The Summer is Heading Toward a Conclusion, sort of...

Locks & Dam #15
Rock Island Arsenal
Rock Island, IL

American Queen

The American Queen passed through Lock #15's Main Lock on Thursday, August 20th.  She is really a spectacular boat.  This picture shows the Queen with her smoke stacks tilted forward.  She had recently traveled under the I-74 Bridge between Bettendorf, IA and Moline, IL and lowered her stacks for the travel under the bridge.  She was keeping the stacks lowered to allow her to pass under the Centennial Bridge about a mile down river from the lock.

The American Queen Riverboat began operation on the Mississippi River and the Ohio River in 1995 and operated on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers until 2008 when the parent company Majestic America Line ceased operations.  In 2011, the American Queen commenced operations again under contract to HMS Global Maritime.  In 2012, the Queen began 3 - 10 day cruises through the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

The American Queen has six decks, 222 staterooms and space for 436 passengers on her tours up and down the river.  The Queen sports a modern gym and spa facilities, the Front Porch Cafe (which operate 24 hours a day), the J.M. White Dining Saloon (which is the main dining room) and the Grand Saloon (which provides an entertainment venue).   The Queen has a crew of 160.  The American Queen is 418 feet long with a beam (width) of 89 feet.  The primary propulsion for the Queen is steam power driving the full size paddle wheel on the rear of the vessel.  Backup or secondary propulsion is by diesel-electric drives on either side of the paddle wheel, used in an emergency or for maneuvering in tight spaces along the river.

And, apparently, the Delta Queen is going to be back into operation in the not to distant future.  The Delta Queen has been purchased by the newly formed Delta Queen Riverboat Company and is currently in Louisiana being refurbished.  The American Queen was originally created as the replacement for the Delta Queen when congress passed the Safety at Sea Act in 1966.  The Safety at Sea Act, essentially shut the Delta Queen's operation down because her superstructure was wooden and the requirements of the act, dealing with a boat carrying 50 passengers or more for hire, effectively prevented the Delta Queen from operating on the rivers.  In 2013, the Delta Queen was granted an exemption from the Safety at Sea Act.  The Delta Queen was listed, in 1970, in the National Register of Historic Places and then declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

In the last Blog Episode I discussed the Tugfest between Le Claire, Iowa and Port Byron, Illinois.  The battle across the river.  This Blog Episode will speak of an event prior to the actual tugs-of-war.  On the Friday evening before the Tugfest on Saturday, there was a fireworks celebration on the Mississippi River.  The river traffic was shut down for about 4 hours while boats in the hundreds gathered on the river to watch.  I was one of the folks in a boat, on the river, watching the fireworks.  Friends of my sister Anne, Tom and Diann Lanum, invited us (Anne, Al and Me) to ride with them to the fireworks.  To get to the fireworks we had to lock through Locks & Dam #14 just downriver from Le Claire, Iowa.

To accomplish this event, all the boats intending to lock through pull into the lock chamber and line up on each side of the walls of the chamber.  We are locking upriver, so the water level in the chamber is about 14 feet below the level of the river on the upper end of the locks.  As you pull up to the wall, a boater (or in my case a passenger) grabs hold of a line to hold your position in the lock.  Actually, with this boat, we needed two folks holding ropes, one near the bow (front end) and one near the stern (back end).  It seemed appropriate that I was the one holding the rope on the back end of the boat.

After the lock is filled with water to make the transition to the upper level, all the boats left the lock in an orderly fashion to enter the canal above the lock for the trip out to the main portion of the river.

And here we are in the line of boats passing between the two rock islands to exit the canal and move out into the main channel of the Mississippi River and head up river to find a place to anchor across from Le Claire, Iowa, for the fireworks show.

And we lucked out.  We managed to anchor with an unrestricted view of the show.

 It was a great time.  Locking through, watching the fireworks, enjoying the evening with friends.  I must say, though, the pictures don't do the scene any justice.  The show was fabulous.

The Pork Tenderloin Trail begins now.....

This Pork Tenderloin Sandwich was prepared by the Cheri Top Drive-in in Muscatine, Iowa.  It was a breaded Pork Tenderloin and for a breaded sandwich it was good eating while the sandwich was warm.  Once the sandwich began to cool, the eating became less tender and chewing was more serious.  The flavor was good.  Not #1 rated but certainly high enough for more than honorable mention.  If I came back for another Pork Tenderloin Sandwich at the Cheri Top Drive-in, I would split the sandwich with someone to ensure it was warm throughout the meal.

It is, again, a breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich.  Not bad, but not great either.  Breaded Tenderloins just don't measure up against the Battered sandwiches.  So far the list of splendid sandwiches are all Battered Pork Tenderloin sandwiches.  Breaded sandwiches are, for the most part, on the bottom of the list. 

More to come...