Mississippi River Cruise
Tunica, MS
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The original plan for today was a stop in Vicksburg. According to the trip materials: "We will take a field trip to the Vicksburg National Military Park, home to more than 1,300 monuments, tables, and markers commemorating the decisive Civil War battle here in 1863. We will go on a 16-mile drive through the park and stop at the Illinois State Monument, dedicated to fallen soldiers, and the USS Cairo gunboat."
Having grown up in Vicksburg and being intimately familiar with the above, I had arranged to see old friends. Maybe next time.
Alas, when we awoke we were still in Tunica. The river was still closed downstream due to tows that had run aground and broken up scattering barges hither and yon. Our crew said they had tried to convince the Coast Guard that our shallow-draft craft would not have such problems, but they didn't bite.
It was a quiet day watching the river. The only traffic we saw was this little pleasure boat, which looked like a home-built, making its way downriver.
It didn't appear to be very stable and was tossed around by the eddies. I hope they made it safely to wherever they were going. There was an inflatable dingy attached that could probably get them to shore if anything happened.
Finally late in the afternoon we got clearance to leave Tunica and proceed on our cruise -- back upriver!
The cruise line had determined that the river wasn't going to open up, so they made plans to take us to New Madrid, MO, north of Memphis. They would then return to Memphis and end the cruise there.
We were disappointed, but I had wanted to see New Madrid anyway, so it wasn't tragic.
That night as we cruised upriver, we encountered American Duchess' sister ship, American Countess, headed downriver toward Memphis.
There was great blowing of horns and hooting between the two boats.
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