Changes--seems like this season is full of them!  On the 29th of September, I will be leaving the Mississippi Queen and returning to the Delta Queen as Riverlorian.  I've just started here, it seems!  I must tell you, I still can't believe they pay me to talk about steamboats all day.  My day now starts about 5:30 or 6:00, when I get up to see what is happening outside my window (I have one on the MQ).  Often, I give a riverchat at 7:30 in the Grand Saloon while people eat their breakfast.  I've spent the evenings researching these talks.  It is a good thing that I know where the information is--I can go right to the books I know have the best resources.  I do wish I had some of my own books, however.  I still need to prepare many more talks.  After I finish my riverchat, I go to the chart room on the MQ, and spend most of the day there.  People congregate there to watch the river.  I've been quite sucessful at showing people how to read the charts, and they have enjoyed teaching others how to update the charts to show where we are.  Of course, I go outside when we lock or land--I can't resist that.  My favorite thing to do is a pilothouse tour.  Any chance to get up there--even when we are not moving!  And I love to talk about nighttime navigation.  Again, that week as a watchman taught me so much!

I'm going to miss it over here.  Yes, Dave, I did add a boat.  I do like the Mississippi Queen.  I don't like the fact that I could not get to know each crew member the way I did on the DQ--the sense of family is just not there.  But I did get to know quite a few people.  Having a room all to myself was nice, too, especially having a window.  I found it to be a bit more isolating on the boat, since I never found a comfortable place to just hang out.  Engineering was that place for me on the DQ.  Part of that might be that I am much more public on the MQ, so people tend to ask me questions if I am in public.  I don't mind that--it is part of my job--but there just was not a place away from the public where I felt comfortable to just sit with the crew and talk.  Also, I spent most of my free time reading and writing.  But it has been a terrific experience.  I'd come back in a heartbeat, of course--although I suspect I'll always prefer the DQ. 

I wish I had more time to write, but I'm in the library in Winona, MN--need to get back to the boat.  I can't think of a thing I'd rather do!