Topic starter
21/08/2008 8:22 pm
I see Franz has already posted a couple of pix and JoAnn has asked about it under another title. I wanted to have the word TWILIGHT in the title in hopes that others might run across the thread and develop an interest in taking this trip. It is impossible to put this whole experience into words - just when you thought it couldn't be any better, it got better. We had so much lagniappe besides the scheduled trip, it was, well, WOW!
First, the TWILIGHT trip itself. I had taken this trip a couple of times under Dennis Trone's magnificent ownership and so I was curious to see if his longtime friends and crew members who are now the owners had changed much. Happy to say, I didn't see any noticeable changes unless things have gotten even better. Kevin and Carrie Stier are carrying the torch quite well. We had a full boat, which would be 149 passengers(the AQ had 178 that same day in Dubuque). Our group numbered 21, most of the time. While the boat was obviously full, there was still plenty of room to sit or stand and gather, both inside and out. You might not have gotten THE chair you wanted, but there was always a chair available. The trip went like clockwork: an 8:30AM departure from LeClaire and a 6:45PM arrival in Dubuque. We even made a surprise landing at Sabula Iowa to let off a passenger who needed some medical attention, and still made the planned time frame. The food was delicious and in the right quantity and was quite healthful too - well, if you don't count the many 'snacks' provided. After we grabbed our room cards and breakfast passes as we entered the Grand Harbour Hotel, we found our suitcases awaiting us in our rooms. No greater efficiency possible!
Wednesday morning started with the included hot breakfast buffet at the hotel. Departure was at 11:30, so we had several hours to tour the fantastic Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium or to do several other sites, all of which were serviced by a new shuttle provided by the boat. Departure was at 11:30 promptly and arrival in LeClaire was at 7:20 PM. The weather was just fantastic, warm/sunny/breezy both days. Bob Anton, a former JBS crew member and now retired teacher from Peoria, gave his Mark Twain performance the first day, and a folk singer, whose name I didn't hear, was the entertainment on Wednesday. Of course there were bingo games too...This trip covers 87 miles each way and goes through Locks 13 and 12. Just above 13 is the widest section of the entire Mississippi: the stump fields, which are 3.5 miles wide. Just below 12 are the old Diamond Jo warehouses. All along the route is beautiful scenery. The all inclusive cost per person for this 2 day trip is $330, and well worth it.
A couple of observations of 'lagniappe' provided by the boat crew: because they run this route 6 days a week, they know the area intimately. Several times we slowed up so a bald eagle's nest or an eagle itself, or cormorants or pelicans could be pointed out. The famous "Little Sir Echo" was played(on tape) on the calliope at just the right place - the cliffs of the Mississippi Palisades - for the maximum effect. Our David Tschiggfrie was invited to ride to provide live calliope music several times during the trip. I'm going to go into the 'River Rat Ramblers' group and the lagniappe in the next postings...
1) TWILIGHT reloading at Dubuque
2) AQ landing below TWILIGHT - note boarded pilothouse window when docked, its open air underway
3) CELEBRATION BELLE nee MISSISSIPPI BELLE II, 800 pax based in Moline
TWILIGHT and AQ coming in for landing
Topic starter
21/08/2008 8:47 pm
The Lagniappe...
Because I need to have a driving force to get me to clean up my 'museum' every so often, I like to have an open house prior to a group's boat ride or meeting in the Quad Cities. So, 3 years worth of cleaning and organizing was done in a weekend to prepare 921 for its distinguished guests. My 4 kids(cats) were banished to the basement, the new one never having been down there yet, for this occasion. Only 3 of our TWILIGHT group didn't come - the bright lights of a casino beckoned 2, and Mary Bill Bauer had left Louisville on the 13th and hadn't been spotted yet. I had invited a few locals with river connections also. Jambalaya and surprise! chocolate chip cookies! were available throughout the evening. I believe a good time was had by all, and quite a few of my albums got perused (not purloined) during the evening.
In both directions we were greeted with airhorns, sirens, and steamboat waves at mile 505, which is the summer landing of Suzanne and Richard Martinez. They and their neighbors gather on the riverbank whenever a QUEEN or the TWILIGHT passes by.
On Tuesday night David Tschiggfrie brought a selection of old videos, slides, etc. to the hotel for our viewing. David had made individual invitations for each of our group for this gathering, so thoughtful. He just happens to have a good friend who works at the hotel who just happened to arrange a conference room for us to use, which just happened to be right by our entrance. Once again, all but a couple of 'the group' attended this festivity, which went until 11 PM or so. Great thanks to Jim Herron for giving David a copy of a movie he saved from the scrap heap, a 1970 God Save the Queen. That and many others brought back many great steamboating memories. A lagniappe on top of a lagniappe here: when we landed at Dubuque , there were, for most of us, unexpected guests: Corky Bickel and his wife. David had invited them to join us. Corky spent a summer on the AVALON and is on the museum board along with David. Corky's father John was the driving force behind the National Rivers Hall of Fame and the museum.
