Wednesday, March 04, 2020

Rivers of America from Lou and Sue!

It's time for more beautiful photos from Lou and Sue! Today they have a batch of views featuring the Rivers of America, from September, 1986. More than 30 years ago, ya know.

Let's start with a few shots of the Bertha Mae Keelboat. It still has some nice folk art details, but the blue-green paint that it used to have has been scraped off, probably by river pirates.


I can't decide if I'd rather be up top, or sitting on at the bow where the two boys are. Guess I'll just have to ride it twice and do each. At this point the Keelboats were going strong, and would be at the park until 1997.


A nice grist mill is always good for photos; it's hard to not be drawn to the eternally-spinning wheel and the splashing water. 


How about a nice Davy Crockett Explorer Canoe? Someday Davy's great-great-great-great grandson, "Sonny" Crockett, would catch bad guys in Miami, and look amazing doing it.


I used to think the CMs who worked the canoes had a tough job, but I am rethinking my position! He's thinking about a funny "Tennessee Tuxedo" cartoon he saw that morning.


Aaaaand, here's one last look at a Keelboat as it rounds the bend and approaches the dock where it will take on a new load of passengers.


Thanks as always to Lou Perry and Sue B. for sharing these photos with us!


17 comments:

  1. Major-
    Thanks, as always - indeed. It really makes one want to boogie on down to the RoA and enjoy the "water sports" offerings. I am a but curious, though, as to just what our young friend in the first image is 'counting' on his many digits: "How many fingers am I holding-up-??"

    Thanks to Lou & Sue.

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  2. I see the guy in the last seat of the canoe not doing any work. Shame on him! ;-)

    Great last view of the Keelboat riding into the distance... thanks Lou and Sue.

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  3. Great ROA photos today. Thanks Lou, and thanks to Sue for sharing these. I miss the Keel Boats, they were a part of the total river experience, or TRE as it has come to be known by Disneyland experts the world over. The Old Mill photo is great as well. Thanks Major, and remember Tennessee Tuxedo will not fail!

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  4. Lou & Sue, Looks like '86 was a fun trip. Great pics with lots of people goodness.
    Thanks Lou & Sue and Major.
    JC, Mr. Whoopee is always there to back up Tennessee, so failure isn't in the cards. of course there's always Chumley...

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  5. DrGoat: We just now got the answer to your 2/26/20-GDB-comments-question, as my dad's 2/26/20-post pictures were taken during the same trip as these - in September1986.

    Nanook, Andrew, JC Shannon and DrGoat: I'm glad you like today's photos!

    Thanks, Major!

    Sue

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  6. Anonymous7:20 AM

    Very nice "you are there" pics today! I wish I WAS there! Here, it's cold, raining, and annoying. I choose there instead. Done.

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  7. Lou & Sue, we only missed each other by a month. We had a great trip too. Love seeing your memories. Thank You.
    And thank you M.

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  8. The Keel Boats are on my long list of favorite likes in DL . And those boys have the best seat in the boat. They look like they don't have a care in the world.

    It's a shame, Andrew, that the Keel Boats DID ride off into the distance in 1994. I might put that photo on my desktop background for awhile.

    We did the canoes last time we were there. I like the view from low on the water.

    Thanks Major, Lou and Sue.

    dz



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  9. Nanook, does this mean that the boy with the yellow shirt is “under the influence”? They should be careful or they’ll wind up in “Disney jail”, where they will have to live with a diet of churros and water.

    Andrew, it’s funny, there are always a few slackers on the canoes. It says a lot about them!

    Jonathan, if they only made the Keelboats out of closed-cell foam, they would have never been able to sink. Genius idea, or SUPER-genius idea? That’s right, Nerf Keelboats.

    DrGoat, it’s funny, even though I used to watch “Tennessee Tuxedo”, my main memory is of a time that it was on the TV at the dentist. Why that made an impression, I’ll never know!

    Lou and Sue, I didn’t recall that there was a question about when these were taken! I realize that up to a point it doesn’t really matter when photos were taken, but I always like to know, especially if we can narrow it down to the exact day.

    Stu29573, I TOLD you not to move to wherever you moved! (I wish it was cold and rainy here, frankly; this might be the start of yet another long drought in CA).

    DrGoat, if only you and Lou had been there at the same time, and Lou caught you in the background of one of his photos!

    dzacher, how can you like the Keelboats, they don’t have any robots or Wookies, and they don’t do any loops (usually). You aren’t kidding about the low view from the Canoes, I would be nervous with the water only eight inches from the edge!

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  10. Anonymous8:34 AM

    The Best River Ever.

    I never knew you could sit on the front of a keelboat. Now I feel deprived.

    Thanks Lou-and-Sue, and Major P.

    JG

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  11. Anonymous9:52 AM

    As we told the guests..."If you don't paddle for me...then we'll paddle YOU!" KS

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  12. JG, I wonder if those boys asked to sit up there in the front of the Keelboat? If I couldn’t sit up top, I would definitely want to be in front, it would almost feel as if you had your own private ride. Pretty sweet!

    KS, ha ha! I’m sure most people at least tried to paddle, but you know there’s always one or two people who are happy to let others do the work. Maybe that makes them smart?

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  13. Major, there was no question when these photos were taken. DrGoat had wanted to know when your 2/26 post photos were taken (you had only said the year - 1986). Today's photos were from the same trip and today you said the month (September) - which solves the mystery without my having to dig through my boxes of photos, for the answer. Now, if DrGoat wants the exact date, then I still have to dig through the boxes. ;)

    Sue

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  14. Lou & Sue, please don't dig. Not necessary. It was just fun to know we had been there the same year and adjoining months. Kindred spirits, as it were.
    Thanks to everyone!

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  15. Thanks, Lou and Sue! These are great! Sure with the Keel Boats were still with us.

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  16. DrGoat, I would've GLADLY looked for the date if you wanted it - but it might've taken a bit of time to find the right box of pictures. I would LOVE for one of our readers to find their picture on this blog - especially in a picture that my dad took. I DO know that my dad WAS at Disneyland on a couple dates when others have mentioned they were at Disneyland . . . I think TokyoMagic(?) was at DL for the 30th (with my dad), and Nanook and my dad overlapped one day also (maybe it was 7/4/76? - I don't remember when, offhand).

    I love the old article from 6/11/10 regarding the married couple who found an old childhood photo - and both of them, by chance, were in the same photo - before they ever knew each other. Google: "A Match Made at Disney: How a Married Couple Found Their Paths had Crossed as Toddlers 20 Years Earlier."

    Thanks for the nice comments, everyone, and - as always - the wonderful laughs!

    Sue

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  17. Anonymous3:44 PM

    Kind of a shame they got ride of the keel boats and the canoes. They would seem like a good diversion to help cut down on long lines and big crowds. Line to the Mansion and the two Mountains too long? Why not spend some time taking a trip down the river until the lines die down?

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