Topic starter
23/07/2008 12:14 pm
For those readers who usually look for Judy's postings when the AQ is on the Upper, just a note of explanation. The Quad Cities area was hit with a severe storm Monday morning which knocked out power in Rock Island and Moline. Judy called last night to tell me she has been without power at her house since 6 a.m. Monday. She said the streets are littered with fallen trees, and I assume, downed power lines. The AQ is slowly, but surely, making her way upriver on a stage still several feet above normal pool, with lots and lots of traffic at the locks still backed up from lock closures up here weeks ago during the worst of the high water. For an example, the AQ typically locks through #15 at Rock Island sometime in the early evening (8:00 or 9:00) when she's running her normal UMR schedule. This morning the boat arrived at Lock 14 and began her lockage at 6:10, which means she probably cleared Lock 15 around 4 a.m. today, 7 hours "behind schedule." The early hour and lack of electricity in Rock Island probably account for Judy's lack of posting the boat's whereabouts. The AQ's schedule calls for a 1:00 p.m. stop at Dubuque today. However, at the progress she's been making, a 9:00 p.m. arrival here is not out of the question. In fact, it's also probably not out of the question that she bypasses Dubuque entirely and keeps heading upstream for her scheduled La Crosse stopover tomorrow. This, of course, is conjecture on my part. But we'll try to keep interested posters updated. Poor Judy was not even able to bake her traditional batch of cookies for the crew due to the power outage! This has indeed been an unusual and wild spring and summer on the UMR.
23/07/2008 12:28 pm
Wednesday Morning Update: Judy just called and said she's still without power but she and the cats are doing OK. She can drive over the bridge into Davenport, where all is well and there is POWER. While she had lunch in a Davenport restaurant yesterday she spied a nearby electrical outlet and managed to charge up her cell phone! You gotta be resourceful in these situations! Over 1,000 workers (many brought in from other areas) are at work to restore power in Rock Island.
23/07/2008 12:33 pm
In my lunch break I´ve checked the NIC website and it was saying "A" at 2 am for lock 15. The webcam didn´t show anything. And it was already past 3 am when I checked.
Carmen
Topic starter
23/07/2008 12:48 pm
Jonathan got information late last night that the AQ is indeed, bypassing Dubuque today and will make her next stop tomorrow at La Crosse. The boat finished locking at Lock 14 at 7:10 this morning, and is averaging around 6 mph upstream so far this trip. Looks like we'll be standing at the entrance to the Ice Harbor here and wave as they pass in the late hours of the night. Hopefully we'll get a report from La Crosse tomorrow.
23/07/2008 5:57 pm
David,
Sorry to hear that! I checked the NIC website and she´s in pool 13 now (lockage at 12:15 pm). So at least she´s coming closer to your place.
Carmen
23/07/2008 9:56 pm
Just a quick note on battery power - still no electricity here and for 39,000 others in RI and Moline. That's down from 144,000 Monday morning. I went over to the nursing home this afternoon to run Bingo and was able to soak up some AC and also charge this laptop and cell phone again. While there isn't a curfew as such, the Moline mayor has issued a warning to stay off their streets unless necessary, and I would have had to drive through Moline to enter the Arsenal during the night, so for once prudence reigned over steamboat fever.. and as David said, no cookies, so no delivery mission anyway! As I just posted in another thread, Don Houghton just called to check on my situation and then told me of the ship/barge collision in the NOLA harbor last night. The wind is blowing the oil fumes right to the Toulouse St. wharf, and he says it isn't very pleasant. So, there's trouble in 2 river cities 1339 miles apart....
24/07/2008 5:15 pm
The AQ is currently listed in pool 9 (10:28 am EOL). So she will be late in LaCrosse.
Check the webcam later today at Explore La Crosse
Carmen
24/07/2008 5:25 pm
I´ve just checked the calendar of events of the La Crosse website and it´s saying:
American Queen Steamboat Shore Stop CANCELLED DUE TO MECHANICAL DIFFICULTIES
Carmen
24/07/2008 5:39 pm
This would put the AQ going by La Crosse at 6:30 this evening, at the earliest. She's been making about 6.5 MPH the past few days on the Upper. We watched her go by Bellevue and Dubuque last night. More on that in another posting soon.
24/07/2008 5:53 pm
And the mechanical difficulties that Carmen refers to are that the starboard Z-drive is out of commission.
24/07/2008 6:01 pm
Jon,
Thanks, I already thought it can´t be just the current which is slowing the AQ down.
Carmen
24/07/2008 8:20 pm
Carmen;11721 wrote: Jon,
Thanks, I already thought it can´t be just the current which is slowing the AQ down.
Carmen
"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can". You go baby sister.
Paul
24/07/2008 8:53 pm
Here are the media as promised from the Upper Mississippi River Contingent. Below are one shot apiece from Lock 12 at Bellevue, around Mile 559 UMR above Bellevue, and from "the Point" at Dubuque, just below Lock 11. The events were also recorded in video format: visit the YouTube video here.
