Here is the official schedule for the Delta Queen for the next couple of days which might be her last active days as overnight passenger steamboat on the rivers.

Don’t forget: We are not bidding the Delta Queen goodbye. We are sending her off to rest for the winter, while we continue the fight to have her exempted once and for all from a law that never should have involved her

(click to enlarge) The picture shows the Delta Queen on the Ohio River at Anderson Ferry near Cincinnati, OH.

The Delta Queen will arrive in Memphis on Thursday, October 30, for her final visit of the 2008 season. She is scheduled to come in at 8 a.m., but most likely she will be there in the early morning hours. Majestic America Line will hold a "Farewell Tribute" ceremony from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. On Friday, October 31, at 6:00 p.m. the boat will depart Memphis for New Orleans with no passengers and only a skeleton crew onboard.

At each of five more ports along the way, the Tribute ceremony will be repeated. The grassroots Save the Delta Queen Campaign and the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus urge everyone to come down to the waterfront to enjoy the boat’s legendary calliope and performances by the Delta Queen band and singers, but most importantly to rally in favor of keeping this quintessential American treasure in full operation.

The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, October 30 – Memphis, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 1 – Helena, Arkansas, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 2 – Greenville, Mississippi, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Monday, November 3 – Vicksburg, Mississippi, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 4 – Natchez, Mississippi, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 5 – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 4:00-5:00 p.m.

On Thursday, November 6, the Delta Queen will dock at Oak Alley Plantation for a private onboard ceremony. Plans are still in progress for events in New Orleans when the boat arrives there on Friday, November 7.

Photographer Ron Rack from Cincinnati has put up a website with a series of wonderful panorama photos of the Delta Queen where you can see and feel the full glory of our beloved Delta Queen. Even if you have never been on the Delta Queen before, this gives you an impression on what nasty and egomanic politicians like Rep. James Oberstar are going to destroy by refusing to let Congress even discuss an exemption for the Delta Queen on the House floor.

Be careful though if you know the Delta Queen well – these picture will propably wet your eyes from their sheer beauty and from knowing that these paroramic pictures might be the only way left to visit the Delta Queen after October 31. Don’t miss clicking on the pictures as this will give you a Quicktime or Flash animation where you can move around, zoom in and out just like you were standing right on board the Delta Queen.

It had been heart breaking moments when the crowd on the Cincinnati levee watched the Delta Queen lift her stage on Tuesday evening, probably for the last time in history.

Tom Schiffer and John Fryant did a great job in documenting this sad historic moment when almost 200 years of steamboat history at Cincinnati ended; at least so far. (for more pictures, see steamboats.org message board: Final Whistle Salute to Cincinnati)

But there is still a lot of hope that the Delta Queen will return, under her own steam. So let’s not stop fighting for saving our beloved Delta Queen but let’s do even more to stop evil politicians to play their dirty games on the Delta Queen.

The Delta Queen will arrive in Cincinnati on Tuesday, October 21 for her final visit of the 2008 season. Majestic America Line will hold a "Farewell Tribute" beginning at 4:00 p.m., with their invited guests arriving between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m.

The boat is scheduled to arrive in Cincinnati at 9:00 a.m. and leave at 5:00 p.m., although most likely she will not depart until 6:00 or later. She will go upriver to Maysville, Kentucky, arriving early in the morning on Wednesday and departing at 1:00 p.m. She will then head back downriver to Madison, Indiana, where she is scheduled to arrive at 8:00 a.m. and remain until 1:00 p.m.

If you live in the Cincinnati area, or if you are a passenger arriving or departing on October 21, please come to the Public Landing with the biggest Save the Delta Queen sign you can come up with. Most likely the media will be there in the greatest concentration between 3:00 and 6:30 p.m.

If you can also get to Madison the following day (October 22), please go on over, and take as many people as possible with you.

At Louisville the staff of the Belle of Louisville and Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson will hold a party Friday, Oct. 24, to celebrate the legacy of the Delta Queen. A public ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at the Louisville riverfront. The boat will depart Louisville at 8 p.m. Admission is free and family events will run until 11 p.m.

Not a "Good Bye"!

Remember: We are not bidding the Delta Queen goodbye. We are sending her off to rest in New Orleans for the winter while we continue the fight to have her exempted once and for all from a law that should never have involved her.