Drive to St. Louis

Yesterday, even though it was deadly windy with everything going down and around, we pulled away from Double J Campground to a KOA, in a town by St. Louis. I blogged and did some math, but since it was only a two hour drive I didn't do much. The crazy thing is, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee are all touching, so it will be easy to go to the latter three. That's all we now have left. Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This is the countdown. We're going out with a bang! Well maybe not with a bang. I don't do explosives. But seriously, we are only doing these and then going home on the first week of December. I look forward to seeing you all for the holidays and please knock on our house. Look backward to it. I mean forward.

We drove to a town a few miles away from the big city, and hooked up and such, taking out tables and the grill and such. Mom made a salad, cutting lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and everything, and Dad cooked on the grill chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers, but we only ate chicken. I helped Dad with cooking, going back and forth, getting supplies and doing other things. Rebecca put the two chairs from the table and faced them to my couch, putting two T.V. trays between them, making a makeshift table. She also made paper saying who sat where, and nice decorations of pine cones and fake flowers. It was a great meal, the juicy tender chicken and fresh salad ingredients. Very great. After the meal, I watched "The Wizard of Oz" It was a really great movie, and I loved when it changed from Sepia to color. I loved the munchkins, and the tin man was my personal favorite. I have also read the book, and believe it or not the slippers were silver in the book. (They made them red in the movie to promote color)

Also, the witch looked a lot different, having only one eye and other creepy features. I have finally seen the ruby slippers, in the American History Museum of the Smithsonian, in Washington D.C. Anyway, I liked the movie and want to see it again. After the movie, I went to bed and had an interesting dream.

It was about me in my 15th year starting an amusement park, and a family called The H------'s (nice in real life but I do not want to reveal their name lest they be reading this.) were very mean to me and stopped funding the park. They said I did an unforgivable thing, that they would never talk to me again. Then they went to their house across the street, and I found out that someone had broken all their things and my name and pictures of my face were all over there house. "I was framed!" I declared, and then a giant rhino from the sky ate my head off. I woke up after that. This morning actually. Right now I'm...well, that's a different story.

Giant rhinos,

Andrew.

Abraham Lincoln House and Tomb

One day and many hours ago, my family and I brought forth upon the home of Abraham Lincoln, conceived in curiosity and dedicated to the proposition that we would have fun there. Now I am writing on the road, testing whether I will finish this blog post or not. Let me begin.

We came onto a national park visitor center, and walked into a nice room with a gift shop in the back, restrooms in front of us, and many displays and such all around, one of Lincoln's face, one of a model of the town of Springfield, and even one of Lincoln as a rail splitter. We got ready to go for the next tour, and I went to the restroom, and upon coming out, was rushed outside to go to the tour. We went outside in amongst many old, wood, painted houses. There were all different kinds and very pretty. We walked into one house that said you should start your tour in and sat down where the guide was supposed to start the tour at. A man who was pretty tall and bald with a national park outfit on with green clothes and a cowboy hat came into the place and did a great speech about where Lincoln was in his life when he lived in this house. The weird thing was, he said it in a unique way, quiet but trying to make it sound powerful, like the man liked to hear himself speak. But anyway, it was weird.

He told us Lincoln had lived there in his 30's, 40's, and 50's. He said that we also couldn't touch anything inside, for the obvious reason, and that we could not lean on anything because it will make an alarm sound. He prepared for us to go in, and we went across the street to a brown painted wood house, two floored, pretty big, and having sheds behind it. On walking in, we saw the staircase by the door and the little area where you get dressed, on which there was a top hat, canes, and umbrellas. To the right was a front and back parlor, a formal area in which Lincoln would have entertained guests. They were both in the same room, but could be separated by a movable door. The front had good chairs and furniture, with a fireplace. The back had a desk and bookshelf, where Lincoln worked. It was really cool.

Left of the door was an informal den, where the Lincoln's would read stories together and discuss things. Behind the informal den was a little dining room, followed by a kitchen. After seeing all this, we went upstairs, and saw a guest room or Robert Lincoln's room, which was pretty comfortable looking, with a nice bed. We then saw A. Lincoln's and Mary Todd Lincoln's rooms, which were separate to give Lincoln some privacy and to declare they were rich. Lincoln's had a desk and cabinet full of clothes, and a nice bed up against the wall. Mrs. Lincoln had a rocking chair and low, little bed, which wasn't actually that bad. It was really cool, and the kids room was good too. We then saw their outdoor bathroom with three slop jars, and then left. It was fun and interesting to see the house. We got into our car again, and drove to the tomb of Abraham Lincoln, a few miles away.

