Thursday, May 19, 2016

We left St. Louis this morning with sunny skies, and great travel weather, driving up Hwy. 61 north.  We arrived in Indian Creek Recreation Area campground early this afternoon, which is southwest of Hannibal, MO.  It's on Mark Twain Lake and the Clarence Cannon Dam backs up the North Fork Salt River.  It helps to control flood damage farther south in St. Louis, where the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers converge.  We know Mark Twain was born nearby and we will be visiting his birth place tomorrow.  This is a corps of engineer park, and we didn't have reservations, but we have a great site on top of the bluff and we look down on the lake, 'through the trees'. People are starting to come in for the weekend, but it empties out early next week.  We have seen so many different birds here since we arrived today, and maybe I'll have a collection of them to display on my blog page.  I just walked outside today and sat on the picnic table and a Lone Star Tick was on my hand!  How did that happen so quickly?  I haven't even been in the grass yet!  They told us at the gate that they are seeing seed ticks, but that's it.  I put this bugger in a little glass jar and will be taking him to the gate to show them.  It is known to carry Lyme's Disease.  It has a white spot on its back, thus the name Lone Star. I probably won't post any pictures today, but I'll catch up when we can.