Hannibal Missouri – Home of Mark Twain!

Travel

The travel day was right at 150 miles and three hours to this small town of Hannibal Missouri. It is located along the mighty Mississippi River and right on the state line with Illinois. The drive was on US-36 that is in decent shape and more non-interstate driving, that I’ve found that I quite enjoy seeing all the small town life. Our eastbound journey is really moving along!

Hannibal, Mo

Hannibal has a population of 18,000 people at about 500 feet elevation. The river community is best known as the 19th-century boyhood home of author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain). The settings of Twain’s novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are inspired by this town.

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The town was first laid out by 1819 and then gained city status by 1845 after much growth during the railroad years. The city has since served as a regional marketing center for livestock and grain as well as other products produced locally. Of course, tourism is big as well. The downtown is very walkable and has many small shops and restaurants.

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Our RV park was the Mark Twain Cave Campground located just a couple of miles outside of town down a steep hill. It was a nice enough park, but we only stayed a couple of nights before moving on east and avoiding incoming thunderstorms and flood warnings.

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Mark Twain

From Wikipedia: Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the “greatest humorist this country has produced”, and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature”. His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter often called “The Great American Novel”.

Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, then turning to newspaper journalism.

Riverboat Dinner Cruise

We had a very nice time on this dinner cruise down the Mississippi River. It was a two hour cruise with a buffet style dinner included in the $44 price. The dining room was set up with pleasant table settings and large windows to look out over the river.

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We visited the bar for a drink while we waited for the dinner call and proceeded up to the upper level to observe the river scenery. It was a hot day, but as the evening progressed, the temps were becoming more comfortable. Finally. By now, they called us down to dinner.

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The buffet table was loaded with some tasty food, but they limit you to one trip. Good thing they had large plates for this healthy eater! Now the food may not have been a gourmet quality, but it was tasty and well prepared and I had some large portions!

Wrap Up

We are now in Columbus, Ohio and on the way to Washington DC for a week stay and visits with our son and daughter in law. Thanks for following along! Take care and God Bless.