Rollin' on the River...

Claude's mom has come for a two week visit. She arrived Tuesday late afternoon. Knowing she was coming, Andie came across a Deal Chicken offer for discount tickets aboard a steamboat during the Great Steamboat Race in connection with the Kentucky Derby. Andie notified us of the offer just in case we might be interested. We contacted Bonnie and Papa and they were both interested in this possible outing. I contacted Deal Chicken and purchased four tickets aboard the Belle of Cincinnati during the Great Steamboat Race.

Wednesday afternoon we picked Papa up about 2pm. We headed to Frankfort for a bite of dinner together. Then we were off to find a parking spot and our steamboat.

Claude found parking in the Galt House parking garage. Then we began the walk to the Belle of Cincinnati. Let's just say that we had to climb stairs to take the walkway over the highway below. Then we had to walk along the river to the steamboat. Thank heavens they were boarding a few minutes early so we got on the boat and find a place to sit. Did I mention the temperature was in the high 80's? Our poor parents were exhausted. We had an hour to wait before the boat would get in position for the race and that was a very good thing. We sat in the air-conditioned 2nd level dining room and let everyone get a bit of rest.

Claude did leave us for a bit to walk around the different levels of the Belle of Cincinnati and scope out a place for us to watch the races. He found seats on the 3rd level and suggested we might want to sit there. We all agreed we should get a position before the railing filled up with people. Out we went. The sun was shining and it was a mite hot but we found a place we all felt good about sitting for the race. We pulled our chairs up to the railing, Claude got us each a bottle of cold water and we settled in for our river racing experience.

The other two steamboats were the Belle of Louisville and the American Queen. Clearly the American Queen was the largest and probably the fastest of the steamboats.

We knew we were getting ready to get in position for the race when the announcer on the Belle of Cincinnati said they were going to lower the smoke stacks on one end of our boat. The man in uniform on the cat walk is the captain of the Belle of Cincinnati and he is working what would be the steering wheel of the boat.

Soon we were casting off and heading to a place where we turned around to line up for the race. There were news helicopters overhead. There were US Coast Guard, Metro Police and Sheriff's boats all over in the water. No river traffic would be in this portion of the Ohio River during this race.

When all three steamboats were in position something that sounded like a small cannon shot into the air and the race was on. The American Queen was closest to the Louisville side of the river. The Belle of Louisville had the center of the Ohio River. The Belle of Cincinnati had the Indiana side of the river. Since we were on the Belle of Cincinnati, my pictures of the race will be mostly of the other two boats.

The race would take us under several bridges. We seemed to stay in front of the other two boats all the way.

The announcer came over the speaker to be sure we understood there was more to the race that being the first one back to the finish. The race includes a competition earlier on the day of the race between the crews of each steamboat. Points are awarded for how they do. During the race each steamboat must pick up a mascot, capture a flag and then go back over the finish line. The size and power of each steamboat is also taken into consideration in the scoring.

After clearing all the bridges, the American Queen and the Belle of Cincinnati raised their smoke stacks. The Belle of Louisville is built for traveling the Ohio River in the Louisville area and did not have to raise or lower its smoke stacks. This picture is the American Queen raising its smoke stacks.

As we made our way up the river past the bridges, the American Queen fell behind the Belle of Louisville, the Belle of Cincinnati stayed in front.

We past the watermark for the 1937 flood crest. From that point forward Papa talked about how many of the homes and businesses would be under the water if it flood that way again. Bonnie was talking to a man next to her who happened to get married in 1997 and he said the Ohio River flooded just like the 1937 flood on their wedding day.

Our seats were facing the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. There were people out all along the river watching the race. We had no idea how long the race was. The guy next to Bonnie said we would go 6 miles up river and then return. We settled in for a nice steamboat ride.

At the point of turn around to return to Louisville, we were to stop and pickup our mascot, the UK Wildcat. The Belle of Louisville would pick up their mascot, a Cardinal. If you watched the NCAA Tournament you know that there is an enormous rivalry between the University of Kentucky (Wildcats) and the University of Louisville (Cardinals). The guy next to Bonnie now announced that, if he had known we would have the Wildcat on board, he would not have booked passage on the Belle of Cincinnati...or words to that effect.

In the Belle of Cincinnati's hurry to turn around and get headed back to Louisville they almost didn't get the gangway back into its storage position. Oops!!!

During the return trip we were to pick up a flag off a bouy with yellow balloons on it. This plan was almost foiled by the Louisville Metro Police stealing the Belle of Cincinnati's flag. Hmmmm...there goes that rivalry I mentioned before. It even led the law into pulling pranks. Eventually we slowed down as the police returned the Belle of Cincinnati's flag.

Then it was full steam ahead for Louisville and the finish line.

The trip back afforded us an opportunity to see the Indiana side of the Ohio River. One of the more interesting things was a pink barge on the shore waiting to be loaded. For the life of me I can't figure out who paints a barge pink.

The UK Wildcat was traveling the decks of the Belle of Cincinnati giving lots of photo ops. The Wildcat is hugging someone I don't know. I just clicked a picture as quickly as I could.

We all made it back to Louisville. It seems the Belle of Louisville was the winner. This I will never understand. We never saw them make it to the finish. Early in the race, not long after the bridges, they sped out ahead of the American Queen. Their boat was making loud chugging sounds. Our announcer made some comment about them forgetting the ship's inhaler. Then we saw the Belle of Louisville head to shore and that was the last we saw her until we were all back at Louisville. The announcer told us when he was explaining that points determined the winner and not the first one back to Louisville that the Belle of Cincinnati was ahead during the crew competition. So it would seem to me that we should have gotten more points than the Belle of Louisville. But...the bottom line is that we had a great steamboat ride during a really fun event. We filled the entire afternoon and headed back to our car at sundown very tired but very happy.