Hannibal, Missouri

 On my way up to Iowa from Bonne Terre, Missouri, I had to stop in Hannibal to see where Mark Twain grew up or Jay would have been really upset... if I happened to accidentally mention the fact.  Because he's a really big fan of Mark Twain's.  So is Joe.  Here is the home Twain grew up in.  They charged $8 for a tour but I didn't see any reason to do that.  The whole town had those signs or plaques like the one above on the buildings.  So you knew what significance it had in Twain's life or his books.  He really included his hometown and stuff that went on there in his stories.  One of the plaques said that using his town in his stories helped him to make sense of his life.  That made sense to me.  The sign says this fence is the one Tom Sawyer painted.

Here's proof that that house above was really Twain's home because here is an actual picture of the actual Twain standing in front of the same house.

 This is the house that was used for Becky Thatcher's home in Tom Sawyer which is right across the street from Twain's home.

This is supposedly Twain's river boat, sitting on the Mississippi River at Hannibal.  There was a light house and I thought I would climb up the stairs to the top of the bluff overlooking the river to get a panoramic view of the river, but after about the 1000th or so flight of stairs climbing on and on forever!!!! I decided it wasn't all that important to get a panoramic view of the Mississippi River!  Anyway, some guy doing yard work at a house on that hillside climb told me you couldn't go in the light house anyway.  So really, what was the use?  At Hannibal I headed east away from the river inland in Missouri and then north to Iowa.  It was 400 + miles from Bonne Terre to Lorimor, Iowa.  A long drive and I'm still tired.

Shirley's farm

 I took a video but I've tried and tried to download it and it won't come on here.  I need to make a you tube account and put videos on there for people to see.  It's disappointing that I can't put it on here.  Joe is showing Amanda's grandmother's home and yard and you can get a better idea how nice it is here.  So lush!  This is the drive coming in to the house.

 This isn't easy to see how far you can see into the distance but it is miles and miles of rolling tree covered hills.  This is part of the yard and drive into the house.

Joe & Amanda move to Missouri

 I don't know if you can see the mountains.  I think they're the San Juan's down by Alamosa.  Anyway, it was REALLY blowing and that is a dust storm obscuring an entire mountain range southeast of the highway going to New Mexico.  It was really blowing. 

Loading up for the move to Missouri from Albuquerque, 1200 miles plus away.  My poor car is really sitting low.  Joe loaded everything in the trailer and was soooo hot and sweating.

This isn't a very clear picture.  Joe is sitting in the car port/porch on his computer and listening to Stephanie Miller.  Amanda's family is very nice.  Her Aunt Jill came over last night and I have to say that I identified particularly with her.  We had a very nice discussion about books... almost all night.  One of my favorite things.  OK.  Amanda's sister just got here so I have to do more later.

Blue doors and rainy mountains

 An artist we talked to in the gallery next to World Cup was interested in all the blue painted gates, doorways, windows, etc. and I thought it made for interesting pictures too, so I took this one of the stairs across from the outdoor table we were sitting at in the Cafe Tazza patio.

 Here's R.C. Gorman's Gallery.  We went in there yesterday.  A lot of pictures of Indian women wrapped up almost to their eyeballs in colorful blankets... and not much else in the picture... just women sitting around in blankets.  A few with minimalist hills behind them.  I didn't count the pictures in there but it was obvious that he certainly could shell them out.

Here's a storm blowing in over Taos Mountain.  It rained a couple of days here.  It wasn't all that noticeable though because it must be really dry since there wasn't any standing water in the morning after an all night rain.  This evening we're driving over to Albuquerque to see Joe.  We're leaving late because Jojo is taking a driving test with our car at 3:45 PM.  He's using our car because it's automatic and he's still nervous with his mom's manual transmission.  We have to come back tomorrow because Jojo is going to prom with his girl friend, Sam, who is graduating.  Visiting Taos, I have to say, isn't the same without Joe here.  The boys are fun and we love seeing and hanging out with them... but Joe is ENTERTAINING!  You're entertaining Joe!!!!

Sunday Sol is fifteen

 First thing this, Sunday May 6, morning, Jay and I got Sol up and headed down to the Plaza for some World Cup coffee.  Here we're sitting in the gazebo in the plaza drinking coffee and reading.  Jay got the Sunday New York Times at the Taos Inn where Joe and I sometimes go to have nachos and to "See and be Seen" in their outdoor seating on Paseo Pueblo del Norte.  Joe's term, not mine.  Though, it did seem very apt.  And I like it, so I always use it.

 From the plaza we proceeded on down Kit Carson Road a couple blocks to our old and favorite hangout, Cafe Tazza.  Apparently, Joe was in town by this time but we didn't know it... because Joe doesn't have a cell phone!   He says we had arranged to meet downtown at some certain place, which he didn't say what that was.   This was during an early morning phone call (before I was awake) Joe made to me saying he was leaving Albuquerque and where should we meet.  I still don't know where that was, but the poor guy was wandering all around town to all the places I like to go, looking for us. 

 Our second visit to Cafe Tazza, this time sitting outside because Joe got here and has Max... who can't go inside... for multiple reasons that I won't mention here.  So this is a picture of the three Joes.  We celebrated Sol's fifteenth birthday this afternoon with an ice cream cake that Janelle and Bea made.  Right now Joe and Jay are at Brodsky's Book Store and Sol and I are going to Wal mart to spend his gift card.