In a huge cemetery full of all kinds of graves, unknowns and last names ones, we saw a sign saying Lincoln Tomb. Following that, we soon came upon a great monument, a tower going up very high with a statue of Abraham Lincoln on it, him leaning against a desk, holding the Emancipation Proclamation in his hand. Beneath him was an eagle, with a broken chain (the chain of slavery) in it's mouth. On the two corners were big statues of two forces in the military, infantry and Calvary. (Infantry is on your feet, cavalry is on your horse) They were civil war people, with muskets and horses. Behind on the other corners were Navy and Artillery(Navy is on your boat, Artillery is beside your cannon.) Navy had two guys with sailors hats and artillery was a few guys with a little cannon and that stick that goes into the cannon. It was really cool to see all that. We read about the tomb, learning it was broken and repaired a few times, and that all the things I just said were them. We went inside of the tomb, and found ourselves in a circular room, with all kinds of great rocks and stone in the walls. In the middle was a little statue of Lincoln sitting down on a chair, and there was two doors, one going right and one left. A sign said to go right. We did so, and walked through an array of many plaques and statues, first a biography about him, telling about his whole life, then the Gettysburg Address, and then The Second Inaugural Address. They were all very good.

The statues were one when he was a child, one as a rail splitter, one as a lawyer, one as a politician, one as a father, and one as a president. Then I entered a room with a large red and white and blue coffin, with flags decorating the fallen leader. To my back was four other graves, his wife,Mary Todd, and his sons Willie, Eddie, and Thomas "Tad". They were all in a wall that had names and dates on it. Robert, Lincoln's first son, was buried at Arlington Cemetery. His wife said he lived in A. Lincoln's shadow all his life so he should be his own person and be buried there. He, said he wanted to be with his family. Just another example of how annoying girls can be.

Anyway, It was crazy to see his real casket with him in it. It was also sad, that his life was cut short, and also moving. I left and then we left the tomb. It was very cool to see where Lincoln and his family were, and where they are now.

Happy Late Birthday, Danielle! We love and miss you! You're awesome!,

Andrew.

Lincoln's House

Lincoln's Tomb

Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum

Abraham Lincoln. The man who preserved the Union, helped win strategic battles, and was a great reader, powerful leader, and a wonderful man. We saw a museum about this man, leader, and legend, and today we will see his house. But back to the museum. We drove to the city of Springfield, where Lincoln had a house and practiced law. It was a pretty nice city, with nice buildings of a high sort but not skyscraping. We went underground in a parking garage right under the street, and after parking went up another staircase through many places of storage. Kind of creepy, and I was glad I got back in the open air after all the confinement. We were then in the middle of down town, and to our left was the actual Lincoln-Herndon Law Office, but we did not go into that because we wanted to go to the museum and library first. We walked to a modern, huge, one or two story complex of buildings that was the museum and library. It was of a beige color and was a sort of rock type. It had twisting circles and an awesome appearance; it really was a great splendor of masonry. We walked in the front door, and found ourselves in a domed room with a gift shop on the left, together with a ticket booth, a restroom on the right, and the sound of many, many children bustling around, talking, or yelling rather. A man who was pretty old and lean and shaved headed came up and asked us, "Hello. Did you know you can pay nothing today for the four of you if you only become a member to all state parks? It will take you to over 90 state museums and you can pay almost nothing to all of them. But that's not all..." He was cut off by the familiar tone all salesmen dread. I'm. Not. Interested. The ball dropped and the man hid his disappointment with, "That's okay. Enjoy the museum."

We got tickets and then entered the museum. We went through the metallic spinny things, and were reminded not to take pictures except on the marble floor. That is the words every cinematographer dreads. We walked into the plaza, and boy was it nice. On one side of the room was a fake log cabin with a boy on the fence, reading. On another side was a huge white house, the white house. (I'm sure you've heard of it and seen pictures.) It was built into the wall, looming over us, with a suspicious man up against one of the columns, and other figures I will go into details later. Anyway, we were told a movie was going on in a few minutes, so we went to one side where there saying: Ghosts of The Library Theater. Ghosts of the Library? What did they mean by that? I was led into the theater, and sat down facing a slanted stage that looked like a library, and in between us and that stage was probably a glass barrier, but I can have no way of knowing as it looked so real and open. It looked like a library, with shelves full of books, and a lot of bric-a- brac in the middle with two desks and tables, and in the back more shelves and a few things on the wall, like a beaten up flag and a picture of Mary Todd Lincoln. The show began, and the lights dimmed, ready to show their secret. The theater became dark as the night, and the library still light and illuminated. A man, in the 20's or 30's, with long black hair slightly curled about to the length of the shoulders, and having blue eyes, being tall, and a pretty handsome appearance walked into the library from the right in his hands being a bundled up box, a box full of something, something we did not know of what but desperately wanted to.

He went into some dialogue about how he didn't know we were here and was glad we were. The voice we heard did not go with the man, I cannot explain it, I just have an instinctive feeling that it was not his. It was deep, metallic, and un-life filled. His appearance was young, energetic, kind, but that is just me. The presentation, by good friends, was one of the best I've seen. The man told about ghosts, and how important all the things in the library were, and that it would be crazy if they could speak, that they would tell so many things. Then, slowly and with solitude, "But, sometimes they do speak, when the library lights go down, and you're all on your own, sometimes, you might even say there were ghosts..." There was a loud crack of thunder and a distant moaning. The lights went totally black, and the man was gone, and then I saw him slowly return. "But, there's no such thing as ghosts. Or are there?"

