After time with friends, we decided it was time to get some history lessons.  First up was a stop in Hannibal, MO to learn about the life of Mark Twain.  We stayed at Ray Behrens COE park on Mark Twain lake, just a bit SW of Hannibal.  While a nice park, relatively quiet and first come, first serve FHU sites, their ranger enforcement and cleanup left something to be desired.  Be forewarned, this is a shitty story...literally.  

We arrived early on a Monday, around noon, and snatched up one of the last 2FHU sites.  Our site was about 80ft long and paved.  We had lots of room for the truck and RV. 

We went to Hannibal for a day to explore the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum.  What a well done exhibit and museum!!  If you are ever near Hannibal you really need to stop by.  The self guided tour starts off in the visitors center and then moves into Mark Twain's boyhood home.  Each room in the house is behind glass and set in period style with Twain quotes and figures.  Not only was the inside information well done, outside was just as nice!  Beautiful grounds and gardens, cobblestone streets and interactive exhibits.  In fact, Rick had to get in on painting the fence!  

The museum was a couple blocks away and was just as nice.  Both locations really immerse you in the time and life of Mark Twain and the museum has numerous Twain artifacts as well as several of the Norman Rockwell paintings of Tom Sawyer and the gang.

We really enjoyed walking through the quaint downtown area and found these great little stamps on the sidewalk throughout, celebrating the towns anniversary.  Unfortunately, because of all the flooding with the MIssissippi River, we didn't get to see much of the riverfront because they had the flood walls closed to protect the downtown. 

We also had to check out the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn statue downtown, again, beautifully landscaped.  The delicious smells got the best of us and we decided to have a late lunch at the Mark Twain Brewery.  The food was really good, especially the pub chips and beer cheese dip. A really cool place on the river.

On our last full day in MO, we explored Mark Twain Lake that we were staying on and the COE Visitor Center.  Wow, what a beautiful visitors center, complete with beautiful views of the lake, a very nice Veterans memorial and plenty of space to have a picnic and enjoy a nice walk through the woods.

With the flooding in the area, the dam on the lake was opened and you could really see the rushing water and just how full the lake was.

From Hannibal, we moved on down the road to Springfield, IL, where we stayed at the IL State Fairgrounds campground.  We stayed there one night last June as well on our way down to Branson.  This time we stayed 3 nights so we could explore more of Springfield and the Lincoln must see's.  At $20 military rate for FHU site, albeit a parking lot, it is a great deal and very convenient and safe.  

​On our first day we set out to explore the Lincoln National Heritage Area and the Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.  The Heritage area encompasses a couple blocks near downtown and has a visitor center that really does a good job of laying out what Springfield looked like during Lincoln's day to help immerse you in the time period.  You can take a free tour of Lincoln's home with a park ranger.  Their knowledge is wide and deep and Caleb, our guide, really was passionate about the history of Lincoln's life.  It was fascinating to see the home and hear the stories behind it.  What was surreal was touching and seeing items that Lincoln used that were not reproductions or period pieces.  We really enjoyed walking around the area and seeing the other homes.

From the historic area we made a quick trek a couple blocks north to the Lincoln Library and Museum.  It is in the downtown area as well,  and there are several other places to visit in the surrounding area.  Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and we ducked quickly inside the library to walk around and then over to the museum, which, in our humble opinion, is the crown jewel of the Lincoln experience in Springfield.  It is $15 for adults and $10 for military and worth every penny.  We were also fortunate enough to be there on a day that they put on a 2 man play of the weeks after the Ford Theatre shooting that was very good!
The museum is set to show his early life in one section as you walk through a cabin and then the other section is his presidential days as you walk through the White House.  We both agree that the most moving piece is as you walk into a room that is a replica of the Springfield capital with Lincoln lying in state.  Lights are dim, lilly arrangements are in place and you are walking past the casket.  It was very moving to say the least.  There is also a rotating section that is currently a wonderful gallery on WWII and finally a cool Holavision Theater that has holographic images talking about the history of life and times of Lincoln.  We were told that Disney specialists were brought in to help develop the museum and we could definitely see similarities and the level of detail.

