Steamboats Come True
Life on the Mississippi (1883) is a powerful narrative by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Miss R. before the U.S. Civil War, recounting his trip along The River from St. Louis to New Orleans.
Twain writes with both sincerity &irreverence, as in this lament---
"There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land (and work) again after a cheerful, careless voyage."My own restlessness requests "Anyplace but here" and " I want to be surprised" can be summed up with this quip---
"All I do know or feel, is, that I am wild with impatience to move, move – Move!"
Twain speak close to my heart on what’s important for adventures and travel seekers with this quote---
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
 |
| 2008 Flooding on the Mississippi River |
Ernest Hemingway said,
":Don't travel with people you don't love"
Mark Twain value adds as-
I'll never forget this Twain brilliancy-"The Coldest Winter he ever spent in his life, was a Summer in San Francisco."
In my blog, Hotel @nyware, I often use Twain's quotes to inspire me to further writing.
For Instance
"Go To heaven for the climate and hell for the company".
- Liking many people spontaneously and without effort is probably my greatest of all sources of personal happiness.
I am inspired because of my travels, I think, therefore, that I should write some more about them. Sometimes I see what I see and other times I see what I came to see. Yet Sailing on a cruise ship is like granola. Take away all the fruits and the nuts and all you have left are the flakes .
Twain voyaged to South Africa and beyond. In fact this quote inspired another blog post of mine when I was in the Indian Ocean on my 2011 World Cruise.
My own version of "Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain"
"You gather the idea that Mauritius was created first, and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius". Mark Twain
Read more HERE
Rolling down the river makes me think of John Fogerty and Proud Mary- and its playing on the radio too now-cool. for real, as I drive back to St Louis. Another catchy tune is from his revival album, The River Is Waiting.
I must do a revision of
9 Cruises I had To Go On Before I Died
Traveling on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee Snake, Columbia Rivers are now on my bucket list.