The man then showed us a few things that were cool, like the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, and then something cool happened as the man was seated in a chair, reading it. In front and upward of him, directly over the chair, a blue feather came to our eyes and wrote words in mid-air. It was a terrific display of special effects. I was stupidfyed, glued to my chair. An image that was blue looking like Abraham Lincoln bent over the man, nodding his head. I was really scared, and amazed. The rest of the presentation was more than spectacular, more than superb, more than fantastic, more than wonderful, it was something I cannot describe. The special effects! Oh it looked so real! At the end he said he liked the flag most of all the artifacts, after talking about them for a long time. He took it out, and put on an army suit of the civil war, pulled the flag out of the framing and waved it up in the air, and behind him were spine tingling images of the civil war, like people shooting and dying. Then he said he died there, and then became translucent and ghost like. The presentation was one of the best.

We walked out, and then saw yet another presentation, this time about Lincoln's life and the eyes of Lincoln, called Lincoln's Eyes. It was great too, having smells and sights and sounds and feelings, cannon balls firing, horses bucking, and a gun shooting in the back of a beloved man's head. It was great too, and it was about seeing the civil war and succession through the eyes of Lincoln, how much haters he had, and how much he had to overcome. We were annoyed by all the screaming and giggling immature school kids behind us, but all in all it was pretty good. We then excited the theater and started out for the museum.

We went into the fake log cabin, passing by the fake manikin of Abe as a kid on the fence. As I went past and prepared to go in, something totally unexpected. "No hats on unless it is religious or medical. Weren't you told that on the bus?" an old man, an employee, said to me. I thought he was joking, so continued in, and said, "Oh it's medical. And I didn't take the bus." A little girl of maybe fourth grade or maybe younger with pale skin and black said, "Didn't you hear him? Take off your hat!" I took it off quickly, confused and weirded out. I was just asked to take off my cap and then a young girl yelled at me. Why am I not allowed to wear a baseball cap? What did the man mean about Weren't you told that on the bus? I was very confused. I basically just stayed in a corner 'til that girl and her brother and sisters and group to leave. Another school kid came in and saw me, saying, "Woah, I was just scared about that kid right there." I was totally within earshot, and could hear him loud and clear. For the rest of the visit I would deal with immature kids and ignorant and un-polite ones at that. But back to the cabin. It was a really small area, but not that small. In one side of the room was a manikin of Lincoln reading a book by the fire, and up on that side where the ceiling should be was a hole and a ladder leading up, with an arm drooping down, and a snoring noise was made. A lot of other things were in that cabin too, a small, short bed housing a lump that was proposed to be Lincoln's sister, and a bed closest to us with Mr. Lincoln and his wife. (parents of Abe.) I learned a lot from a nice guy in there.

We then went through all of Lincoln's young adult hood, from his mom dying and him getting a step mother to him working at New Salem and becoming a lawyer and then moving to Springfield, where he married and had children. It was a nice exhibit and well thought out, and had very good displays like a scene of a slave family being broken up at a slave auction and an area where Lincoln was on a couch as a man reading the newspaper and his two kids were on the table of the law office, making papers fly and flinging ink at each other. It was really cool. Another part was when you watched a short movie where a modern news guy named Tim Russet talked about Lincoln, Douglas (Stephen A.) and Bell and Breckidge's campaign videos, and it was very funny, with modern people talking about 1800's elections like it was happening right there.

We then headed out for the White House exhibit. We saw up against the column a man named John Wilkes Booth. Right of the door, was an African American man with crazy hair named Fredrick Douglas, and an old African American lady named Sojourner Truth. To the left was two generals, McClellan and Grant. We walked in, and the first room by the door was a manikin of Mary Todd Lincoln in a large, blue dress, and other beautiful dresses around her. Being a boy, it wasn't my interests, so I passed on to other parts. After that was many other cool parts, like mean cartoons about Lincoln, and a sad part where a manikinned Lincoln and Mary Todd were weeping and caring for their dying son in bed, Willie. That was sad.

There were good parts, too. Like in the kitchen. I walked into a small, drafty, dark kind of, old kitchen, with all kinds of food and tools and such. It was pretty big, but not the biggest, which is weird for the white house. An unexpected thing happened again. A tall, skinny figure with a suit and a top hat on was seated in a chair in the kitchen. I thought it was another manikin, but as I passed by slowly, the figure stood up and said,"Hello, I'm Abraham Lincoln. How are you? Are you an orphan? There are a lot of orphans in this war, you know, because of all the fathers, dying.(a sigh. ) Are you an orphan?" All of this was said in a high, penetrating but friendly voice.

I didn't know what to say, but I decided I must play along. "No, I'm actually a friend of Tad's (Thomas "Tad" Lincoln, a son of Abraham). "

"Ahhh, I see! Yes well he is out playing with the ponies and goats and such, so you'll probably see him on the front lawn. What's your name, son?"

"I'm... um... John Hawkins."

"Well, nice to meet you Mr. Hawkins. It was very nice to meet you. (takes out hands to shake)"

"And you too, Mr. President."

"Please, call me Abe."

I left, and had just met the president, of the United States.

I saw a display of the conference room, with Lincoln, Stanton, Seward, and many other cabinet members huddled over a long, round table in the middle of a paper and map filled room, moving armies and taking forts. There were other parts, where I saw a movie called The Civil War in Four Minutes, every second counting for a week of the war, and showing them taking the south and all the casualties changing by the millisecond. That was really cool.

