DOUBLE JOINTED

When we left Red Bay,AL we felt we were ready to end our season of motorhome travel (about 5000 miles since we left in April) and get back into a less hectic routine. We planned to spend a few days visiting our daughter, Kristen, son-in-law, Harold,  and our 4 grandchildren - Kenneth, Kiley, Kenzie and Khloe (notice anything unusual about this family......?).

We arrived in Green Cove Springs, FL, south of Jacksonville, in time to see our grandson, Kenneth, play a varsity baseball game and enjoyed it thoroughly.  All of the family attended Kenneth's induction into the National Honor Society and Beta Club at Clay High School followed by a family celebration at Longhorn's.

Our Grandson - Kenneth Burke
Clay High School - Induction into National Honor Society
Green Cove Springs, FL - 2015

Kristen, Lauren (youngest daughter who lives in Suwanee, GA), and I had scheduled a Girls' Weekend which was to take place when we returned from our travels.  So on Friday afternoon they both left their jobs a little early and we met in Hilton Head Island for a Sonesta Hotel Spa Weekend for them....I have a spa weekend all the time and chose to read my book, if there was to be any free time, and there wasn't!

Harbour Town Lighthouse
Hilton Head Island, SC  - 2015

HHI - 2015

We had so barrels of fun.  Kristen and Lauren are both very gifted healers - Doctors of Chiropractic....thus the name of this blog.   Lauren's family practice is in Suwanee, GA,  and Kristen's family practice is in Fleming Island, FL, near Orange Park.

Shopping Around HHI - 2015
Dr. Kristen and Dr. Lauren

Doesn't this look like a Vertebrae Mirror?
Two Chiropractors looking in the Chiropractic Mirror...
HHI - 2015

Kristen also owns 2 consignment and upscale furniture/accessory stores called "Junque In The Trunk" in Fleming Island and Flagler Beach.  So .... guess what we did while we were in Hilton Head.

Shop Til Ya Drop at HHI - 2015

Junque In The Trunk
Fleming Island and Flagler Beach, FL

We shopped and shopped all over that part of South Carolina for bargains and buys.  We could have filled a box truck but decided at the last minute to take Kristen's car which was stuffed from top to bottom when we departed on Sunday afternoon.

Dinner at Frankie Bones Restaurant
Girls' Weekend - HHI - 2015

Our getting away for the weekend was a great idea and we hope to do it again next year.  A Nor'easter did not deter us a single bit.  We saw about 5 weddings taking place in the hotel in 2 nights and a beautiful full moon at no extra charge.

Full Moon in Hilton Head Island, SC

RV and I departed Green Cove Springs in our motorhome on Monday morning and travelled to our winter destination, Florida Grande Motor Coach Resort in Webster, FL.  In a few weeks the word  "snowbirds" will have a very positive meaning in Webster. 

A STROLL IN RED BAY

Welcome to Red Bay, Alabama!
Established in 1907

We are in Red Bay, AL, for a service appointment at Tiffin Motorhomes (after our 4000 plus miles journey that started last May), for work, repairs (windshield #4), modifications (A/C#3) and upgrades, to our coach and engine (see Coach Upgrades Tab).  With the usual arrival of "snow birds" in motorhomes the town of Red Bay realizes an economic upturn at certain times of the year, and this is one of those times.  People from all over the United States and Canada converge on this community throughout the year.  Many are here just to follow the construction of their new motorhome!

Tiffin Service Center Campground
Red Bay, Alabama

Spending time at the Downtown Red Bay RV Campground has given us an opportunity to see some beautiful areas of town we never knew existed.

Red Bay Downtown RV Park
Red Bay, Alabama

Downtown RV Park 

Red Bay Police Department
Red Bay, Alabama

Old Red Bay Hotel
Presently being renovated and refurbished

Hanging flower baskets on every street corner in
Red Bay, Alabama

 A walk in Red Bay is calming, rewarding and educational, and best done in the early morning or late afternoon. The very active Red Bay Garden Club is responsible for placing a sign near the Mississippi state line on the west side of town that says "Red Bay is a Bird Sanctuary".

A serene walking lane in
Red Bay, Alabama lined with historic homes

A home on a small spring-fed lake surrounded by
beautiful landscaping

This is called the Coca-Cola House
So neat and well kept!

Architectural details in historic
neighborhood - Red Bay, Alabama

Flowers and landscaping are an important
part of every neighborhood downtown.
Red Bay, Alabama

Downtown neighborhood in Red Bay, Alabama

Red Bay, nestled in the northwest part of Alabama, is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and is comprised of hard working people who have made this their home for generations.  Most have strong traditional and Christian values, a sense of community pride, patriotism, and historic preservation.

First Methodist Church
Red Bay, Alabama
(At our campground we hear the church bells several times a day)

Foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
The view as you arrive in Red Bay, Alabama

There is an obvious town spirit and pride in Red Bay.  This weekend in Downtown Bay
Tree Park, is Founder's Day, an annual festival that has become a tradition in Red Bay.

