ppi
yearning a
DESTINATIONS MISSISSIPPI | CRUISE
y
ou don’t see many pleasure boats here, as there are no marinas,” explains Jim Williams. I can’t say I’m surprised, as the view out of the lounge window is suddenly eclipsed by a three- storey towboat – the pilot a pinpoint figure in the wheelhouse – nudging a vast consignment upstream.
His ‘tow’ comprises 60
barges, each carrying up to 50 tonnes of cargo, and lashed together to form a floating giant with a stopping distance of several miles when fully loaded. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in a rowing boat trying to dodge one, I think, as I settle down to listen to the first of Jim’s tales about the mighty Mississippi, from the comfort of American Cruise Lines ship America, our home for the next week. “I’m a storyteller, not a historian,” continues ‘riverlorian’ Jim, whose daily tales of the riverbank enrich onboard life over the coming days. Built in 2016 in the style of a
classic paddle wheeler, America is an expansive six-deck ship with a plethora of public areas and sun decks. It carries just 185 passengers in style in a variety of spacious staterooms, including five 445sq ft Owner’s Suites, which overlook the bow.
GREAT RIVER We’re sailing from Memphis to New Orleans, a journey of 640 miles – which can also be done in reverse – along the Mississippi, the second-longest waterway in the US at more than 2,300 miles, and the largest by volume. My childhood images
conjured from Mark Twain’s classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn pale into insignificance at the first sight of this huge expanse of water, which stretches several miles wide in places. The name Mississippi comes
from Messipi, which is the French rendering of the American Indian word Misi-iibi, meaning Great River, and it couldn’t be more appropriate.²
travelweekly.co.uk
20 MAY 2021
25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