Also was a display of many faces on screens of all different backgrounds, people who wanted to not have the Emancipation Proclamation: farmers, soldiers, aristocrats, preachers, abolishments, and a lot of others.

Then it became sad again as I entered Ford's Theater, and saw a display of a mustached actor coming into the presidents box and pulling a trigger of a single- shot Derringer pointed at a beloved president. Next was a room with a casket, empty, probably, but representing the real man. I took off my cap, and felt the sadness I had experienced twice before, both times in D.C., one time at the Holocaust Museum and the other at The Vietnam and Korean War Memorials. It was a feeling of grief, of reflection, and of inspiration. And, it was a feeling to strive forward, and to continue what one man started.

Well, we left the museum after going to a few more exhibits like treasures of the past and a children's part. After that we went into the gift shop, and I got a really cool book of the chase for John Wilkes Booth called Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson, an account of the chase written especially for young kids, like 12 through 16. It's very thrilling so far.

We went to a station to get info on where to go in Springfield, and met a nice elderly lady named Marge who told us to go to the house, and to see the tomb. She was very nice and interesting, and we told her about the trip, and gave her the blog address. Thanks Marge! Nice meeting you!

We then left, got our car and drove back, and went to a cool restaurant called Maldaner's , where we served by a nice, friendly waitress with black hair and tan skin, named Amanda, who was from Milwaukee. It was a nice environment, very pretty and fancy, with white table cloth and food from organic food. It was really cool, although most of the food I had no idea what it was, so selection and taking orders was a little strenuous. I had a very good broth/soup, and a wonderful salad. We then got in the car and left to go to home. I read.

I went to sleep back in the back. My back kind of got hit in the back of it, but back in there you always get your back hurt. Sleep was good and long, and back in my dreams I was back good. Well, now I'm awake, back to being awake. Back to the blogging. -

Andrew.

Beautiful Museum

Drive to Illinois(AGAIN!!!!)

Yesterday we drove to Illinois, for the second time, after going to Chicago for the first time. This time we would be going to Springfield, where we would see Abraham Lincoln's house and work. I was really excited. Although I had had a good sleep, it had poured and poured and poured of rain and was windy too, and so we waited until the storm went away until we started driving. Then we drove, and by and by the rain left, but it was still very windy and muddy, and the wheels on our R.V. were very dirty. We rejoiced when we got to the R.V. Park, and hooked up and everything. Then we basically just chilled out, and had spagetti and salad. I spoke to my wonderful grandmother and we had a nice talk, and I talked to my good friend Weston and we had a good talk also. After we did that I finished another book of that series Alex Rider, and then tried to go to sleep, because of a slight stomach ache. I felt better eventually, and still couldn't go to sleep, so I read a little bit of my Bible, finishing the book of Zechariah and starting on the book of Malachi. I was in the back with mom and Rebecca by this time, and then I finished Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Many months ago I had started on Genisis, and now I had finished the Old Testament. Not bragging, I was very proud and glad, and went to sleep right after with good thoughts. The Old Testament was the best, and very great to read.

Rain, rain, go away!,

Andrew.

Mark Twain Museum and Art Gallery

Yesterday was a pretty nice day, with a mild temperature and a pretty sunny sky, but by 11:00 o clock or so it was cloudy, and I do not mean just a few spots of grey here and there. The whole sky was gray, black, or white, and no blue spot was shown to my pupil. Even though so, rain was idle and unbecoming. We did cleaning and laundry and such, and chose to just hang around for the day. Mom did some laundry, and Dad sent some things home by way of post office, and also got a little trim of his hair. While we took Mom's laundry sheets and blankets and all that, I took in a book and asked Denise if they had a book exchange, and she said she didn't but just a week ago a lady had come in and gave her like 5o books and she showed all of them to me in big crates. I gave her the book and looked for other good ones, and did find one about cowboys and one that just looked intriguing. Other ones were either romance novels or scary books, and none at all interesting to me. I then thanked her and left, and then helped Mom with the laundry. It wasn't too bad. Later in the day as he were walking back after walking the dogs a man by a truck by a fifth wheel asked us if we wanted any pumpkins. He said he picked them and was going to do target practice against 'em, so we could take a few. Thanking him, we got about three and a few other really cool gourds, with awesome designs of yellow and orange and having bumpy spots. It was really nice of the man.

We cleaned some more after that.

Then Dad said we were going to go to Mark Twain Museum and Art Gallery, which we didn't do the day before, doing the cave first. But now we were doing the museum. Rebecca and Mom didn't want to go, saying that they were too busy and thought it was not gonna be that cool. But it definitely was.

We had a good ride together, talking about this and that and having a good time. We went through Quincy and into Hannibal, and we took in the familiar sights we had seen the day before. We parked across the street from the museum, and we saw it's brick big presence looming over us, like it was about to strike. Dad poorly parallel parked, and we walked in.

