August 14, Mark Twain

That was one creepy, worn out RV park. I never saw another person, even while working this morning to dump the tanks and everything. There were a number of camper type trailers there, but no one around. Some had been there a while, too.

Headed out after Jeff, although I must have been tired. Slept until 8! Found him down the road, and he was ready for me to take my turn. That was a switch! He just wanted to have no down time today. Our goal is over 45 miles, and it will be tough. I did take a pic or two on my way out of Salisbury. 

We are getting to an area of Missouri where there are lots of farms, not many towns, and the towns don't have much to offer. I guess that the main jobs here are farming. Or farming support. It is pretty, though.

        

         

Population 36! I do not remember this town....

And, I found a different type of flower than we have been seeing. Cool. There are tons of the same old thing. I did realize, however, that the sunflowers seem to be gone. Guess the state of Kansas has most of them!

There is a big lake here, the Mark Twain Lake. It is very pretty, but although I saw several boats being towed in the area, I didn't see anyone on that lake! I did, however, see a bald eagle skimming the surface. And I saw some wild turkeys, and a fox. 

        

 

While out there, Jeff ran across a reporter from the next town. She said she would get something in the local paper for us. And, offered us WIFI, but we ended up taking a different route and didn't actually make it to the town. 

We passed the area where Mark Twain was born, so I drove on over to check it out. They have the cabin he was born in at a place on a lake, named after him, in a park, named after him, all inside a building called the Mark Twain Shrine. 

      

The shrine.

The cabin he was born in.

     

      

Inside of the cabin.

I also drove into Florida, the small town where the cabin originally sat. There was really nothing there. Not even sure why they call it a town any more. I guess it is just an historic place, really. There were a couple of old log structures, and a memorial.

        

Went through a small town called Perry. We were hoping for an RV spot there, but no dice. There was a gas station and grocery, though. Tomorrow we should make the next larger town, with a Walmart, and hopefully a laundry.

        

        

        

Notice the plaque. The little play fire engine is a memorial. Very cool.

         

More stately old homes. I would love to get inside of some of them!

       

We pressed on and got our 46 miles in! However, I am having some difficulty in this area finding places to pull off the road and wait. Once it was time to look for a place to sleep, we were far enough from the lake that there was nothing. I couldn't find anything! We are hoping to not be run off from a little gravel patch leading up to a grain elevator. I'm hoping to get out of here early enough that no one will ever know we were here! So far, after dinner, no one has come by to challenge us. We are sort of behind a wall of corn, though! So, that is where we ended up staying, also. It was very quiet, and very dark once the sun went down.

We have changed the route again, and we are no longer going through the St. Louis area. We will cross the Mississippi River probably tomorrow, near a town called Louisiana. Then hopefully go straight through Illinois, and the rest. I'm thinking we will have some more difficulty finding places to stay. We will hope for the best!

We had another interesting Mailbox day. Nothing like the fish day, but you can't have that all the time!