We are back from a short visit in some of northwest Missouri en route to a high school reunion in Iowa, driving from Springfield, MO. There are some historic and interesting places we decided to visit where we've been before but not long enough.

FULTON If you know about Winston Churchill you will remember his famous speech in 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton. It became known as the Sinew of Peace speech including the reference to an iron curtain falling across Europe. We would recommend time spent in the Churchill Museum which has much detail about the life and leadership of this famous British Prime Minister. I recall as a boy his stalwart (and lonely) stand against Nazi Germany when most English and Americans were isolationists hoping to appease Hitler. That didn't work of course and so we had the terrible suffering of World War II. Especially interesting is the Gathering Storm Room where the drama of the pre and early war years are portrayed. We especially enjoyed the exhibits because we've been listening to a book on CD "Franklin and Winston." I was not so familiar with the earlier wartime service and travels and governmental roles of Churchill through the preceding years from WW I on that are detailed in the museum. (www.churchillmemorial.org)

There is a remarkable church at the site, also on the campus of the college. A stone church known as St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, was trasported stone by stone from London and reconstructed. In 1969 there was a dedication ceremony and many famous speakers have been drawn to this church now the Westminster College chapel. There is more to see in Fulton which is a lovely town. You'll find things mentioned in Missouri Life magazine such as Backer Auto World Museum and Hazel Kinder's Lighthouse Theater (would love to return for a concert...how about Mikel and the Blood Washed Blues Band on Oct. 3! . Also on Oct. 3 is the annual Hatton Craft Festival in a nearby town. There are some good B&Bs in Fulton I hear. (www.visitfulton.com)

ALSO COLUMBIA AND JEFFERSON CITY AND MEXICO On this trip we bypassed the very nice town of Columbia, home of Missouri University, which has a nice downtown and lots going on, also location of Stephens College putting on O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness" late October. Featured in the current Missouri Life is North Village with its artist studios. Jeff City is the capitol and features a famous Thomas Hart Benton mural. October 3 is a Multicultural Fall Festival. The town of Mexico boasts of its parks including a complex spanning 260 acres. This part of the state by the way is known as Little Dixie which had Confederate sympathies.

AND ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI We stayed overnight in Quincy which is across the mighty Mississippi made famous by Mark Twain, going down the next day to Hannibal. This river is itself quite a site, kind of like a liquid Grand Canyon in its majesty. A number of river towns stretch along from St. Louis and features some fall foliage. Scenic route 79 follows the river for about 90 miles with fall scenic turn offs between Clarksville, Louisiana and Hannibal. Somewhere I heard that there are some artists who've moved into the river towns. Later we cruised through the scenic campus of Culver-Stockton College sitting above Canton, MO (which our daughter attended.)

PALMYRA (ALSO LEXINGTON) A brief stop in Palmyra for one reason...to look at the grave of William Hepburn Russell, founder of the Pony Express (and an ancestor of mine...I've traced the genealogy of both Hepburn and Russell lines). The cemetery is north of town. Also we drove by the nice house of his son where he spent his latter years. Hepburn, against the advice of his partners, developed this short lived Pony Express only lasting a year and a half and spent the remainder of his life seeking reimbursement (unsuccessfully) from the U. S. Government. Coming back to Springfield we also stopped off in Lexington, MO, further west where there is a monument on the courthouse square to the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight office supplying Oregon Trail wagon trains, also headquarters of the Pony Express which started actually in St. Joseph (with a nice museum there). Interestingly, the young librarians and a law secretary across the street knew nothing of this memorial! See if there the site of the 1961 Civil War Battle of Lexington. Palmyra also has some stately historic mansions.

HANNIBAL Yes, we'd been there before, first time with small daughter pictured in front of the famous white washed fence. This is indeed a worthwhile destination with not only the Mark Twain sites but much more. To the north is the cave which we've seen before. You purchase one ticket for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum and so begin with the home and move out to the small Huck Finn House (www.marktwainmuseum.org). You may know that author Twain used many town folks for his characters. Also you see the office where his father worked and a drug store. Becky Thatcher house across the street is being remodeled.

Along the main drag which is Third St. is the Museum with many artifacts from the life of Sam Clemmens alias Mark Twain. You can toot a whistle of a steamboat. Upstairs is for me a special treat: a wall of original paintings by Norman Rockwell used as illusrations for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." You'll find lots of interesting shops to browse in and and ice cream parlor and qult shops and book stores and also galleries. You can get a tour with a horse drawn carriage or trolley. We stopped in the Java Joint known as the first coffee shop west of the Mississippi and according to a native the only decent coffee in town...although a bit disconcerting to see the "good old boys" gathered not around some diner table but sitting in plush lounge chairs.

Up the hill a block is a model train shop...320 N. 3rd. You will hear trains going through town frequently along the river. For lunch we chose the most interesting spot in town, a former bordello called LulaBelle's (www.lulabelles.com). There is some entertainment in Hannibal (not at LulaBelles!) such as Mark Twain Himself Show (www.heritagestage.com) and Mark Twain Riverboat cruise (www.marktwainriverboat.com). Coming up Oct. 17 & 18 is the Folk Life Festival. And 2010 is the Year of Twain commemorating the 100th year since the authors death.

So there really are some worthwhile stops in northwest Missouri, maybe as you come to or from St. Louis or the back roads headed West...or just to these places as a primary destination in the Autumn.
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Ozarksbill walongman@yahoo.com