25/07/2008 3:51 am
Looks like MAL 'showed us'...they obviously took our critcism of the blue paint to heart and so added it to another deck. Glad I didn't see that this week..enough depressing stuff without that. She's beginning to look more like the River Barge, isn't she? by the way, power is back here after 84.5 hours.
25/07/2008 5:04 am
You're right Judy, it does look worse! At least the paddlewheel is no longer that "dirty"maroon, it looks red now.
S'
David D.
Topic starter
26/07/2008 5:51 pm
According to the Corps' website, the AQ's last lockage in the past 24 hours was at Alma (Lock 4) Friday morning. By that, we can probably infer that her cruise ended at Red Wing this morning, with turnaround scheduled there today for her southbound trip. Of course, this is conjecture only. Don't know if the inoperable z-drive can be repaired there by crew and technicians, or if the nature of the problem necessitates the boat being hauled out of the water for repairs. If so, there's not a drydock or marine ways large enough to accommodate her anywhere up here. In fact, there may not be any repair facility large enough except in New Orleans. If that's the case, and those repairs need to be postponed for now, the boat's cruising speed will be noticeably affected for the remainder of her UMR cruises. She's averaged between 6 and 6.5 mph upstream this past trip. Let's hope the problem can be corrected so she can maintain her schedule. As any info becomes available, Jonathan or I will try to post updates.
26/07/2008 6:38 pm
Redwing is the turnover destination. Z drive is fixed.
27/07/2008 12:23 am
I don't have a clue what this current problem is, but to give some hope that it is repairable without drydocking:
a couple of years ago the AQ Pursers Office phoned me as they were around Gladstone or so. They asked if they could use my home address to ship a z drive part to, since UPS or FedEx, whoever it was, wouldn't deliver to P.O. boxes. I told them sure, and I'd bring it to them at Lock 15. After I hung up, I got to thinking: geez, how big is this part for a z drive? Will it fit in my car, can I carry it, etc. etc. etc. Turns out it was a computer chip for its brains.... so maybe its something like that, rather than a big physical problem.
28/07/2008 5:13 am
I'll agree, the extra blue is disgusting. They really know what they're doing. NOT. Maybe Riverbarge is one of the rumored buyers and they're just getting her ready for them to take over. Just kidding, so don't believe that I have any knowledge of the future MAL sale.
28/07/2008 7:27 pm
I had a "Live from near the Levee" report from a friend that just flew into LaCrosse today. He could see the AQ at the landing, as they approached the airport.
29/07/2008 12:50 am
I've been told that the AQ's Z-drive can be removed without the drydock hassle. There are pictures on the AQ of the port Z-drive being pulled. Big mutha...
I'm surprised the authourities haven't had a cow about reduced available power, and all that stuff that they like to wring their hands about...
I've also been told that the AQ is capable of some pretty remarkable speeds when asked, to the point that the ships available electricity for the day to day routine stuff severely suffers when the Z's are floored, and as a bonus the wheel can do 15 RPM?...I always wonder if this was true considering the bath the AQ took racing against the Natchez!
Topic starter
29/07/2008 1:03 pm
The AQ's paddling down the river at about 9 mph, so she must be back in good running condition. She landed at Dubuque around 4:00 this morning for her scheduled shore stop. More later today. Jonathan will be aboard this morning to get his calliope measurements and recordings for his research paper. Poor old Dad has to go teach his summer school class in Statistics while the boy has all the fun!
29/07/2008 1:28 pm
Yesterday's edition of THE WINONA DAILY NEWS featured a head on photo of the AQ moored at Levee Park, near the site of the recently demolished JULIUS C. WILKIE steamboat replica.
29/07/2008 1:48 pm
Bruno,
The AQ needs more mileage to get her speed up because of her bulk. Yes, she is a fast boat...a very fast boat. The lighter NATCHEZ needs precious little river to get her speed up because she is so light comparatively.
My money says if you gave the NATCHEZ and the AQ a race where they had to cover 40 miles downstream (say Vacherie, LA to New Orleans, LA), the AQ would come close if not pass the NATCHEZ and win.
I have personally seen the wheel on the AQ go faster than 15 rpm....we were upbound in 1996 to Cincinnati (on the way to the famous 3 weeks in Ragtown cruise) and were running the Z-drives for all they were worth, the wheel was moving in the 20+ rpm arena throwing a rooster tail of heavy mist over the calliope bar....even the keyboard was wet! We were making about 16mph on the Ohio river....upbound in high water!
I was in one of the inside staterooms on the Texas Deck and the artwork on the walls was literally bouncing off the wall. The bedstead was banging against them, too!
We landed at 5:45am and everything stopped...I was bolt upright in bed and couldn't get back to sleep.
Yeah all said, the AQ can do some amazing things.
~Travis~