Wednesday morning's lagniappe was 418' x 92' : the AMERICAN QUEEN arrived early, about 7:15AM and as you saw in Franz' pix, landed just below the TWILIGHT. So we were able to get some good shots of her from different angles.
The final lagniappe was a doozy...as we were preparing to depart at 11:30, David came walking down the ramp with none other than Chief Gary Frommelt, a native of Guttenberg Iowa and former Chief Engineer on the DQ, NATCHEZ, PRESIDENT, and the owner/restorer of the LOUISE. Once again our illustrious intelligent group had been in the dark. It turns out that Chris the deckhand just happens to be Christian Frommelt, Gary and Connie's son. Dad had come to take him home so he could go back to school. With a little armtwisting, Gary was convinced to ride down to LeClaire with us, and he and Chris were to ride back to Dubuque with Dave... needless to say, his presence certainly added spice to the afternoon conversations.
1) Jim Blum poses next to the BoL pilothouse gingerbread he had cut out years ago. This is in my 'main river room'.
2) Annie Blum, Alice Lundholm, Franz, Leonie, and Carmen are perusing some post card albums downstairs.
3) Dave Tschiggfrie and Gary Frommelt pose while Chris Frommelt talks to Kenny Howe and Carmen watches proceedings.
Topic starter
21/08/2008 9:04 pm
The 'group'
I saved this for last.. absolutely no words to describe this wonderful gathering of river people and friends...we had a Captain and 2 Chief Engineers, some friends who've taken just a trip or two on steamboats, and everything in between, and it was great. Nobody in the other tour groups would have been able to tell who was the licensed and who was the devotee, absolutely no pretensions whatsoever, just good old fashioned river talk. As board readers may remember, this whole idea developed from .org postings, with Pat Traynor being the main instigator. Naturally Pat didn't make this trip, due to some lame excuse that she would be on the DELTA QUEEN instead... but I think its safe to assume that we will do another overnighter somewhere next year, and might possibly make the TWILIGHT a biannual event. Even though we booked individually, we were seated together for meals on the stern of the second deck. We had 2 large bus groups on the trip, one from Nebraska and one from Maryland. We also had a group of 6 Amish from Oklahoma seated in our area. It was a very eclectic group overall, as well as ours being so diverse. I only heard one report of some of us getting asked to leave, or move, as we were blocking someone's view... you'd be walking around the boat and run into someone and before you knew it, six were gathered there reminiscing or solving the steamboating world's problems. We came from as close as Rock Island and Davenport to as far as Munich Germany. In between were Cedar Rapids Iowa, St. Louis, Louisville, Nauvoo and Collinsville Illinois. My appreciation goes to all who joined in this first, but not last River Ramblers celebration.
1) THE GROUP: Dave Tschiggfrie, Franz Neumeier, Mary Bill Bauer, Jim and Carolyn Reising, Judy and Alec Bate, Judy Patsch, Ken Teeter,Margaret and Ken Buel, Betty Teeter, Pat Welsh, Alice Lundholm, Barb Roberts, Leonie and Carmen Winkler, Gary Frommelt, Kenny and Ginger Howe, Annie and Jim Blum.
2) Jim Reising is trying to get the group organized for the picture.
3) Pat Welsh, Ken and Margaret Buel, Ken and Betty Teeter, Barb Roberts, Judy Patsch
22/08/2008 1:01 am
Well, here's my first contribution of pictures from the TWILIGHT River Rat Ramblers cruise. Picture 1 shows the august assemblage of Franz Neumeier, Kenny Howe, Jim Blum, Judy Patsch, Jim Reising, and yours truly on the after end of the top deck. Picture 2 in the second deck (boiler deck?) cabin with Annie Blum, Ginger Howe, and Mary Bill Bauer. Picture 3 shows three DQ alumni (part of the 1970s "kiddie crew") in the TWILIGHT's pilothouse: Jim Blum, Dave T., and Kenny Howe.
22/08/2008 1:07 am
And here's installment two taken on the second day of the trip. Picture 1 features Carmen, Leonie, and Franz in the pilothouse of the WILLIAM M. BLACK in the Dubuque Ice Harbor. Picture 2 was taken shortly after departure for the return to Le Claire with Gary Frommelt and his son Chris, who was working his last day as part of the TWILIGHT's crew, visiting with Kenny and Ginger Howe. Picture 3 shows Jim, Judy, and Gary south of Lock 12. Hope this opens the door for others to share some of their photo memories also.
