Day 6, September 14, 2021

It was a day of museums and tours, in Hannibal, starting with the Mark Twain Museum and the history of Samuel Clemens growing up in Hannibal while making friends who would become the characters in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. We learned about Clemens later moving his family to Hartford, Connecticut, and writing most of his best-known books in Elmira, New York, where his wife’s family lived and where Clemens and his family spent their summers.

The museums included the homes of the boy Clemens would use as his Huck Finn character and the girl he would use as his Becky Thatcher character. There were many interesting interactive displays and videos, providing the foundation and drive that would make Clemens the Great American Author.

After lunch we toured the Mark Twain Cave in which Clemens would go exploring as a boy and ended up being significant parts of both the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books.

In the evening, we took a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River on the Mark Twain riverboat. It had been in the upper 80s during the day, but very pleasant on the water.

Very interesting day and a half in Hannibal. Tomorrow it’s on to Shubert, Nebraska, and the Indian Cave State Park.

Farewell to Mark Twain!