Topic starter
02/09/2008 11:31 pm
The AMERICAN QUEEN, Franz, Carmen, Leonie, John and Carol Mullen and 201 other guests (formerly known as passengers) locked through 15 at 5 PM. Franz and Carmen had a moment of fear as Leonie had disappeared - Clara took her down to the best place on the boat to receive packages from the lock wall, as Leonie knew she was getting a pink bag of goodies from Oma Judy. Turns out she was right below her concerned parents. Capts. Rob DeLuca, Lee Hendrickx, and Dave Williamson are manning the pilothouse,and word was there was a young Capt. DeLuca on board who would make Leonie seem like an old lady. It was nice to see so many passengers out for the locking and of course Phil Westbrook provided his usual fine calliope concert for the lock crowd. After meeting the Martinezes at Clarks Landing in Buffalo for our pork tenderloins, I led them upriver to several of my photo op spots on the Iowa side, including the old Blackhawk Fleeting service lot and Enchanted Island. Every new car of mine gets its first dings from the gravel in steamboat searching expeditions. Since I use a camera with FILM, and since Walgreen's machine was kaput tonight, I'll post some pix tomorrow. Its onward to Dubuque and Tschiggfrieland for the AQ and her 'guests'...
03/09/2008 12:32 am
Deb and I got a phone call from John and Carol last night from Hannibal, they're having a wonderful time, could hear the train in the background. I think Deb and I are a tad, no not a tad, really envious of friends that can get off the DQ and get on the AQ four days later. Between this post and the Mullens phone call...Between now knowing that our favorite AQ captain is on board, the German contingent is also there, seeing the Upper Miss for what would be our first time, and Phil being there with his smile, playing "North to Paducah" and his wonderful show "By Request"...and experiencing the sight of Judy on the lock wall?
We really wish we were there...
Looking forward to the pics. Despite the blue paint, she is a very impressive thing.
03/09/2008 9:56 pm
Latest from Dubuque: AQ arrived at the landing about 10:00 a.m. Unfortunately, my morning class meets at the same time, so I dropped off a note for Carmen, Franz & Leonie in care of a cab driver on the landing before heading to meet with my class, with instructions to get it to someone on the boat for delivery by the Pursers Office. My hope was to catch up with them early this afternoon. Today was absolutely beautiful: temp at noon was around 68 degrees, fully 20 degrees cooler than the same time yesterday and no humidity. In fact, several passengers sported long sleeves or sweaters/sweat shirts! When I arrived at the boat after 1:00 this afternoon, our Munich friends were there waiting to welcome me aboard. The note had been delivered. They also introduced me to Sherry Maves of Cedarville, IL, who has conducted much research and taped some interviews with Denny Trone in hopes of writing a book about the JULIA BELLE SWAIN. Obviously, the two of us hit it off well right from the start! Our group took a quick tour around town to a few spots that they hadn't visited in previous excursions ashore, and ended up at Betty Jane's Ice Cream parlor for a late afternoon treat. We were back at the landing by 4:00, in plenty of time for the 5 p.m. departure. Since I have another class tonight, we said our goodbyes there, with a hopeful wish that we would see each other again next year aboard the DQ. The AQ's stop tomorrow afternoon in La Crosse will give them a chance to visit with Bill and Bobbi Steinike. Too bad the JBS isn't running an afternoon trip tomorrow. This evening the AQ departs here headed right into God's Country. Our Munich friends end their river odyssey this year at Red Wing on Saturday, with connecting flights out of St. Paul and Chicago into Dusseldorf and back home next Monday.
04/09/2008 2:09 am
..And I look forward to boarding the AQ to play/sing in the Engine Room bar, Sept. 20-Oct. 11! I hope to see familiar "guest" friends & meet new ones. The AQ's E.R. bar was my very first gig for the company, as a sub, the spring of '96. I haven't gotten to work on her for 8 years (after '00, my work was all on the DQ), so it'll be old home week.
04/09/2008 2:26 am
Judy Patsch;12617 wrote: the AQ and her 'guests'...
I think we should get back to 'walking freight.'
Topic starter
04/09/2008 1:50 pm
Leonie
Here are some pix from Lock 15 on Monday afternoon.
1) Clara Christensen and Leonie ready to take the cookie and pink bag of goodies handoff from the lock wall.
2) Leonie is checking out the Hannah Montana t shirt. Seems like just yesterday it was Barney the purple dinosaur...
3) Leonie knows the boat. Here she is on the landing just under the wingbridge, getting the same view as Capt. Rob above her.
04/09/2008 7:14 pm
American Queen in La Crosse today
Topic starter
04/09/2008 7:23 pm
She sure won't have to worry about low water on the downbound - we're getting Gustav's rain up here!