Remembering & Flooding & Mark Twain

 Location: Ray Behrans Campground (COE); Perry, Missouri (about 100 miles northwest of St. Louis)

It was a longer than normal towing to this campground, but I knew it and liked it. The roads and weather were good for traveling and the traffic was light. Plenty of time to think about all sorts of things. For those wondering about the memory demons, their knots were tightened and all is well on that front, for now. One of the things I thought about was the RV'ers/bloggers that have either passed on or just hung up the keys. Over the years, I've probably followed a dozen or so blogs on a regular basis but now only a few. You can get to know people through their writing style and you can feel/understand things that they aren't saying. Most of the ones who are no longer blogging and traveling basically transitioned into it for weeks or months beforehand. I'm not sure if they knew they were getting close to the end or if it was a subconscious thing. One blogger/traveler was even blogging while she had terminal cancer. It was her way of saying goodbye. Her blog of 15+ years disappeared over night because hers was on a private domain and when she passed away, the domain wasn't renewed and thus the blog was deleted and the domain name sold to someone else. When I found that out, it was a big shock. So, if you're a blogger, be aware of that possibility. Most of my thinking was about nice things that I remembered from all of their blogs. Some things just stick with you and the ones who have gone on to the next campground, well, they know all of the answers now. (RIP)

I found my first large fields of corn on this tow. I will be seeing it more on a regular basis since I will be entering Iowa in a few days. It is a comforting feeling to see which surprised me because I'm not a farmer at all. 

My campsite here at Ray Behrens. It is a full hook up site but I won't use the sewer connection because my next campground is also full hookup. The site is long enough that I was able to set up Liberty in the shade of the tree. 

The view out my back window. Notice the fawn at the edge of the bushes just beyond the firepit. It only came out in the open for less than a minute before calmly walking back under cover. My back window is my ever changing view of this traveling lifestyle.

This is another great COE campground. It is well laid out, quiet and secure. I only have a few more COE's before I cross into Illinois and have to start staying in state parks. I think I've reserved some good ones, but we will see. As I mentioned in my last post, one of my campgrounds was about to be flooded out. I've been tracking the flood waters and right now my reserved campsite is under about 3 to 5 feet of Mississippi River water. The Corp is hoping the campground will be opened on the 12th and my reservation for the 14th would be good. I've been around flooded rivers and their aftermaths before so somewhat familar. Usually, but not always, there is a strong organic smell for days/weeks after the flood waters recede. So, I made an executive decision to cancel and make a new reservation at a state park about 30 miles inland on the Illinois side of the river. I think I'll still be close enough to scoot into Davenport/Moline to check out the roller gate dam like I had planned. Talking about executive decisions, did I ever mention that traveling alone makes making decisions a whole lot easier. If you know, you know.

Pretty nice visitor's center uh?

Not all COE damsites have visitor centers but this one does and it ranks pretty high in quality. Beside me and the attendant ranger, there was only a family of four gypsies. They were there when I arrived and were still there after I left. The female and two kids were clearly distracting the ranger while the male was doing some questionable things, mainly associated with display objects and gift shop areas. I didn't witness anything criminal happen, it was more or less a bad vibe feeling. 

The view of Mark Twain Lake from the visitors center. A nice thinking bench with a great view. Also, I liked the tree stumps with flowers growing out of them. Nicely done.

Same visitors center but now you can see the lake on the left and the hydroelectric dam on the right. Nature and technology, coexisting. 

I took this one specifically because of the red truck crossing the dam. One speck of color. 

The backside of the dam indicated they were shedding any water through the gates or making electricity. Interesting, since most of the area is experiencing flooding.

My exploration yesterday was one of the many Make Twain museums. This one is located at his birthplace, Florida, Missouri. I was puzzled when I saw the name of the building. It is Mark Twain Memorial Shrine. The word "shrine" threw me for a loop. It makes it sound as if Mark Twain was a holy person to be worshiped. I almost didn't go it because of the word but decided I wanted to ask the people inside about the word. No one that worked there liked the word either but they also didn't know why it was being used or who was responsible for it. Oh well, It was a free museum so I wasn't contributing to something I didn't really agree with. The museum is a part of a much larger Mark Twain State Park that is on the shores of Mark Twain Lake. It you have even a passing fancy for Mark Twain, it is worth a visit.

The museum is a nice building even with the out of place name.

The cabin Mark Twain was born in. I never found out how much of it was original, if any. 

I liked this picture in the museum a lot. Looking in the faces of each man tells a complete story. They are "The Thunderbirds", CCC Company 1743. They were the only all black Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crew to help develop Mark Twain State Park. To me, the CCC was one of the best New Deal programs of the Great Depression which the politicians in charge at the time, foolishly extended. Remember, each man was paid $30.00 per month and was required to send $25.00 back home to their family. World War II ended the program because people were needed to fight the war instead of building state parks. 

This one picture captures a lot about the man. On the left is steamboat wheel because of the time Twain spent on the river as a pilot. He had an interesting life but I realized I wasn't that interested in him.

My quest for the best Reuben Sandwich continues. This one is from The Junction Restaurant located at the junction of Missouri highways 154 and 19. It was so large, I almost didn't finish it. It is probably in the top 10 but the sauerkraut lacked the tang and there wasn't enough swiss cheese. The corned beef was excellent though. The number one is still in Hinckley, Minnesota and number two is in Freeport, Texas.

Today is moving day and I'll only be moving about 15 miles to another COE campground on the other side of the lake. This is because I needed a place to hunker down for the 4th of July and to be close enough to drive into Hannibal, Missouri. I had reservations for a steamboat ride on the Mississippi River out of Hannibal but they called me yesterday to let me know the ride had to be canceled due to the river flooding. Yep, the same flooding that caused me to cancel my campground reservation at Shady Creek. This is the second time I've planned to ride this riverboat but had to cancel. I'm not sure if there will be a third, cause time seems to be running out.  

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.