GuestT.

One of my most indelible memories is 300 miles south of here on the Ohio River. In the town of Evansville, Indiana I worked several summers in my uncle Bud's factory upstairs in a building right downtown. After my work day was over, and all the main workforce went home, I would go up to the highest floor to wait for my uncle to quit for the day. As the sun went down, diamonds and shards of sparkle glass leaped from the surface of the river. The view transfixed my eyes and hurt them too. But that gleam is with me now-- just as the Illinois River is with you.

Now, here in Peru, Illinois, also on the Illinois River, I can look from our top floor apartment (7th floor) and see the bluff with the big bend and a towboat pushing barges toward Utica---and then Ottawa-- and beyond.

And it's because of Denny Trone that I learned to be able to actually LOOK HARD at the river. Singing and spending long days on the Trone boats trained me to be able to see what was there.

John Hartford's fiddle back contained a beautiful inlaid steamboat. (You can see it in my River Photos.) Below that boat are the words:

NOTHING IS REAL BUT THE RIVER---AND ALL ELSE IS SHAM

Those words came from Captain Fred Way---a mentor to John and Denny both. And the Julia Belle Swain was built according to many of the original plans from Fred Way's steamboat called the Betsy Ann. --- Thanks so much for reminding me of those sparkling mirror lightshow summer afternoons on the Ohio River -- a long time ago----1957-'58-'59-'60-'61. --- Ten years later, in the early 1970s, Dennis Trone had just built the Julia Belle Swain---and he brought it to do cruises from Evansville's Dress Memorial Plaza -- right downtown--a block from that factory.

It is said that "history repeats!" Sometimes, at least, that does seem to be true--- To me, though, here in 2008, the problem and the rub seems to be that ---- it costs twice as much every time around!

Thanks for enduring my polemic...

All the best,

Art Thieme