Two Score Road Trip, Day 9: Children's Literature

 May 14, 2021

Day 9: Children’s literature.

 

This morning I left Eureka Springs, Arkansas and headed north. I was surprised to see a “Trump 2024” sign. No matter how you feel about this person, it’s quite early to start campaigning, I’d say…

Something else I find fascinating is that both Oklahoma and Missouri and a small part of Arkansas at least there seems to be a Dollar General on every corner. I've completely lost track of how many Dollar Generals I have driven past on this trip. Lol!

Today’s highlight was stopping by the home of Laura Ingles Wilder in Mansfield, Missouri. I took a tour of both the house that she and Almanzo built as well as her home at “Rock House” that her daughter, Rose, built for her parents. It was fun to see the houses where such iconic books were written. It was also interesting to hear more about her history; I realized that I didn't really understand Laura Ingalls Wilder's history that well. There was also a museum dedicated to Laura, Almanso and Rose. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the museum or houses so all I have are the pics from the outside.

At the gift shop I found this:

 

What percentage do you think is roadkill? LOL!

About an hour and a half down the road I stopped at a Scenic Overlook of Lake Ozark. It was nice to look out over the lake. The most interesting thing I saw was a dozen and a half or so predatory birds circling and circling and circling. I'm not sure what kind of birds they were. They were magnificent to watch, so graceful!

Something I found interesting as I drove along were the names of some of these cities and towns I passed through (or saw on signs). I saw signs for Mexico, Louisiana, Miami, Nevada, Florida and Paris. These are all Town names, not the state or famous big cities that one usually thanks of when they hear those names. I would be curious to meet somebody who is from Mexico Missouri.

Then it was on to Hannibal, the boyhood home of Mark Twain—where funny enough, I learned that Mark Twain (or rather Sam Clemens) was born in Florida, Missouri. LOL!

Anyway…

I landed in Hannibal Missouri, which has a cute little downtown, but zero cell service, which was really frustrating. It meant that I couldn’t book my own hotel. I was really kicking myself for not booking it earlier when I had stopped for gas and knew Hannibal was where I would be ending for the night. Luckily Spencer was able to do it for me—very nice to have a solid, reliable backup! 

Unfortunately, this day ended in a lot of frustration. I had arrived too late to see the museums and had trouble with the hotel and I was not enamored with the restaurant I choose, though the server was kind. And because of interruption after interruption at home in MD my hotel room got booked 25 miles away in Illinois… and of course my GPS wouldn’t work in this town, so I had to drive out of town to get service, to locate the hotel. Then I had to drive 25 miles in the dark (I don’t see well in the dark) on crumby roads littered with traffic cones.I told myself it was all part of the adventure, right?

Thank goodness the hotel was a good one. 😊 Spencer made sure it was a good one. Warm and comfortable.

Tomorrow: Back to Missouri for some Mark Twain