The weather here is still gorgeous; sunny, highs near 28C with a pleasant, warm breeze. The best part of it is that for the first time in months, we no longer require a heater at night and we can leave the windows open. While we were in the deserts of the US, both Rick and I suffered with really dry skin and my hair went from tight, controllable curls to a frizzy mop. Now that we are near the Mississippi we are both re-hydrated and my hair is no longer unruly.

Today we decided to go on the Tunica Queen Riverboat, billed as "exciting" and "voted" the "best non-gaming attraction" in this area, for a tour of the Mississippi River. During the week there are two cruises, one at noon, with or without a lunch and an evening cruise and we chose the earlier one minus the meal. To get to the boat launch we drove through the new, interpretive park, which has had no expense spared to create it. There are no stationary docks along this part of the Mississippi because it can rise as much as 50 feet and the floating dock here is state-of-the-art. There is a museum housed in the same building as the ticket booth, however we didn't have time to go through it before the departure.

The boat, complete with a paddlewheel, is clean and comfortable and as non-dining passengers we had the option of sitting on either of the top two decks. We found a seat on the top level where we had a good view of the river and as we soon found out, not much else. During the cruise, we were entertained by a banjo-playing singer who was actually performing for the diners on Level 1 but piped through the deck speakers. She wasn't too bad but by the end of the hour and a half cruise I was ready to throw her banjo overboard! We cruised down the river for 20 minutes and back up the river against the 8-mile-an-hour current for an hour and 10 minutes. There was nothing to see, no buildings, no wildlife, no other boats other than a large multi-level cruise boat owned by the government, staffed by 78 crew and used to entertain congressmen that left the dock after we did. At least the weather was perfect but we could have stayed on shore and seen as much while saving $12 each and not been tormented by the banjo. I'd love to know who "they" polled to get the voting results!