Live on the New Orleans levee

Judy,

Wow, the river is low there, huh? When I get there in December for my cruise I guess I will just walk aboard on the top deck of the cruise ship! No catwalks this time! He, he, he!

Isn't it great the boats are getting busy down there again? With the NATCHEZ running 3 cruises a day, they just might start to rebuild from what has been 4 really scary years back into the beauty that was New Orleans! It is such good news to hear someones economy is kinda getting back to normal!

You'd think they would be interested in renting that space to you so it is making some kind of money...instead of letting it sit there empty generating no income! Alas, people don't think like that anymore. You know, the old timey "anything is better than nothing" mindset.

Looking forward to more posts from down in the Big Easy. Can't wait to see how the MQ is doing. I will be there in about 5 weeks myself and had hoped to stop by there and pay my last respects to her.

Have a great time down there. With this weather, I know you will!

Travis

Live from the Harvey Canal levee - the MQ

Here are the current shots of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, taken an hour ago, today Nov. 9, 2010. She's in the same place, 3800 Peters Road, as she was in June. Folks, these shots don't show how gray she is. I didn't even venture up close, no way. It might be dirt from the industrial area, but she looks far filthier than 5 months ago. However, please note she is still intact as she was in June - no official dismantling. There were 2 men walking the outside decks, no idea who they were. Look and weep.
I have several more pix, but the connection is slow here and its time for a steamboat ride, so I'll post more tonight. By the way, the river stage is 2.4. I've been here when it was only 1.something and that sandbar hadn't shown then yet.

Judy,

How sad...yet good to see her in one piece! I have heard from so many people with so many differing reports on her. One said she was moved, one said she was partially cut down, one said she was going to run again....its been an emotional roller coaster for river fans.

Thanks for posting the pictures!

Travis

Thank You

I wanted to say thanks for giving me proof she still is in one piece (sorta). I am only sorry that I didn't find this place when there last month. Please send more pics.

How depressing to see it in that shape. Wish I woulda known that the last time i had seen it was gonna be the last time i was gonna see it in working condition, woulda taken a lot more pictures.

More MQ pictures

Ed, the MQ is located far down the road, so if you didn't know the area, it would have been easy to stop before finding her. Travis, I don't have a license, but I do have a camera and the willingness to go see for myself rather than rely on a 'reliable' source. And for everyone, remember the CEO of Phoenix Metals said over a month ago that her company was signing the contract 4 days later to dismantle the MQ, and so far nothing has been done physically at least. So who knows what will happen... the soap opera continues.
(I tried posting the pics but got a failure notice. I'll contact Franz again.)

A photoless report on Tuesday

I was going to post some pictures of the sandbar and the NATCHEZ, but as I said in the MQ posting, I can't get pix posted yet. Later. Anyway, after narrating a trip on Monday, I took the evening to get settled in here at LeRichelieu, and I visited in the BK courtyard with my neighbor Ott who is storing my bike and golf clubs for me. The sound of the calliope was in the distance, as Debbie was asked to play as they boarded for the charter trip. Tuesday started off with breakfast out on my balcony, followed by the reconnaisance mission to the MQ on the Westbank. If anyone else comes here and wants to find her: take the bridge/expressway to the Manhattan Blvd. exit. Keep going straight on the exit road, which parallels the overhead expressway, until the end. Make a left onto Peters Road(there's a sign to the Boomtown Belle Casino too), and drive about 3 miles along the canal. You'll keep going straight onto a gravel road instead of following the curved paved road once you see the MQ. She is at 3800 Peters Road, a Northrup Grumman site. You can drive right in an entrance even with the paddlewheel. That of course, is if she is still there... An 11:30 NATCHEZ ride was followed by 9 holes of golf out at City Park North, a Creole combination dinner at a new place in the Brewery: Gumbo Pot, and then the evening dinner cruise. Kevin Clark, trumpet man extraordinare, has returned to the Dukes of Dixieland as their leader, and if you ride that trip, hold on to your hats! They are better than ever! The river dropped almost a foot yesterday, down to 1.6 and the sandbar is visible so close to the NATCHEZ that it looks like we could lower a stage and walk out onto the bar. I'll post pictures as soon as this server allows me...

Live from the Sandbar

Here are some pictures I took this morning on the sandbar downriver from the NATCHEZ. I could have walked another 30 feet or so toward the boat, but it looked too squishy. I dare say this is the first time any pictures have been taken from this angle without the use of a boat...That's Karen from the Gift Shop watching from the Boiler Deck bow. Word got around the boat that I was out there. I had called Capt. Don and asked him to take a pix of me from the boat as proof I was there. Haven't found it yet on my computer...

and a few more walking on water shots

Here are a couple more from my walk on the new New Orleans beach this morning. It was quite an experience...

MQ pix

I tried posting more MQ pix, but it wouldn't take them, didn't even post the text. I'll try again tomorrow. Now its time for a Planters Punch patio party at the BK house, compliments of my neighbor Ott...

Wow, Judy, those are some impressive shots of the boat from such a unique angle. And you'd be correct in saying it would be some of the first from that angle without using a boat to get them! And the river is obviously low, but what stage is it at? When I first started working there, it was pretty low, but I never saw the sandbar like this. Keep those pictures (when internet allows you too) and stories coming!

