Phil,

Welcome. I’ll ask you a question I posed to our forum several years ago while researching a book that I wrote:

Have you ever come across any reference to Twain’s attempt at surfing during his lecture tours, e.g., lecture reviews, letters, diaries, etc.? His mention of it in Roughing It, is among the very few references he apparently made to his failed attempt.

I wrote a feature about Twain and surfing in my San Onofre surfing history.
http://pacificsunset.com/?page_id=784

Thanks,
Dave Matuszak

> On Apr 16, 2020, at 2:23 PM, Philip Bauer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hey Scott, I am a newer Mark Twain scholar.  When I give talks, I talk about how close Twain got to Sandusky OH where I live.  In his 1869 lecture tour, he probably criss-crossed here.
> He spoke in Cleveland and then went to Toledo and then back  to Norwalk (about 10 miles south of Sandusky).  Do you happen to know his route?  There was the Lake Shore Electric Railroad that went between Toledo and Cleveland with Sandusky mid-line and Norwalk on another trunk.   Can you possibly confirm that he took the Lake Shore Electric?    Thanks, Phil
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> On 4/16/2020 1:22 PM, scott wrote:
>> Sam wrote Livy from Toledo, while on the Twain-Cable tour, about the
>> prettiest furniture he'd seen in a hotel.  I believe I have determined
>> that the hotel was The Hibbard House in Jackson, MI.  Ironically, it
>> was a replacement for this hotel that was awarded an historical
>> building status, The Otsego Hotel.  I mention this for those interested
>> in Twain landmarks.