor as we were and had no better chance. I struggled hard with myself in those days. I loved Jim, but he was poor. Finally, I decided that I'd be better off with a poor man whom I loved than with a wealthy one whose money had attracted me. So I married Jim Brown."
From Wikipedia:
The Brown family acquired great wealth when in 1893, J.J.'s mining engineering efforts proved instrumental in the exploration of a substantial ore seam at the Little Jonny Mine. His employer, Ibex Mining Company, awarded him 12,500 shares of stock and a seat on the board. In Leadville, Margaret helped by working in soup kitchens to assist miners' families.
So Maggie eventually found her wealthy husband, moved to Denver, bought a mansion and began her life as a rich socialite.
 |
| Molly Brown's Birthplace & Museum |
Maggie Brown was the most famous survivor of the Titanic disaster. After her death in 1932, Brown was called "Molly Brown" and "The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown" by authors.
Riverboats ply the Mississippi River between St. Paul and Memphis and land in Hannibal.
 |
| The American Queen |
 |
| Dorcas and I enjoyed fried catfish at Finn's Food and Spirits |
 |
| Downtown Hannibal |
Hannibal is known for a number of murals around town. Here are a few:
We toured Mark Twain's Cave, originally called McDowell's Cave in the days Samual Clemens lived in Hannibal. This cave was an inspiration for Mark Twain in a number of his writings, most notably The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
McDowell Cave was discovered in 1819 by Jack Simms, a local hunter. His dog chased a cougar into a hole in the hill. Jack loved that dog and followed it into the hole, and the cave was discovered. The cat was never found.
Hannibal and its residents were the inspiration for many of the stories and characters developed by Mark Twain.
 |
| Sam Clemens' boyhood home |
 |
| Laura Hawkins, a sweetheart of young Sam Clemens and the inspiration for Becky Thatcher, lived here |
One day we had a visit from Tom and Becky. In 1956 the Hannibal Chamber of Commerce initiated the Tom and Becky Program to select local school children to represent the city as ambassadors to local regional and national events. Initially, there was a single Tom and Becky, but now due to demand there are a total of 5 Tom and Becky couples. Each couple is chosen from a pool of 7th grade students following a rigorous review process. Click HERE to see a video of Tom and Becky enacting a scene from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
 |
| Tom and Becky |
On the final night at the rally our group took a sunset dinner cruise on the Mark Twain Riverboat.
 |
| A full moon on the Big Muddy |
 |
| Our dinner cruise track |
We had a wonderful visit in Hannibal and had a great time with our NKK Fulltimers friends. Tomorrow we pack up and move about 150 miles south and west to Sedalia MO for the 2nd of our 3 back-to-back-to-back NKK rallies.
2 comments:
This is a well thought out post with wonderful pictures and facts :-) I know a lot of work went into this.thanks for sharing Myron
Nice write up Myron. The Norman Rockwell exhibit was a pleasant surprise for us. We liked the General Store on the main street there. Always fun to browse through bushel baskets of old-style candies.
Post a Comment