It was fairly big, with a little desk with a lady on the left, and a large gift shop on that side too. Restrooms were on the right, and after paying, we walked through big doors by the desk and went into the museum. It was a really well thought out museum, and was really cool too. To our left was an area with museum dials telling about things and such, but from the distance I couldn't read it. I went over and saw that there was openings with fake stone and stuff looking like a mini castle, and when I came into the area I saw it was an exhibit about one of Mark Twain's book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I read some of the dials, some of them talking about how the character in the book tried to revolutionize old Europe as he was made king as they thought him a wizard(but it was really science, and how he made baseball and telephone lines and such into the middle ages. I had read it, and it was really cool to see a display about it.

In the middle of the room was a glass container containing the desk and writing papers of Mark Twain, and then behind was a lot of bookshelves and such containing his best books. On the other side of this was a sculpture of Twain sitting down on this chair, with Tom on his lap and Huck in the other chair, and he was reading. It was a really cool piece.

To the left of that were dials talking about Tom Sawyer's adventures, like when he asks Becky to engage him or when he gets everybody to paint the fence. There was actually an activity where you could really paint the fence. It was really cool. Another part was where you could listen to Injun Joe kill Dr. Robinson, and where you could see the figures in the graveyard. Then we went in a fake cave, and as we passed an area that was motion censored lit up and made a bat's noise, displaying a bat. Dad got a little freaked out. Then, for the next part, we came into Huckleberry Finn, and we stepped onto an area designed to look like a raft with benches in a swamp, all the walls and such being in a swampy design. On a projector we watched a little bit of Huckleberry Finn the Movie. After that we left and went over to the left side again, and then we saw an exhibit about Roughing It, a book I read like a year ago about Twain's adventures out west. It was really cool to see it to come to life, as we looked at the dials and did hands- on things, like sitting in a carriage as he did or trying to mine for gold. It was really cool to see all that, it really was.

By now we had come to the very back of the large room, and over us was another floor that went up on blue and white stairs and another staircase by that. Then I saw a little exhibit about Twain's time in the middle east and such, called Innocents Abroad. I got to see all the places Twain went, and I saw his progress on a map. So that was kind of interesting.

Then we went up the wooden stairs and came to a little area with a few models of steamboats and an actual steamboat wheel and bell. I actually got to move it around and such, and it was pretty hard to move back and forth after a while. I also pulled down on a bell, and that was really cool and made a loud sound as loud as the Occupy Wall street protesters.

We learned about Twain's life as a river boater, and that his brother died in an accident. We then went up the stairs again, this time in a fairly big room, with a lot of displays and paintings. We actually saw wonderful paintings of Norman Rockwell's when he painted the Tom and Huck stories. It was really cute.

We also saw 1st edition books of Mark Twain, like the very first copies that came out of all of them. It was really cool to see those old, old, old books.

There were other interesting parts, like seeing a bust of M.T. and his stories in all different languages. We even saw his famous white suit. It was a lot of fun. We went into another room, and we saw the museum office. A lady named Cindy. On top floor. Museum Office. These were the words that Valarie had told me about the lady named Cindy.She said she likes Mark Twain, and she would love to talk to someone about him. We walked in, and there were two other offices, one right in front of us, one to the right, and another big one to the left. That had a painting and sculpture of Mark Twain, and many of his books on a book shelf. I just KNEW that that was her office. They said she wasn't here today, but she did have an email. I probably will email her sometime today or so.

We went downstairs by way of the elevator, and left the museum, but not before getting three Mark Twain books(I was on low supply of books in the R.V.) Life on the Mississippi, Innocents Abroad, Best Short Stories by Mark Twain. I hope to enjoy them.

We rejoined with the girls, and then ate a wonderful dinner at T.G.I.F. It was very good.

Then I had my bed out and slept an interrupted great sleep.

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." - Mark Twain. ,

Andrew.

Mark Twain's boyhood home

Hannibal, MO

Tom, Huck and Andrew

Mark Twain Cave

Hannibal sits along the Mississippi River

The Adventure's of Andrew Bourne in Mark Twain's Hannibal

Hello, readers. For this blog post in which my family and I go to my inspiration Mark Twain's home and museum, I will not talk in my regular way. I will speak how M.T. spoke, and how the dialect of his Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn was. Hang with me, and if you cannot understand me and do not get my an' and aints, then I am sorry, but I will not change it or make one without the dialect, because it destroys the splendor of it. Here I start, and here regular talking ends.

You have't heard of me if ya have't red a little publik journal called Bourne's BIG Trip, but if you do or don' it aint no matter. A nice little lady named Becky Bourne is editing this, so she might take out this and exaggerate it or make some stretchers, but I never knew nobody that didn't do SOME stretchers, 'cept my minister or somethin', perhaps. Any how now I begin how I went to Hannibal, Missouri, a pretty little sleepy old town who's main draw is the Mark Twain house. We traveled there in a black jeep, and as we were a bumpin' and a tumblin' into town, I was taking in the ole atmospheres. It was mighty interesting, with all the nice old buildin's and river boat things. The Mississippi one of the biggest rivers I ever seen, with great trees and grass and bright blue water moving slowly along as though in a dream or somethun, with it turning and twisting all the ways down. You could't really see the end where we were, but you might be able to see the end, perhaps, but it is BIG as this trip(get it?) and I think it might take forever to get down. Anyway we were a bumpin and a tumblin' and going along, when we saw a a Sub-way, and we went and had a little sandwhich, which tasted hmmm hmmm good, and I can still taste the fresh ingreadiants like it still there. Only down part is it was as cold as the North Pole, and so I was very un comfortable. I tried a movin and a movin so and so, but to very little result. Then I had a smart idea as much as if I was a professor, to go out into the open air. So I a excuse myself as is polite to do, and told out my whereabouts. Then I a went up and left out of the place, and warmed up outside, being now fairly comforable, but there was a down part to this two! I had no place to sit, but I had done worse before, going into tiny spaces and doing things for my Pa and Ma that was reely hard. I tried two back into the wall and such, but it didn 't feel good. Oh well.

