[Judy Patsch]

It's hard to believe, but I just returned from dining al fresco along the Upper Mississippi River this afternoon, November 8th! After a round of golf I headed over to the Boat House Restaurant, which is at the Oneida Street Landing in Davenport (where the Queens land). While soaking up the sunshine I watched a kayaker go by and then a sailboat. There was a downbound tow across the river in Lock 15. It was so pleasant. Had the MQ made her last UMR trip, she would have been docked there last Saturday, a damp, raw November day. These past two days have been warmer than anything past the first week in October. Assuming that the MQ has the all-clear to start Capt. Gabe's tramping trip tonight from St. Louis (she did lock through 27 last night enroute to St.L), they will certainly have some nice steamboating weather at least for the first days of that trip to unknown destinations. Knowing Gabe's aversion for the locks up here, I think it's safe to assume they'll head in some direction other than up the UMR, unless they make an obligatory Hannibal stop and then back downriver. Maybe the folks along the Illinois will get a new visitor. I believe the MQ entered those waters ever so briefly a couple of years ago, but has never traversed the stretch to Peoria and environs. Hopefully, wherever they go, it will be a good and healthy cruise for all. This unseasonably warm weather here is what I was planning to bask in starting Saturday, as I'm taking advantage of a cheap airfare and winging to NOLA for 5 days. Turns out poster/lurker Ed Jones will be there also for a convention, so we hope to meet on the NATCHEZ. Things are better business-wise for the N this weekend as she's running all 3 trips on Saturday and Sunday and the 11:30 on Monday and Tuesday. Up to this point she hasn't run on Mondays and Tuesdays. She'll do her winter layup right after Thanksgiving for 3 weeks. I'm still out of my apartment, but I'll camp out in Frances Parkinson Keyes' bedroom out in the back buildings, not a bad setup! By the way, the KMOX,V? webcam was not showing the riverfront this afternoon. Maybe the MQ will be shown before her departure tonight...