Tag Archives: Mark Twain

photo of building that is All dolled up

Antiques in Perry

Map of the Mark Twain Lake area

Mark Twain Lake area

Teardrop Trail Log: June 15, 2016

We’re rarely on the road early, and by the time we visited the Mark Twain Birthplace and navigated across Mark Twain Lake it was nearly noon. Just as the thought of lunch was occurring to me, we pulled into Perry, Missouri. Once a booming coal town, it is now a destination for lake fun and antique shopping. It is also one of the prettiest small towns in Missouri.

After lunch at the Hootenanny, I wanted to walk around and photograph some of the buildings. Within a block of Palmyra and Main, there are several ornate examples of late-nineteenth century commercial architecture including wood, brick and cast iron façades.

photo of Miss Daisy's Antiques

Miss Daisy’s Antiques

Many of the buildings now house antique stores. We took the time to explore one particularly promising one. I’m a woodworker and enjoy finding, restoring and using old hand tools. This store had a generous supply of old saws, planes, chisels and the like and I couldn’t resist exploring. There were lots of other things to look at, and we spent about an hour there. We were definitely going to have to visit again when we had more time. Sadly, we needed reach Peoria by late afternoon and play time in Missouri was over for now!

photo of The Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site

Mark Twain’s Birthplace

photo of Mark Twain's birthplace in Florida Missouri

Mark Twain’s birthplace in Florida Missouri

photo of Mark Twain's birthplace bedroom

The bedroom as it was

Teardrop Trail Log: June 15, 2016

After a night in Mark Twain State Park, we decided to visit his birthplace, accidentally discovered the day before. The original two-room clapboard structure is housed in a substantial museum, with exhibits, a reading room, several first editions of his novels and a handwritten manuscript of Tom Sawyer.

The house itself was moved from it’s original nearby site, now flooded in the reservoir created by damming the Salt River. It is furnished, and gives a good idea of early nineteenth-century life in the midwest.

Samuel Clemens, who went by the pen name Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri on November of 1835 and lived there for the first four years of his life. The family then moved to Hannibal, Missouri — more famously known as his boyhood home.

photo of placard with Mark Twain quote

Without doing any work …

One exhibit on flax, a primary crop of early America, shows the stages of production. From planting in the spring to harvest, to processing, spinning and weaving with period tools. A river boat exhibit shows various artifacts including a wheelhouse mockup. Another outlines Twain’s interest in technology including the first private telephone in the world. It is complete with handwritten records showing service outages — perhaps the forerunner of modern Internet uptime agreements?

Finally, there are several exhibits of furniture and other effects from his late nineteenth-century home in Hartford, Connecticut. The exhibit includes a carriage and street diorama.

photo of raided egg carriers

Raccoon Caper #2 – The Nocturnal Invasion

Teardrop Trail Log: June 14, 2016

Camp Mark Twain State Park established and a scrumptious chicken dinner under our belts, we cleaned the dishes and put away the food. We’ve camped in numerous national and state parks in the last few years, and have developed a bedtime routine. Galley closed, kitchen boxes stacked and Igloo cooler closed. Time for bed. Marilyn is usually earlier into bed than me, but I was tired as well and we turned in. Soon we were both asleep.

photo of Raccoon crime in Progress

Raccoon crime in Progress

I’m a light sleeper and usually up in the middle of the night, but this night I was awakened by a commotion outside. Crash! Bang! What on earth?! I sleep next to the door in our teardrop, and grabbing my iPhone (always ready for a photo!) I opened the door and leaned out. We had a raccoon in camp, and he was exploring our stuff. Pushing the door open and stepping out, I made some noise and the invader escaped. Even though it was dark, I could see we’d been raided. The cooler was open, and various wrappers were scattered around. Well, the damage was already done so I went back to bed. We could survey the crime scene in the morning.

photo of the evidence

The evidence

Marilyn was the first one up in the morning and cleaned up the mess. The raccoon had opened the Igloo cooler (we even have trouble opening that!) and scored a pound of bacon, a pound of butter, two pounds of lunch meat, several eggs and a yogurt.

photo of opening the egg carrier

Not easy to open

It was able to open the egg containers and that’s not easy. It was also able to get the meat and bacon out of zipper bags without destroying them. Apparently they can work the zipper pulls. Their scientific name is appropriate: Procyon lotor or extremely dexterous front paws.

Later, when Marilyn went to the camp office to buy more ice, she mentioned the raid, and the camp host wasn’t surprised. It seems the local raccoons have developed a taste for beer and are able to open pull-tab cans. Two nights of camping so far, and two incidents. I wonder if they prefer lagers or ales?

photo of Igloo cooler

Tiny raccoon fingerprints

photo of campsite at Mark Twain State Park

The Girl Strikes Again

Teardrop Trail Log: June 14, 2016

image of online map

The Girl

Jim was enjoying his mocha as we left Morberly and headed for Mark Twain State Park in Florida, Missouri. We pulled out the National Geographic Road Atlas and double-checked the route, before we left civilization. We’d learned the hard way about reliable Internet connectivity in rural areas, so I Googled the trip – 49 min (40.8 mi) via US-24 E and MO-154 E. It seemed simple enough, but the “Girl,” our name for the online voice that provides directions, created delays and led us to some very unusual destinations on other trips down the Teardrop Trail. We needed to get there early enough to get a campsite. We headed out along Route 24, turning on Missouri 154, a two lane rural road taking commands from the “Girl.” She lead us to Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site. Confused, we walked up to the door only see that the facility had closed. No campground in sight. We decided to back track. As we proceeded back on MO-154, we saw a rather large stone display that said “Florida.”

photo of Florida, Missouri sign

Florida, Missouri

We were in the right place, sort of. Soon we found a sign that pointed to camping. We searched and eventually found the Badger Campground and the entrance booth was still staffed by the friendly campground host. We had arrived just in time to get the camp site. The “Girl” had struck again.