By and by we got in the jeep and left, then went down some streets seeing some more buildins and such. We saw a buildin with a sign 'sayin Mark Twain Museum, and it was pretty big and industrial kind of. We didn't go to that, 'cause a sign says you should a start at the Interpirtave Center, so we parked in a parking place on the ole hill which wasn't two big, and having a little pretty building in front, sayin' Mark Twain Interpretive Center for boy home-thats not the real sayin, but it's good enough, you know- and it had a large stand with a map by it. Through a garden, courtyard, and under an arch and such. It was pretty nice and pritty too. We went into the inidon'tknowtherest. A big lobby was shown to me as I came in with a large big desk of the museum sort, you know, with a nice( I want to say nice looking, but not the BEST I've seen) lady with blond hair down and a pretty pump body. Her name tag was: Valory.(speeled wrong probably) We got our little pink tickets, and I was mad they was pink, 'cause you know no boy don't like pink and I bet Twain don't like pink either. Anyway we went into a little musuem, and learned about Twain and his life and his parents and his brothers and sisters and dead cats and such. Very interesting, kind of in a way. We learned about him being born and all, and some I knew 'cause of me reading his books and his book about him(for a change) but some I did not know and think they make up 'cause I didn't know about it. We learned about his nice mama Jane somethun, and his pap who was a judge or somethun, I don't really know for sure, 'cause I don't care about him as much as Mr. Twain. I saw that he liked to play and go into caves and do things of that nature, and learned how he always got to trouble and making his mother touch bats and things and stealing candy and other things. Then sadly, to my sadness, Twain grew up, and I saw him become a printer when his pa croaked(died, for you city folks) and learned the trade and things. You know then after a while he 'came a river boat guy, and did some stuff that was really exciting. I wish I was boat pilot, that would be a lot more fun than this writin' businness. Sorry if I offended a you. Mr. Twain( sadly now he was a Mister, cause he became an adult!) Anyway, then his brother Henry died in a big blow up bad thing, and and he was all burn and scorch, so he a look liked a dragon or a monster or somethun, very sad and scary and sad. Mr. Twain was very sad too, and I think he cried, but he might not've 'cause boys mostly are two manly to cry, but on occasion it okay too. I don' know 'cutally. I learned how he went o'er west of the great river 'cause his utter brother Orion got a cool job in being Gov. or stuff, and so Mark Twain did stuff that every boy envies a lo't, like mining and cowboying and being in a new paper and even going to Hawaii, the land o' Paradise! Very interesting. We then saw a timeline telling about the rest of Twain's life, but they don't focus on that so much 'cause they take care of his childhood and earrly grown-up time, but they don't do the rest 'cause the peop'le at Twain other home in Hart ford Connecticet(speeled wrong) do that part, 'cause that's where he spent time there. We then saw like things that made him make charecters like real people he made characters, and like so. He made reel people in his books, basing them off of his friends and such. We talked to Valory and she saw I like Mark Twain and so she, the nice lady, told me about a lady in the museum her name is Cindy, she said, and she like Twain too so she would like to talk to me 'bout it. She said she were on the top floor of the museum, and so I thanked her and went to the toilet. Then we left and went and saw a sign sayin Huckleberry Finn's house, and so we went off up a hill in that direct tion. It were a nice ole little house, white kind of with a ole roof and such. We walked up the hill and went up on a ramp and went into the house, but my pa he almost hit the ceiling, you know, and it was low clearance. Me being a kid I was alright, but not him, you see, cause he almost hit the ceiling, and it was low clearance.

We walked in, and it was really small, with a fireplace and a big area and then seperated by a wall was a little kitchen all the kitchen stuff, you know. We saw little things sayin' stuff about a kid named Tom Blankenship, the envy of all the other boys, being unwashed, ignorant, and insuffeirentsly fed, as Mr. Twain welly puts it. He was the disgrace of all the mothers though, and he didn't had to go to school, you know, and learn civil things. Mr. Twain he used Tom as the model and inspiration of his charecter Huckleberry Finn, and he got the first name(too hard to repeat again) from a plant called a (I'm not sayin' it) and Finn from the town drunkard, you see, 'cause that was his name. I learned how Tom used to steal chickens and turkeys and such, and did time in the jail for that. He later when he became a grown up(stupid fool) came to Justice of The Peace in Montana, he did, you know. It was mighty interesting. I wish I was uncivil. I really do.