River stage

Monday's pix showed the sandbar at 2.4. Tuesday's stage was 1.6. I didn't see Wednesday's but it went up a bit, probably about 1.8. Tried to post more pix at 12:28AM, but I got Fehler 500 notice, so Franz' server still is kaput.

more low water shots

Sorry, but I'm still getting a Fehler 500 notice when trying to post pictures, so still no pix here. I'm going to venture out on the sandbar this morning to photograph the 11:30 departure, assuming the river stage isn't higher. I'll have to account for our wheelwash too, but what are wet shoes when getting unique shots of a steamboat?

Really neat pictures, Judy. Thanks for sharing.

Circumnavigation time

I just returned from my sandbar photo session at the 11:30 departure and since I still can't post pix, Franz suggested I email them to him to post. We'll see if I can get them emailed, at least. I hate to bother Franz, but this is so aggravating, because finally I have something newsworthy to post after a slow dryspell, and my computer ineptitude has befuddled me. At any rate, I'm emailing Franz 3 pix of the NATCHEZ 11:30 departure as seen from the sandbar. I'm about 150 feet from the bow, I'd guess. The sand is exposed another 50 feet or so closer to the boat, but its too soft to venture onto.

Judy,
Images from movies of folks stuck in quicksand come to mind. Be careful out there, we don't want to hear "FRN missing, last seen standing on sandbar; camera found tangled in paddlewheel--film at 11"
S'
David D.

glug, glug...

Yes David, that thought crossed my mind...if the sand gave as I stepped on it, I quickly pulled back to more solid ground. And then there was the musician up on the Moonwalk yelling "Get off of there! Here comes a 40 foot wave!" over and over. I finally responded that I was more worried about our wheel wash. When I returned to film the 1:30 landing, he didn't bother to harass me... The circumnavigation didn't work either. I sent 3 pix to Franz, only he didn't get them. So obviously I am screwing up royally here. Maybe when I get home this weekend I can figure it out. I just printed out the pix at Walgreens so I'll put them on my scanner at home. Maybe that will work better than loading from the camera. duh. Anyway, it was fun standing there as the NATCHEZ approached. If I didn't know how much of the sandbar was also still submerged, I might have been more concerned. But I knew I had a good 100 feet of clearance... I also did a movie of the approach and landing whistle, but if I can't get a simple still shot posted, how in the heck can I post a video???? As I await the crew to join me at the hotel bar after the dinner trip, I'm packing and going out on my balcony to watch the filming of a segment for the TV show Treme, which is going on directly below here on Chartres and Barracks. Doc has a big studio van in front of his place, good thing he only has to park a bike and not a car tonight.... for future reference, the NATCHEZ' annual layup will be from Jan. 10 to Feb. 10 next year.

A parting posting

All my bags are packed...leaving on a jet plane - but not until I take one more trip on the NATCHEZ. I've got a 5:51PM flight, so there is plenty of time for the 11:30 cruise and then watch her leave at 2:30 before heading to the airport. I'm sorry for my computer ineptitude regarding the pictures, but when I get home I'll try to run them through my scanner and see if that will work. I have several more MQ shots and quite a few of the NATCHEZ taken from that sandbar. I see the temperatures at home are falling, so I'm going to enjoy one more day of sunshine and warmth here. I haven't mentioned CCH, because I didn't see him this week. I talked to him one evening, but this is the big auction week so he's been at the auction house not only during the day but also every evening...so much for a boring retirement for him!
So long from the Big Easy, the Crescent City, the Birthplace of Jazz, and the home of the NATCHEZ!

trying to post pix from home...

I think I've figured out how to post pix on this new server setup. Here's one for a test. One of the most often asked questions from steamboat buffs is why is the NATCHEZ nameboard on the boiler deck rather than on the traditional engine room bulkhead placement. Here's a real good example why. This is at a very low river stage, about 2.5 feet and you can see the main deck is completely obscured by the wharf. Even at normal stages of 7-8 feet, the main deck is hidden. Only when we approach flood stage of 17 feet is the whole main deck visible. IF this picture posts, I'll add more from the sandbar and of the MQ tonight.

Hooray, here are additional pix from last week's NOLA visit

Here are 3 more of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN in the Harvey Canal, taken on Nov. 9, 2010. At this date she was still in one piece, no dismantling had begun yet. Several NATCHEZ representatives are going to visit her this week to see what items they were interested in might still remain. When they first attempted to purchase them, the owner had set the price too high, but apparently now the price has come down. So hopefully we'll get a first hand report on the onboard conditions soon.

a few more MQ shots

The searchlights are still there, but it appears the running lights are gone. The stage was taken off at Perry St. and I don't know what happened to it.

More low water shots from the sandbar

I walked down the levee right next to the Gov. Nic wharf, as there were large concrete slabs there in contrast to the big limestone rocks elsewhere. This sandbar is about 5 blocks long. These pictures were taken on Wednesday morning prior to the 11:30 trip.

NATCHEZ departure from the sandbar vantage point

Here's her 11:30 departure on Thursday. more later, time for bingo at the nursing home now!

Judy,

The third picture of the MQ of the pilothouse shows the antlers that were on a hinge are still up there! I can't believe no one stole them!

The running lights appear to be gone, as do the innards of the searchlights. She had a pair of 12million candlepower xenon units, the most powerful on the river.

These pictures are so sad. I hate to say this on the record, but if she isn't coming back...scrap her for heavens sake! I keep hoping she will come back...but, I know the only hope we have now is for the DELTA QUEEN and the AMERICAN QUEEN. It looks like the DELTA QUEEN has a better chance than the AMERICAN QUEEN at the moment. Viva la Preservation Foundation!

Travis