Hannibal

Captain's Log - Day 9

We hung around Hannibal till about noon today. Had some breakfast at the Java Jive. They have good smoothies. Then we spent the rest of the day just touring their touristy areas. At the north end of Main Street, there's a statue of Huck and Tom in a garden at the base of a trail that leads up the hill to a lighthouse.

The Mark Twain museum was alright. The coolest part were the Norman Rockwell originals upstairs.

As we left the museum, a large Amish family came in! Sorry to disappoint, Rob, but I don't think they were on any kind of rumspringa - they were just asking about the Haunted Hannibal tours.

We checked out the pawn shop, the Native American Trading Co., and several antique stores. Eventually, we ran into our friends the kayakers! Really nice guys - one's name is Matt, and the other guy was ... Doug? Sorry I forgot your name, man. They told us about how they stayed on some family's lawn in Nauvoo, Illinois (named such by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, not James Cameron, ), which is evidently a significant city for Mormons. I think they gathered there for their journey to Utah ... or something. I'll let the Stormin' Mormon correct me if he's so inclined.

Anyway, we hope to run into Matt and Doug (?) again further down the river!

So a few days ago, we took on about 50 flies. We were on the hook in the river, so we're not sure exactly how they found us. They've managed to stow away for days now. But then we got spiders! Little boogers that will build a web around you if you sit still for more than 2 minutes. That actually happened to me.

I figure, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? These spiders will solve our fly problem! I believe we may have made a fatal error, however when we purchased fly tape. Now the spiders are hungry and they've moved on to larger prey! There are no mosquitoes around, and I'm starting think the spiders are also feasting on my feet!

Check out this cross by the side of the river! You know how when someone dies in a car accident, people put up crosses, pictures, and flowers by the side of the road where they died? Guess they do that on the river too. Why does that irritate me?

Now we're on the hook just south of Crescent Island. We finished off our box of clay pigeons, and now we've got citronella candles guarding all the exits and we're playing Risk. Mike just won the first game in 1 turn! That's got to be a record, right? It is mission based Risk, but still ...