We walked on down and went through another big building sayin' continue a here, and we walked in and what was funny was pa looked up to make sure it wasn't no low clearnacne! Onest truth! It was very delightful for a boy, you know. Anyway we went in and there was a little hallway with a gift shop at the far end and a door sayin' to continue there. By this time I was really done with bein bossed around like so and so I didn't follow the rule and went into the gift shop, but my plan were cut short as my ma told me come. So I come. I went through the doors and we saw Mark Twain's boyhood home. The inside of it, you know. It was pink! I was gonna scream, but I knew it wasn't polite to do so so I don't! But it were pink! All the room walls was pink, all of them was painted like that, rightly as I said it. It was a disgrace. I was so mad at Mr. Twain, and I expressed my anger and my ma, she red me like a book, and she said what wrong. So I said that I was mad it was pink and she said Twain probably didn't get to choose the color! He didn't! But he's so great and famous and rich and such, I said to mom, but she said at the time he was only a boy like me! And so I now understand why it said boyhood home, 'cause he was a boy in it! Now I l0ooked more at what was there. There were a big living room that had chairs and couches and such, and a little dining room and kitchen too. It was cool to see all the old stuff, and then we went outside and saw the outside part of it, and it was white of wood and windows that were blue and such. It was mighty pretty, and we went up these stairs and went and looked into the upper part of it, and me saw his bedroom with the little bunk bed, and his older sisters bed in another room. Twain have a window in his share room, and it's pretty cool to saw that. We also saw his ma and pa's room, and that was a lot bigger and better than the others, even though these were good too. We then went into the little gift shop, and I buyed one book by Mr. Twain, 'cause I like him, you know. It was called a tramp out there, or something of the sort, the other last word is very much too hard for a boy. After we saw Twain house we looked across street and saw Becky Thacther house(really Laura Hawkins, Twain's love, but he change her to Thacther in his books.), but we cant go in 'cause it's under rennodontknowtherest. We also saw his fathers Judge house, and it was little with chairs and a fireplace. We finally see Grant Drug Store, but it was also closed for the hard word reason.

We left, and we go down to the end of the street and took a picture with a statue of Tom and Huck, you know, and it was a very good one. Then clumb a lot of steppps, and we went up and it was mighty steep, you know, like a million or stuff.

Well you see these was a stopping resting place, and their I over looked the town of Hannibal. It was really pretty town, probably a good place to live in, you know, with the river right beside it. It was reely pretty, and all the buildings of Mark Twain glittered in the sunlight. Nice view.

We went up and then saw the Lighthouse done in Twain's honor, 'cause it was white and he like white. My pa and sis they went the easy way, lazy people, by driving in the jeep and such. We went in the jeep on the long way down though.

Then we didn't go into the museum, you know, but we did go to the Mark Twain cave, the cave Twain played in and the cave where he came up with his stories of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn finding the treasure stuff, you know, and where Injun Joe almost kill Tom, you know. We drove a long way, and then park in front of a little building and we walked in, and the people sayed the last tour is goin' in about 15 minute you know. We payed and such, as is required, you know, and then we was lead into a little room with a T.V. screen, which told how the cave was formed and such and then how a man named Jack Jones found the cave and he went through the discuvery way, a little area you squeese down. Then it went over all the rules, to follow the guide and not go down seperate passage ways and all the other stupid rules. Then it said enjoy and stopped talked.

We were lead by a young, large, black- haired lady, and she got a flash light from a counter an' took us to outside and told us rule again, and it was annoying, you know. Than the lady she opened a large opening sayin' Mark Twain cave, and we got into it. It was dark and dreary, but a little shown light to by bulbs in the rocks and the flash light. She told us not to go down the passages, not to be like Tom Sawyer. I wanted to, but decided not. It was really scrary and creepy, and it was all horiontal with skinny opening all around us that were all black. We kept on going, and saw above us signitures even as far back as 1813 that were signed on the ole' roof. They were made from paint or were carved. The lady she said you couldn' write anymore, and that made me a little sad, to my sadness. We after that saw a lot of cool formatons, like really cool mites and tites and rock stuff. One was called the Alligator, where it look like alligator. Another part we saw a love seat which was a cool rock bench thing which Tom and Becky sat on!

At 'nother part we see Alladin's Palace, which was a rock thing that look like a palace of Alladin. Mark Twain named it!

Then we saw other things, like in a big rom that was really big the guide turned off all the lights and we were in total dark ness. It was crazy, you know, and so dark, like an evil man's heart.

We even saw where supposedly Injun Joe chased Tom and Becky and such, and it was mighty interessting. Then we did a lot o' other cole things, and then we left. It was reely really cool, and I loved to do it, you know. It was a fun time at Hannibal, and I lerend a lot. I wish to go agin. Thank you for listening to me, ole' folks. Now, i'ts back to normal talk agin. By!

Well, Hannibal was very fun, and it was very interesting. I'm sorry if my Twain writing wasn't good or didn't give enough detail, but I enjoyed doing it and that's all that matters. I probably won't do it again, though, at least not in this blog, only because it was "mighty hard!" Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed. Hannibal showed me that one little kid rose to promincence in the world, and taught me to keep going. It also showed me how much Twain's life was like his characters, and that many parts and people became new in his books. Also, it was really cool to see where the man grew up, his house, his cave, his museum, and his city, Hannibal.

