Soil: Hannibal Missouri

The June rise used to be always luck for me; because as soon as that rise begins here comes cordwood floating down, and pieces of log rafts -- sometimes a dozen logs together; so all you have to do is to catch them and sell them to the wood-yards and the sawmill.

Missouri meets the Mississippi in a gradual way.  The land does not fall off and then join the river.   The river meets Hannibal right there before you.   I was amazed by the Mississippi and the lands relationship when I drove through Hannibal on my way to Lakeland Florida.   Hannibal was out of the way but I desired to see the home of Tom, Huck, and the infamous Mark Twain.

I pulled into the small town, and found my way around. I stopped at a classic looking soda fountain.  I ordered a Chocolate Coke, which was by the way delicious, and listened to the people talk about the tourists.  I hoped that I did not look like one of the Lotus Eaters; but hey when you are a tourist its hard to hide that fact.  So I buttoned my lip and enjoyed my Chocolate Coke.  There was fresh squeezed Apple Juice was on the menu. But I had my fill from the apple orchard stands, that lined the highway on my way through Missouri.

When I went towards the old river, I was expecting to see something like the Snake River in Idaho. The Snake River in Idaho is segregated from the potatoes in the field, by large, carved out, canyons.    The Mississippi, on the other hand,  creeps right up to the land, like a carpet bagger from Minnesota, meeting the folks in Missouri, with  a "how do ye do?"  and a cobalt-blue  handshake.


Check out Mark Twain's Book: Life on the Mississippi