The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.
By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune
Dave Miller, owner of Sunset Bay Marina and Campground on Aurora Bend, middle Ohio River, looked out of sorts when I dropped by earlier today.
“Damned river. This rise was totally unpredicted,” he informed me, meaning the sudden and obviously unexpected jump (on his part) in the elevation of the water level. “When I got here this morning, two campers were in the water. I haven’t stopped yet.”
While we chatted, Dave took a break as his energetic lab-mix pup, Tank, dropped a deflated basketball at his master’s feet. Dave gave the flattened roundball a swift kick, and Tank went scampering after it. After several rounds of fetch with Dave, Tank dropped his ball at my feet. My weak return failed to circumvent the alert pooch, who easily snatched my feeble attempt on the fly.
Sunset Bay is one of the few places in the Aurora Bend fluvial community I visit these days. It’s close, and I know Dave and Cap’n Ron Abdon.
All the other local harbors have changed hands since I sold my paddlewheeler, Rafter CLYDE. In fact, Mr. Miller now owns my former boat, which sits on a trailer in his boatyard awaiting renovation.
Captain Ron resides on his houseboat at Sunset Bay. His sidewheel catamaran, L’IL ATTA BOY, is about finished with a diesel engine replacement. Ron’s a retired professional aircraft mechanic and handy with all sorts of mechanical enterprises. He would’ve made a respectable Chief Engineer on a steamboat or a diesel-powered towboat.
As soon as the river’s back in its banks, Sunset Bay is looking forward to a busy summer season. Besides marine operations, Dave Miller offers a campground for wheeled recreational vehicles (RVs), which I usually call “trailers.” Just goes to show my age. They seem to be the trend these days.
My parents had two boats when we were younger. After a while, boats became too much of a burden for my folks, who bought 14 acres of prime land above the village of Rabbit Hash on the Kentucky shore of the Ohio River, opposite Rising Sun, Indiana. With great difficulty, they hauled a long trailer onto their property. Mother insisted on calling the wheeled residence a “mobile home,” never a common-sounding “trailer.”
As the years passed without sufficient family assistance, the Rabbit Hash property became unmanageable for the aging couple. After finding an acceptable buyer, my folks sold their land and the mobile home and purchased a smaller RV, which they kept on a rented lot at River Ridge Park, less than a mile upstream from their old place. After Dad died, Mother sold everything, lock, stock, and gas mower, to the first bidder.
Apparently, today’s visit to Sunset Bay Marina and Campground stoked nearly-forgotten memories of boats, RVs, mobile homes, and campgrounds.
Recently, someone asked whether riverboats still carry tourists overnight on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. With the loss of the AMERICAN QUEEN and her sister boats, and wondering about the prospects of ever returning the DELTA QUEEN into the passenger boat game, the riverboat business seems awfully quiet — or is it? So, after a phone call to the Captain of one of the boats whose owners swamp my mailbox with brochures and colorful marketing material, I decided to find out how well his vessel fares in the trade.
Captain Michael Blitgen, a longtime friend from our DIAMOND LADY days together in Bettendorf, Iowa, during the early 1990s, answered his phone and revealed he was on the American Cruise Line (ACL) riverboat, AMERICAN SYMPHONY, taking fuel aboard at Grand Rivers, Lake Barkley, Kentucky. Just a day or so before, Mike posted photos of the new Nashville stern wheel excursion boat, CAPITOL, formerly the SPIRIT OF PEORIA.
I called wondering if Cap’n Mike was working on the Nashville boat. Instead, he revealed that he was Captain of the SYMPHONY with Captain Bert Suarez, his relief skipper when he was on his days off. Apparently, the ACL boat was touring Music City, and Captain Blitgen was quite content with his command of the SYMPHONY. Still, he had tons of praise for Captain Troy Manthey’s new venture, bringing out the CAPITOL with plans to introduce the steam sternwheeler NASHVILLE later this year. The NASHVILLE, formerly Captain Dennis Trone’s steamboat JULIA BELLE SWAIN, was made famous in song and deed by the late John Hartford.
Ever so often, our conversation was interrupted by another cellphone call or a radio message as his busy crew kept the captain informed of the latest happenings on deck, or else needed his expertise with a small problem that unexpectedly popped up.
Cap’n Mike did say that the SYMPHONY was running at near-capacity. “She’s full, all the time,” he disclosed. I also learned that the vessel is different in many ways from either the AMERICAN QUEEN or the DELTA QUEEN. Entry-level crewmembers remain on the payroll for a maximum of 28 weeks; therefore, continuous turnover means inexperienced personnel replace those who’ve built up some expertise in their craft.
Before I could ask Captain Mike a few more questions about his “ship,” as ACL would rather call the ocean-going-looking riverboats, an urgent message summoned his attention, and all I heard was a quick, final, “I gotta go.”
Wheeeee… and that’s how my day went. As the old-time pilots like to say when they were signing off the radio-telephone between pilothouses:
“Be seeing ya’ on the rebound.”
Captain Don Sanders is a river man. He has been a riverboat captain with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and with Rising Star Casino. He learned to fly an airplane before he learned to drive a “machine” and became a captain in the USAF. He is an adventurer, a historian, and a storyteller. Now, he is a columnist for the NKyTribune and will share his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.
Click here to read all of Capt. Don Sanders’ stories of The River.
Purchase Captain Don Sanders’ The River book
Capt. Don Sanders The River: River Rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure is now available for $29.95 plus handling and applicable taxes. This beautiful, hardback, published by the Northern Kentucky Tribune, is 264-pages of riveting storytelling, replete with hundreds of pictures from Capt. Don’s collection — and reflects his meticulous journaling, unmatched storytelling, and his appreciation for detail. This historically significant book is perfect for the collections of every devotee of the river.
You may purchase your book by mail from the Northern Kentucky Tribune — or you may find the book for sale at all Roebling Books locations and at the Behringer Crawford Museum and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare gift shops.
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