DRIVING TO HANNIBAL-- BLUEGILL SIGN

I spent a day getting to Hannibal so I'd have two full days to poke around. I like the look of this town even if it was shut down by eight o'clock.

On the way I won $10 using freeplay at a dogrtrack in Arkansas.
Caruthersville was a cute little casino and I'd have enjoyed poker there with locals, but games did not start until 2 pm and that was too late for me.

I did find one of the greatest little sporting goods stores I have even seen. This one actually featured the bluegill as a fish worth considering. They had an entire room full of the longest fishing poles I have ever seen. I'll have to find out how there work. I think they are all flyrods.
They also had one of the little boats I'd like to buy with two seats that fit up in the rack I'll have put on the van this summer. There are wheels on them to wheel them down to the water. Really cool. It did seem a bit heavy. I don't know if I can manage getting it up on the car by myself, but I think I would like to figure out a way to so that. Going to Homosassa would not be a problem as I could get help on either end of the journey.


Look at this display all focused on the bluegill.

And yes they did have some of the less important fish as well.I liked seeing the flat land again along my journeys, but I really thrilled when I got a bit north and the land became rolling hills and some fields of green. Mississippi would have been a lot more colorful had I gone at cotton time. The fields I had seen there had been plowed but nothing grew. Here it looked like the beginning of spring and I was happy to see it. I think I am in my heart a Northern boy. It feels like home.
I saw some people collecting those round bales of hay. Is it possible to hay last years crop in the spring? Is it possible these were left out all winter? I am confused. No new hay has grown large enough to cut yet this year.

I arrived in Hannibal just before 8 and by the time I got settled into my nice little room, the town had closed except for a few taverns and one Subway. Well, I have been wanting to try one of those $5 sandwishes so this seemed like the right time.

I stopped along the way and hit a Super 8 hotspot that let me on the internet. The Super 8 had a nice internet special of three days for the price of two, but I could not get anyone to give it to me or figure how to book it. I called the Travelodge and they gave me the on sale discounter price of $42 plus tax for all three nights. I could have stayed at a bed and breakfast for $119 and I was tempted to treat myself, but I went with the cheap. I am glad I did as it is not located out on the highway as I expected but right downtown and the room is great with internet, refrigerator, and a very friendly owner. I even get a bit of breakfast. They have a waffle iron going. Tomorrow I'll treat myself. Today I just had a bananna with some raisin bran.
I am happy to have made it here with two days to explore. I see that the ticket I buy gets me to eight museums. And then there is the cave. So I better get showered and going.