SPIRIT OF PEORIA trip report and pix

Judy Patsch · 2009-08-29T13:53:44Z

It is so hard to know where to start - it was just a fantastic experience. The weather couldn't have been better even though all around us storms were happening. My apology to Illinois River fan Pete Sisak, for the scenery was indeed interesting and pretty - not my UMR, but much more picturesque than I had imagined. And if you like bridges, especially lift bridges, this is the river for you! And of course we traversed about 37 miles of the Mighty Mississippi and the Chain of Rocks Canal too, so the rivers themselves were interesting. I guess the first thing that has to be noted is the great passenger service owner/Captain Alex Grieves and his crew provided us. They went above and beyond, especially for those 11 of us who were doing the makeshift return trip. The ground support crew took care of our luggage and hauled us to the hotels even though that wasn't part of the fare. The chef made certain that there was a different menu for each of the five days, and the entertainers didn't duplicate the programs from the 3 day segment. All this wasn't necessary, as anyone who has repeated DQ trips knows there is repetition -(do you want to hear about the Mishawaka Indiana Senior Prom 39 times)? Everyone on the boat: captains, deckhands, waitstaff, cook, gift shop, volunteer bartender, entertainers; on shore support enroute; in the office before and during the trip - everyone made sure we passengers were satisfied in every respect. And that is Number One in the people business. The 32 in our 3 day group were very satisfied and gratified with the graciousness of the crew.They will have our business again next year - more on that later. The basic trip was 3 days: Peoria to Meredosia and bussed to a Jacksonville motel. That river segment was 91 miles. Day 2 took us 71 miles to Grafton at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, where a bikers' weekend was in full swing when we arrived at the landing. That evening was spent in the Pere Marquette State Park Lodge. We had the whole place to ourselves. (129 pax and a few crew) Day 3 took us from Grafton on the UMR and the Chain of Rocks Canal into St. Louis. After our 2PM arrival there was about a 2 hour period for people to check out the Arch or other sites nearby. When we landed, a familiar sight was there on the levee: J. Thomas Dunn, the General Manager of the Gateway Riverboat Company. It was good to talk to him, no matter how briefly. At 4 PM sharp, the 2 charter busses pulled away and delivered the 3 dayers back to Peoria. Our intrepid group of 11 roundtrippers got checked into our hotels and then went various ways for the evening. After meeting up with Capt. Jim Blum for a visit to the Crown Candy Kitchen, a near northside ice cream parlor, I chose to walk the block from our hotel to the empty Busch Stadium, where I walked around the plaza reliving great Cardinal moments and paying homage to Stan Musial at his statue. It was hard to believe we were in St. Louis in August - not a bead of sweat. Day 4 Tuesday was a trip from St. Louis to Grafton with a couple of busloads of tour groups. We 11 had the outer decks pretty much to ourselves as these people huddled up inside and hung together rather than enjoying the scenery and beautiful weather. That evening we 11 stayed at the Ruebel Hotel in Grafton, a delightful old rivermen's hotel that has been renovated. Of course we visited the 1904 Worlds Fair Bar in the dining room, and the ice cream place across the street got a lot of business too. Day 5 Wednesday was another day trip from Grafton to Florence Illinois(really just to the concrete boat ramp upriver from this metropolis). This was a different type of passenger - they came individually and did spend time on deck and wandering around the boat. There were 78 passengers on this trip. Immediately upon arrival, we boarded a van rented for us and Alice drove us back to Peoria, and even took the group to their hotels. How could I almost have forgotten: the calliope! There is a Tangley air calliaphone aboard.Piano player/entertainer Bev Wolfe played it quite frequently and was gracious to allow our two calliopists, Matt Dow and Barb Hameister, to play it several times also. It was a joyous feeling to hear that music as we passed towns, under bridges, or campsites. The trip couldn't have played out better - the weather, the scenery, the accomodating crew, the camaraderie of our group - just perfect. It was so great that we have reserved spaces for next year's trip: JULY 24, 2010 A 5 DAY ROUND TRIP PEORIA/ST. LOUIS. If you are interested in getting more details as they surface, please email me: wzc8491@aol.com If you need any testimonials, I'm sure any of our 32/11 groups would be glad to fill you in! Following are some pictures, with more to come as the weekend progresses. These pictures were taken at Meredosia Illinois Mile 71.

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

30/08/2009 11:38 pm

More Pictures

1. The Celebration Belle (notice the calliaphone at the back of the 3rd deck)
2. The interior
3. John Deere factory. it was huge!