After the museums, we dodged the rain and thunderstorms to get back to the RV and hunker down for the night.  Unfortunately we only were able to do a drive by of the capital and other points of interest. 

The next day started with some rain, but mid morning it stopped so we decided to go out and see Lincoln's Tomb in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.  The cemetery itself is quite impressive and well kept.    The Lincoln Tomb area is very impressive with a beautiful caretakers home that looks like a castle.  

The tomb and monument is amazing!   There is a bust of Lincoln out front that is known for the good luck it gives when you rub it's nose.  When in Rome...

The tomb's exterior is granite and the obelisk stands 117 ft high.  Statues on each corner represents a branch of the military and are cast from metal of 65 cannons donated by the US government.  Very detailed statues!  During the day you can go into the tomb, which was quite impressive and chilling at the same time.  At every turn there are various statues of Lincoln at various times of his life and then you enter the tomb area, which everyone immediately goes silent out of respect.  Indeed a beautiful tribute and well designed.

With the weather still in our favor,  we headed over to the IL State Military Museum.  We were fortunately there on a weekend when veterans and reenactors were set up there showing their period pieces and military vehicles.  The museum itself was really nicely done and takes you through the military history of Illinois' military units through the years.   They even have the gun that Lincoln fired on the White House grounds and his target.

By this time we were getting super hungry and found a great little place near downtown.  Boone's Saloon was a great find and highly recommended.  Rick had the Mushroom Bourbon burger and I had the Bourbon Chicken Club wrap.  Oh man...both were amazing and we were stuffed!

From Springfield, we moved on to the greater Kankakee area for a quick visit with my brother and stayed at the Kankakee South KOA.  There is not alot of campground choices in the area, so this was about our only option for a spot on a Monday night and we had FHU to boot.  Just as we pulled in to our site, the sky let loose with a gully washer for about a half hour.  Not really knowing how the weather would be in the morning, we stayed hooked up to the truck as the site was pretty level.  That night we went out for a mexican dinner with my brother and retired early, since I was not feeling well.

The next morning we moved on closer to our destination of Elkhart, IN.  We stayed for a night at Potato Creek State Park.  We had stayed at the park back in 2014 for our annual family camp outing and really enjoyed ourselves so we came back.  The park encompasses a 6 square mile area (3,840 acres), and has a really nice lake for small boats or kayaks.  There are several trails, bike trails, camp store, cross country skiing, swimming and camping.  They have over 200 sites that are all pretty much 60 ft long, but some of the sites, based on angle and trees may not accommodate a big rig very well.  AGAIN, while we were there, it rained.  I swear it was following us.  Lots of large puddles and sites that were not habitable until the waters went down.  Luckily the site we picked did not have any standing water and we parked for the night.  Again, with the unstable weather, we decided not to unhook fo the night and hunkered down for the night.

Next up...Elkhart, IN and a big upgrade for our home!

Friends, Fun and Food...LOTS of Food!!!   That is how I would describe our latest adventure.

We continued on in our trek to meet up with friends and family.  We left KC on our way to Lake of the Ozarks to spend 12 days with Rick's buddies from the Army.  We were originally slated to meet up at the 11th ACR Blackhorse reunion in Las Vegas but an unexpected medical issue sidelined one of his friends, so we brought the reunion to him in MO.   That's just what troopers do.  We try to meet up every year at the Blackhorse reunions to reconnect.  Next year is in CO Springs, which we are looking forward to visiting again!