22/08/2008 1:01 pm
WOW!!! Thanks for sharing. Does sound like a VERY good time was had by all. I'm so glad to hear the possibility of a repeat for next year. I couldn't make it this year as ALL my vacation was already used up to ride on the DELTA QUEEN. Just don't make next years trip the week of July 11th. The only son is getting married and I have to keep that date open!
Topic starter
22/08/2008 1:02 pm
More pictures of River Rat Ramblers
1) Dave T., Mary Bill Bauer, Jim and Carolyn Reising
2) Ginger Howe, Jim and Annie Blum
3) Judy Bate, Franz, Carmen, and Leonie and friend Squirrely
Topic starter
22/08/2008 1:12 pm
More pix
and continuing...
1) While Dave is playing the calliope, he is being shot by Jim, Kenny, Franz, and Judy.
2) This looks like a plotting group: Kenny Howe, Jim Reising, Jim Blum, and David Tschiggfrie
3) Chief Gary, Captain Jim, and Calliope Dave
Topic starter
22/08/2008 1:16 pm
Scenes along the way
1) Nosing in at Sabula Iowa.
2) Railing and calliope
3) CITY OF CLINTON showboat, originally the OMAR. The state of West Virginia bought it and renamed it RHODODENDRON. Now it is a summer theater in Clinton Iowa.
Topic starter
22/08/2008 1:26 pm
And finally...
1) A castle along the Rhine? Nope, its Julien Dubuque's gravesite and a great place to take pix of passing steamboats.
2) A bald eagle's nest.
3) An island full of cormorants.
22/08/2008 3:11 pm
Kudo's to Judy for her work and effort. Thank you Judy the trip it was as close to perfection as anything I've experienced in a long long time.
here are some of my pictures:
1 TWILIGHT...as white and beautiful as a wedding cake. She made th AQ look a little shabby.
2. Dave Tschiggfrie at the keyboard. Dave played "Cruising Down the River" the first time I'd heard it played on a calliope since Harmon Mize used to play it on the DQ's calliope as we sailed into old lock 44 late every Sunday afternoon 41 yrs ago.
3. TWILIGHT in the twilight.
22/08/2008 3:22 pm
More pictures..........
1. Smoke Stacks and stage planks.
2. Franz and Leone
3. Your featured speaker at S&D
Topic starter
22/08/2008 4:48 pm
Jim, was that picture of the S&D speaker taken before or after his 'friends' had offered their 'encouragement'???
22/08/2008 5:42 pm
Now Judy, you KNOW you can't just leave it at that. Let the rest of us in on it.....
Topic starter
22/08/2008 7:08 pm
Kenny's 'friendly encouragement'
Well, as I posted earlier, this was such a wonderful group. We had Captains and Chief Engineers and Shipyard Supervisors and Traffic Managers and Watchmen/Calliope players and dining room/gift shop/narrators and others who have never worked on a boat in any capacity, but all who love the river and its history and appreciate all who have contributed to steamboating in whatever capacity - in other words, genuine river people. And not one person was pompous or arrogant because of his/her license or experience or acted as if the others were useless nothings. So, with this background, Kenny was bemoaning the fact that he didn't know what he was going to talk about at S&D, since he had given his only talk recently at MOR. The people gathered around him, some licensed and some not, offered many suggestions in good fun, and everybody was getting a good laugh - no one was put down. I think it all started with the description of Kenny on the S&D flyer, something about being a prominent river historian. Of course, while Kenny certainly knows history, he has a unique background among the group, having been not only a Chief Engineer on several steamboats, but having been a supervisor at the great Jeffboat shipyard (sorry I don't know his exact title). So that would be the way we would have expected him to be listed. Anyway, during this harassment he came up with a couple of jokes he tried on us, etc. I'm sure whatever Kenny decides to tell, it will be an interesting and fun talk.
23/08/2008 12:36 pm
Judy...do you know the difference between a fairy tale and a river story? A fairy tale begins with "Once Upon A Time": a river story begins with "Now This Aint No S##t". Well, Kenny is a riverman, so his stories are always full of ........!
Topic starter
23/08/2008 9:20 pm
Better bring the shovels to Marietta then!!!!
23/08/2008 10:12 pm
Now y'all know a Riverman would NEVER, EVER tell a lie, might bend the truth a hundred different ways, but NEVER tell a lie!