Greetings!

This is an update on the annual Joe Twichell-Mark Twain walk, which will
step off from the Mark Twain House in Hartford on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 8 a.m.
sharp. For those who have already signed up, I can't stress enough the need
to be at the Mark Twain House parking lot before 7:30 a.m., when streets in
the area are closed for the Greater Hartford Marathon.

For those who don't know about it, this is the annual walk in commemoration
of the autumn hikes Mark Twain and his friend the Rev. Joseph Hopkins
Twichell took along roughly the same route. It is an eight-mile walk through
Hartford and suburbs to the top of Talcott Mountain, where Heublein Tower is
located on a ridge with a sweeping view of the Farmington Valley. (Matthew
H. Bartlett's wooden tower and restaurant stood there in the 1870s,
prompting Twain's inscription in a book: "To Mr. Bartlett, who has robbed
the historical command 'Away with him to the Tower!' of all its terrors.")

John Boyer, executive director of the Mark Twain House, and the Rev. Gary
Miller, Twichell's successor at Asylum Hill Congregational Church, will be
along.

We have to limit participants to 30, and have about 20, so if you'd like to
come and haven't told me, or have emailed and not heard back, let me know by
return email.

As I mentioned, please be at the Mark Twain House parking lot by 7:30 or you
may not be able to get there at all! Bring water, a lunch and stout shoes.
We will leave at 8 a.m. and make a a brief stop about 20 minutes later at
Scott's Jamaican Bakery on Albany Avenue. There you can buy lunches if you
haven't brought them, and we'll provide a brief introduction to the walk and
its history. There are bathrooms nearby at McDonald's.

We'll then walk along Albany, Bloomfield and Simsbury avenues to the Auer
4-H Farm at about lunchtime. We'll pause for lunch and readings from
Twichell's and Twain's writings, then finish the hike along West Hartford
Reservoir trails to the Tower. We will be returning to the Mark Twain House
by carpool by 2:30 p.m. -- perhaps earlier, but we can't guarantee it.

I will need volunteers (about four) to get up early and leave cars up on the
mountain.

Yours for a good walk and a fine feast of talk,

Steve Courtney