-Andrew D. Bourne.

HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

This post tells about what happened yesterday, on the 31st of October, on Hallow's Eve, better known as Halloween. Before I tell you what WE did, let me tell you a little about this most interesting and... spooky holiday. Before I go further, I must say that this post will be scary, and it is PG, not G.

Parental Guidance should be used, for this post has a scary account of the history of Halloween, with weird traditions and such. You are warned, and Bourne's BIG Trip is not responsible for any scary dreams which will become out of this post. Please... enjoy. We hope you die with joy when you read this.

P.S. I'm just kidding you know, if you don't believe in what I'm telling you (I don't believe in it either) then you'll be fine. I was just having a little fun.

Halloween began with the Celts of Northern Ireland and Britain, who had a holiday called Samhain, which was on Oct. 31st, which celebrated a harvest to come in Nov, the first of winter for the Celts. They made bonfires, and threw food and such into them as a sacrifice to their gods. They also believed that evil beings and supernatural ones haunted on that night (all a little bit of stupidness) and so they left food out on their front doorsteps so the beings wouldn't do mischief. They dressed up like deer and such and did so so the beings didn't hurt them (making the beings think that they were beings too, but they just had costumes on) and they also cut faces into pumpkins and such so the beings were scared. When Christianity came to Britain and Ireland, the church made them stop the worshiping gods thing and made it a holiday about honoring the dead and martyred saints, like All Saints Day, on the first of Nov. They hallowed the souls at evening, and it was then shortened to Halloween.

The traditions still stuck though, even though the pagans were converted. When Irish and Britain people immigrated to America in the 19th century, they took their traditions with them and people in our country caught on, and many of the traditions evolved into what they are today. Nobody believes in evil spirits now, and no body worships those gods anymore, so today it's just a time to have fun and have candy. Just thought it might be interesting for you to know that.

Okay, we're back at G again. Let me now tell you about what we did for Halloween.

I woke up, and saw a movie on Brain Pop (a website telling cool info about different stuff and they present one video one day. Let me give you an example. On Columbus Day, they would tell about Christopher Columbus. Today's BrainPOP was about Halloween, learning all the info I have just presented to you. I then took a shower and blogged and read and such. Rebecca said Happy Halloween to me. We then all woke up and I scared Mom and Dad, and Day dawned and a new day came on. I got dressed and such, and then we all got ready to go, eating Breakfast and brushing our teeth, then unhooking and getting everything ready to the journey to the next part of Missouri, where we would see Hannibal, Mark Twain's home. We pulled out and got on the road, and during the three hour journey I did a lot of math and a little bit of science. It was fun, I guess, as fun as schoolwork is allowed to be. We then got to a cool little R.V. Park not that big, on a hill, and we parked our R.V. at the foot of it. A nice lady with short hair hair and curls got us all in and then we did the paperwork, right outside the motorhome on a picnic table. She also said H.H.(Happy Halloween, from now on I will say that instead of the long way)

and then we replied thank you. All day Rebecca and I had been thinking of good costumes to where and as we looked around at the office, restrooms, and playground of the R.V. Park we kept thinking of what we could wear. We saw a dirty large red shed with a deck on it and paint having scraped off and wood broken parts. We peeked in, and saw what we thought to look like a moving figure... and... we saw that... IT WAS A... lawnmower! Sorry, I just wanted to scare you there.

We also saw a little office up on the hill, and restrooms and swings and a little playground. Nothing much. But then Rebecca had an idea. "We could be cowboys and cow girls!" she said. I thought it was a great idea. We went back to the R.V., with new found dedication, and in the closet we found my Indiana Jones hat (that we used for a cowboy hat) a little cowboy coat that was brown and hard and stiff. And I used jeans and tennis shoes instead of boots and cowboy pants. Rebecca had jeans and boots, a pink cowboy hat (she got it at the Rapids Jam) and a jacket. We also got my two fake cowboy guns, and became cowboys.

We went to dinner at a restaurant named Kelly's, and on walking in, we saw the person at the door at a podium with a ninja turtle costume on, and as we were lead to our table, I saw a girl with a costume of a devil and another girl with a costume of a guy. (If you can believe it! H... She... sorry... had a fake beard on and boy clothes on too.) We also saw a cute girl with a costume of a cowboy (like us) on. We were a trio. We even took a picture with her.

The food was good and we later left, then came back to the R.V. Park. It was cold now, and we prepared to go inside, not trick-or-treating because we couldn't find a neighborhood or another place to do it. An old man came out of the R.V. beside us, a little pull-behind. "Hey," he said "have you trick or treated yet?" We said we hadn't. He told us he had some candy, and he asked us if we wanted to do the whole getting candy operation. We said yes, and he went and closed the door. We knocked and said Trick or Treat, and he gave us some M&Ms. Although we didn't go treating a lot, we did do one house thanks to a very nice man. Thank you!

We then went to bed after a good Halloween.