Mississippi River
My wandering spirit was shaped by the Mississippi River in 1993.
In mid-April, just before the floods of ’93, I was one of six guys who took a pontoon from Lake Michigan in Chicago to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
The “Party Hut” boat was 28 feet long and eight feet wide. It was owned by Bill FitzGerald, the patriarch of FitzGerald’s roadhouse in Berwyn, Ill., an inner ring suburb of Chicago. The boat managed 18 MPH in the best of conditions. Besides myself and Bill, the crew consisted of Bill’s brother Chris, Tom, a fine chef and pilot, chef-pilot Kevin and Steve the stock trader.
We all got to be good friends. Very patient friends.
We snaked down the Chicago River to the Illinois River before meeting the Mississippi River around the Our Lady of Rivers Shrine near Alton, Ill.
These are my slides of a trip of a lifetime with a prelude along the Mississippi in Lansing, Ia.
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- The Upper Mississippi from Mount Hosmer in Lansing, Ia. I can still hike—well maybe walk– the 450 feet to the top of the bluff.
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- Bill FitzGerald dangling his line.
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- It’s a miracle I caught this catfish.
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- Flooding along the Illinois River in Beardstown, west of Springfield, Ill.
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- Gettin’ it done in Ste. Genevieve, Mo. Settled by French-Canadians in 1735 along the river, Ste. Genevieve is the oldest town in the “Show Me” state.
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- Old river towns have great old signs.
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- Flooding near the St. Louis arch
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- Bill FitzGerald on hold for the cell phone invention.
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- The Our Lady of the Rivers Shrine, built in 1951 by river people who survived the Mississippi River flood of 1951. The Madonna is normally 50 feet high. She wasn’t in the spring of 1993. The shrine is near Portage des Sioux, Mo, about 30 miles north of St.. Louis.
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- Mississippi River heron…I think
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- Dam! Another Mississippi River lock.
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- River people south of St. Louis, Mo
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- Greenville, Mississippi.
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- The great Kevin “Sonny Boy” Hoy mans the Party Hut on the way to New Orleans.
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- Welcome to Helena, Arkansas—the birthplace of Levon Helm, Conway Twitty and stomping ground of the “King Biscuit Time” radio show that featured harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II.
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- Downtown Memphis from Mud Island, where we were stranded a day due to high waters.
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- Rising waters in Vicksburg.
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- Vicksburg, Mississippi–birthplace of Chess Records songwriter-arranger-musican Willie Dixon.
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- Downtown Greenville.
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- Chris (left) and Bill FitzGerald.
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- Mapping a plan with Bill FitzGerald.
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- I look like I know what I’m doing.
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- Up the Hill restaurant in Natchez, Miss., now closed.
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- Under the Hill restaurant in Natchez, Miss., now razed.
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- The Atchafalaya River is a distributiary of the Mississippi River in South Central Louisiana. The Atchafalya Basin is the largest swamp in America. It sure looks like that weird 2013 noir Nicole Kidman film “The Paperboy” was filmed in these deep, dark parts.
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- River people are always willing to give. This guy gave us a ride into a Louisiana village to get gas for the Party Hut.
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- The remarkable Under the Hill Saloon in Natchez. The Mark Twain guest house is upstairs and you can’t beat watching a river sunset from the balcony room (with a working fireplace). One of my favorite American moments. Always. And forever.
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- The passing of the Party Hut catches the attention of a boy along the Mississippi River in Natchez. He thought we needed boxes.