Surf Web to see where Huck Finn rafted the river Mississippi

Life along Missouri's banks of the Mississippi River in the 1800s was the inspiration for Mark Twain's most famous works, and a little browsing through the travel information available on the Internet might inspire you to plan a vacation in the area.

It all started in Hannibal -- http://www.visithannibal.com/ -- Mark Twain's boyhood home and the setting of his classic tales of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.

This isn't the fanciest Web site around, but it gets the job done by linking you to the Mark Twain Museum and the Mark Twain Cave.

It also fills you in on places to stay, including campgrounds and B&B inns. If you can be there on Aug. 13 or Sept. 10, you can join the Haunted Victorian Tour of Hannibal, and you might check out the link to the Mark Twain Lake area, west of Hannibal, to plan a side trip.

A regional Web site called 50 Miles of Art -- http://www.50milesofart.com/ -- showcases Hannibal and its downriver neighbors Clarksville and Louisiana, which make up a scenic corridor filled with artists, crafts and shops.

The three towns have festivals including Hannibal's Tom Sawyer Days and Big River Days coming up in September at Clarksville. Be sure to try the local links at the bottom of the page, especially the Clarksville Heritage Center.

The Clarksville-Louisiana area also has one of the shortest entries in the America's Byways program, the Little Dixie Highway -- http://www.byways.org/browse/byways/2481/ -- a 30-mile stretch along the Mississippi River. It's part of Missouri's leg of the Great River Road which extends from Louisiana to Minnesota.

South of Clarksville, more scenery and communities wait for you to visit at the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Byway Area -- http://www.greatriverroad.com/ -- the broad region where the Mississippi is joined by the Illinois River from the northeast and the Missouri River from the west.

Look for the link to St. Charles, the historic city just northwest of St. Louis, and the French colonial town of St. Genevieve farther south.

Look up more details at the Greater St. Charles Convention & Visitors Bureau -- http://www.historicstcharles.com/visitors.aspx -- where you can learn about Daniel Boone's homestead in the area, and click on "Attractions" to discover the area's thriving wineries.

From St. Charles, it's just a short drive into St. Louis -- http://www.explorestlouis.com/ -- home of the Gateway Arch, riverboat casinos, a big selection of restaurants and tours of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.