​We booked our stay at Lake of the Ozarks State Park, which is a really nice park with a marina and boat rentals.  The campground is well kept and the sites are really nice, except some are a bit unlevel.  A bit is being kind for our site!  Our poor Solitude had to kneel down and even with the front being on the ground, we were still a bit unlevel front to back but we made it work.  We had 50 amp hookup and a water spigot behind us, across the road.  Mid-week we combined hoses with our friends next door and were able to refill the fresh water tanks.  Thankfully we had our portable waste tote, affectionately called "Lucy Loo", to empty tanks.  As a full timer, we focus on things like this and fortunately, with having Lucy Loo, we have more flexibility in booking sites without full hookups for longer periods of time.  Should Lucy Loo ever take a crap, haha, see what I did there,  we have our eye on a fancy "Lula Loo" from Camco Rhino that has beefier wheels and has gotten great reviews.

We enjoyed alot of time relaxing and chatting at the campground...and lots of eating!!!  Everyone brought their A game for food!  Even the deer wanted to see what we were doing.

We took a day to rent a pontoon from one of the state park locations and get out on the lake.  It was a beautiful weekday, in which the lake was a bit quieter from the weekend warriors.  Little did we know that we were in for a show near the Ft Leonardwood Lake of the Ozarks Rec Area portion of the lake.  They were conducting Engineer Sapper Training , which is water insertion training to clear beach obstacles.  They jumped out of a Chinook into the water with a full pack and equipment and swim to shore undetected.  It was thrilling to see the Chinook fly low over the lake and hover soo low to the water.

We also took a day trip to Ha Ha Tonka State Park which is on the south side of the Lake.  This park has several hiking trails with many geologic features such as sinkholes, caves, natural bridge and historic castle remains!  This 60 room, european castle was built back in 1905 by a wealthy KC businessman,  Robert M. Snyder.  The building was halted a year later when Snyder dies in one of the first auto accidents in MO.  His son finished the castle in 1922 and was eventually leased as a hotel. In 1942, the castle caught fire by a spark from a chimney and the carriage house also caught fire that day.  In 1976 the water tower was set on fire by vandals.  

The stone work on the buildings was amazing as he brought masons from Europe to assist in construction.  Views from the castle on the rocky bluff, overlooking the lake were stunning.  It was really a neat place to visit!

We also took time for a nice dinner out at JB Hooks overlooking the lake.  We started early for happy hour out on the patio overlooking the lake but before too long we were back inside as the storms came over the lake.  Dinner was amazing and we all left stuffed and happy!  If you are ever in the Lake of the Ozarks area, this is a must stop!  They have a great bar atmosphere with live music.

On one of our final days, we took a drive to check out the Osceola Cheese Store to get some cheese.  Little did we know they had samples of every cheese, which was at least 40 different kinds!  They originally started out by making their cheeses on location but after they sold the cows, they gave their recipes to a dairy in WI to make their cheese for them. No wonder the cheese was soo good, it was made in WI!!!  Even though we tasted just about every cheese they had, and some wine, we did save room for lunch at the Dam Restaurant and Bar, in Warsaw, MO which was overlooking the Harry Truman Reservoir and next door to a swinging bridge.  After again eating some great food (see a trend here for alot of food focus), we decided to check out the bridge to walk off our lunch.  It was originally built in the early 1900's and rebuilt in 1924 by the same man after a tornado destroyed it.

One of our final nights, we had a wonderful italian dinner at Kirk and Betsy's house in nearby Jefferson City.  Prior to dinner we stopped by the MO capitol building to take in the MO museum inside.  Unfortunately the capitol was undergoing some extensive exterior renovations and was completely tarped.  The museum is free and was nicely done.  One side was MO natural resources and the other was MO history as well as the role MO played in the military engagements and wars throughout the years.  They even had a beautiful brass model of the USS MO and the actual bell from the ship.

Dinner was fantastic and again we all enjoyed each other's company and ate too much!  We also got pictures of the troopers with their sassy Cavalry stetsons.  Thank you Kirk & Betsy for a wonderful evening!!

Our 12 days with friends passed by all too quickly and we are already planning our get together next year in CO Springs and a meet up with Bill and Denise while we are in TX later this year.  Up next, making our way across the midwest to family and an upgrade on our rv.