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Expanding Frontiers: an off-the-beaten path exploration of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.

Article Excerpt
Moored on the Cumberland River, just down the hill from the country-music clubs of Nashville's nightlife district, our massive vessel invited gawks from passersby in Riverfront Park. The 198-passenger R/B River Explorer had just tied up below the replica log stockade of historic Fort Nashborough and across the water from the Coliseum, home of pro football's Tennessee Titans.

As we debarked the comfortable hotel barge and started trudging uphill to souvenir shops in the restored warehouse buildings, one curious couple, pointing to the riverboat, stopped to ask, "What is that?"

Their query pretty much sums up the awe generated by this floating spectacle--actually two attached barges--that attracts stares wherever she goes. All week long, as the 730-foot-long leviathan traveled the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers through Middle Tennessee and parts of Kentucky and Alabama, we seemed to be on parade. Boats of all kinds--fishing boats, jetboats, houseboats, sailboats--would cruise by for a good look. Boaters waved, took pictures, and used binoculars to take in this one-of-a-kind pleasure palace operated by New Orleans-based RiverBarge Excursion Lines (whose offices have been temporarily moved to Houston).

Not exactly an elegant vessel to behold, the boxy-looking, flat-bottomed behemoth, towering five stories high, does exude a sense of majesty. Big, bold and all-American, the red-white-and-blue River Explorer is a creation of American ingenuity, in particular the brainchild of owner Eddie Conrad, one of the great personalities of the travel industry. We were lucky enough to have him with us the whole trip.

The River Explorer is best known for her itineraries on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, but she also ventures to other regions. Always looking for new horizons, we jumped...

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