We’re heading into friendly territory – at least I hope it’s friendly and not $$$$$$ territory.  We’re taking the Chief to it’s mothership to get tune up.  On our way north, we need to make a few overnight stops so we don’t completely drive the kids (and ourselves) into the ground.  It turns out, about 2 hours {by car – not by Chief} north of St. Louis on rt 61 is a sleepy little town named Hannibal… childhood home of Samuel Clemens.  As soon as I saw it on the atlas, I knew we were going. If this trip is about seeing America and having adventures… it would be downright disrespectful to miss Mark Twain’s house.

For Scott and I, the afternoon was a real treat.  We didn’t spend time reading through exhibits and deep diving into his life story (that’s a bridge too far with the little people).  I called up Wikipedia and some other Twain resources and read aloud as we hung out on his street, in his garden, on his doorstep….  He lived in the house from 1844 until 1856 (plus or minus – but does it really matter?).  He was a boy there and he visited once after he had become famous.

The kids are still too young to know Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, but of course they will.  It was tough to make the stop interesting for them.  More than anything to do with Mark Twain, they enjoyed getting out of the RV for a bit.  The town looks old-timey, some of the street were cobblestone and we had lunch at a diner (eating out isn’t something we’ve done much of lately).  It was a hit.  Afterwards we found them a nice little playground and we saw a train go by.  So easy to please *sometimes*.

Best Twain quotes?  There are too many.

• It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
• Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
• In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.
• Be good and you will be lonesome.