Bay Tree Park
Red Bay, Alabama

Franklin County Cattleman's  $8. Steak Sandwich Special at
Founder's Day - Delicious Treat!

Craft Show - Founder's Day
Red Bay, Alabama

 On Founder's Day there is entertainment, a barbeque cookoff, Franklin County Cattleman's Association's delicious ribeye steak sandwich. an always awesome antique car, truck and motorcycle show, and a spectacular craft fair.    

CANNIBALS IN HANNIBAL

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain) 1835-1910,  was a social critic, lecturer and novelist.

Statue erected in Riverview Park, Hannibal, Missouri by the State of Missouri (1913)
"His religion was humanity; a whole world mourned for him when he died."

Hannibal, Missouri

Missouri Backroads near
Hannibal, MIssouri

RV and I detoured as we drove through the Missouri countryside and decided to spend a week in and around Hannibal, Missouri.

Hannibal Missouri

View of Hannibal, Missouri

Downtown and quaint Hannibal, Missouri

Hannibal is a town all of us have read about mostly because of its relationship to Mark Twain, Huck Finn, etc., and a bygone era of the Mississippi River and riverboats.  Upon entering the Missouri countryside we had an inkling of a hint this may be a little more than a sleepy little town...it's a sleepy little tourist town. 

Mark Twain Riverboat
Hannibal, Missouri

Hannibal Trolley

Mississippi River from Hannibal, Missouri

Mark Twain Campground and Cave

Mark Twain Campground

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is everywhere, yet he wasn't born here and he didn't die here.  In 1839, his life in Hannibal began when he was about 4 years old when his family relocated by wagon from a sleepy hamlet about 30 miles away, Florida, Missouri.  

Mark Twain stone sculpture at Illinois-Missouri Bridge

Samuel Clemens' brief education was in a country schoolhouse of 25 girls and boys of different ages. Samuel Clemens moved away in 1863, and did not return to the Mississippi River area until 1882 to do research on a book.  The last visit he made to Hannibal was in the year 1902, about 8 years before he died at his home in Elmira, New York.  

In an effort to catch the full flavor of Hannibal and not wanting to miss anything this town had to offer, we stayed at the Mark Twain Cave and Campground (the cave existed in Samuel Clemens' youth).  For $20 each you tour the cave, and then as you leave there's a complimentary wine tasting, gem mine and HUGE souvenir shop...lots of free parking.

Gem Mine - Mark Twain Campground

Wine Tasting - Mark Twain Campground

Mark Twain Campground and Cave

Gift Shop - Ticket Shop - Ice Cream Shop - Theatre
Mark Twain Campground

Mark Twain Campground and Cave

Mark Twin Cave - Hannibal, Missouri

After exploring Hannibal, it is evident Mark Twain left an indelible impression on this quaint little town, most of it having lots of economic impact. A few examples:

Mark Twain Riverboat Tour Dinner Cruise

Mark Twain Riverboat - Hannibal, Missouri

Mark Twain Cave, Cameron Cave and Campground

Entrance to Mark Twain Cave and Campground Complex
Hannibal, Missouri

Sawyer's Creek Fun Park 

Silver Creek Fun Park - Hannibal, Missouri

Huck Finn Shopping Center

Huck Finn Shopping Center - Hannibal, Missouri

Mark Twain Lake

Mark Twain Lake - Missouri State Park

Mark Twain Dinette and Family Restaurant

Mark Twain Dinette
Hannibal, Missouri

Mark Twain Dinette - Hannibal, Missouri

Mark Twain Museum Interpretive Center

Wood carved Dioramas in Interpretive Center

Mrs. Clemens' Shoppes

Mrs. Clemens' Shoppes - Hannibal, Missouri

Tom and Huck Statue

Huck and Tom Statue - Hannibal, Missouri

Aunt Polly's Treasures

Aunt Polly's Treasures
Hannibal, Missouri

Finn's Food and Spirits

Finn's Food & Spirits - Hannibal, Missouri

Becky Thatcher's Diner

Becky Thatcher's Diner - Hannibal, Missouri

 A Few More...... 

Historic Clemens Ballfield

Becky Thatcher House

Huckleberry Finn House

J. M. Clemens Justice of the Peace Office (Samuel L. Clemens' father)

Mark Twain Boyhood Home

Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse

Huckleberry Park 

Becky's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and Emporium

Mark Twain Live

Jim's Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center

Mark Twain Museum Gallery

(Note:  Numerous commercial businesses containing the names of the above have been omitted).

If you didn't know, Molly Brown, as in the "Titanic" "Unsinkable Molly Brown" is also from Hannibal, Missouri.  If you have any leftover time you can visit the original and historic Molly Brown Museum and Home.

After visiting Hannibal we wanted to research the life of Samuel L. Clemens and discovered a newly published autobiography, Autobiography of Mark Twain (not published until the year 2010, at the instructions of the author until 100 years after his death).  The Autobiography, an immediate best seller, was not started until Clemens was in his 40's, and reads as if he is dictating a story and is interestingly historical, as he portrays "a life voyage".  He discusses his boyhood in Hannibal sixty years prior in the book, and much, much more.