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

30/08/2009 11:42 pm

This set is scratching the surface of the Judy Patsch steamboat museum. I spent over 2 hours taking pictures, and I can't even imagine how long it would have taken to photograph it all

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

30/08/2009 11:45 pm

Here are some shots of our trip to Leclaire and to the Lone Star

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

30/08/2009 11:49 pm

More Lone Star pictures. The last one is the infamous Judy Patsch in front of the pilothouse

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

30/08/2009 11:53 pm

Even more Lone Star Pictures!! I had a 2 gig memory card, and I wasn't afraid to use it

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Judy Patsch

Joined: 21 years ago

Posts: 3907

Topic starter 31/08/2009 12:01 am

Celebration belle, lone star

I want to point out that the pix Matt has just posted were taken here in the Quad Cities, pre- SPIRIT trip. Pat Traynor was also here for these visits - and the less said about the bump/splash/wham water taxi ride, the better! Matt was able to get an interior shot of the CELEBRATION BELLE, thanks to her Captain whom I hadn't seen in several years: Mike Menard, whom many of you will remember from the DQ and MQ years.

Can anyone tell me why the title of this went to lower case when I had typed it all in caps? This has happened several times this weekend.

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Jim Herron

Joined: 21 years ago

Posts: 373

31/08/2009 5:56 am

Hi Judy...JoAnn and I want to thank you again for organizing this wonderful trip! We really had a great time and we enjoyed meeting all the others in the group, some for the first time and others from past trips. I'd like to second your comments about Captain Alex Grieves and his entire crew and staff. They did a fabulous job and had all the logistics well planned. While not a steamboat, the Spirit of Peoria ranks high on the list of our favorites! (Perhaps we can dub her an "honorary" steamboat since her exhaust goes up the stack and she's entirely driven by her big red paddlewheel.)

As for the photo showing me kind of slumped in the chair, I was probably dozing at the time. I think I missed about 2 hours of "action" by doing so. Also, we had just called the kennel where our three dogs had gone for their own vacation and learned that Lucy, our 12 year old mixed breed, had died the previous day and that was really on my mind that day. We cut our trip short after the cruise and arrived home early on Sunday to bring the other two (Millie and Barney) home. They both hit the sack right after their dinner.

The crew went beyond the call of duty on this trip and allowed me access to both the pilot house and engine room (which is spotless), both of which I really appreciated.

I would definitely recommend the Spirit of Peoria to anyone going through DQ and AQ withdrawals now. Your idea to do this was just fine and I'm hoping that we'll be doing it again. I've got about 2 hours of video footage to sift through so may be there will be a video in the future.

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Steve Huffman

Joined: 21 years ago

Posts: 637

31/08/2009 2:10 pm

In terms of paddlewheel control from the pilothouse, Diesel-Electric is my favorite form of powertrain. The SPIRIT is a fine example of how well diesel-electrics work.

Prior to the BARBARA H I worked a total of 10 years aboard a diesel-electric sternwheel excursion boat, as deckhand, 1st Mate and finally Captain. When setup properly, you can control the paddlewheel, at will, without worrying too much about damaging the powertrain. This can save a lot of "bad landings", whereas with the BARBARA H, or a steamboat, a lot of things need to happen to change paddlewheel direction.

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:21 am

Continuation of Pictures

My service went down here at school, not letting me get to my SOP pictures. here are some of the better ones

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:24 am

Pictures from the first day on the Illinois River from Peoria to Meredosia.

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:29 am

More. I can't really put everything up, but I'll try and find the best ones. The third picture is Orlando (call him O!) trying to get out an Asian Carp out of the safety boat.

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:33 am

Our second locking through. The black lab was the Lockmaster's dog. He tok a liking to the 129 people whistling at us from the decks above him

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:38 am

Since I don't have forever, I'm not going to put every picture I have up here because it would take forever. Right now, here are some pictures from the top of the St. Louis Arch

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:43 am

This set of pictures is dedicated to the Crew of the Spirit of Peoria. They were amazing and I'm glad to have gotten the pleasure to meet them.

1. The Galley Crew
2. The Deck Crew landing the boat at St. Louis
3. The World Famous Bev Wolf, Mistress of the piano and calliope on the Spirit of Peoria

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:47 am

This set is dedicated to the people of the Rambling River Rats, another group of people I was most fortuned to meet.

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Matthew Dow

Joined: 18 years ago

Posts: 334

01/09/2009 2:54 am

Last is a couple random pictures that need to be included. Thanks again to everyone that made this trip the best last adventure of the summer for me. It was a pleasure to meet everyone, and you can definitely count me in for next year. I have so many more pictures, but I don't want to pack this post with them all 🙂

1. Captain Harold, master electrician and the man who takes care of the calliaphone on the boat
2. The infamous Judy Patsch and I. Thanks again for taking me in, showing me around, and introducing me to "Overnight Riverboating"
3. The Spirit of Peoria at the St. Louis levee

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