HOTEL BARGE TO DOCK AT CAPE

The R/B River Explorer will dock at Cape Girardeau's riverfront today.

The floating hotel and touring vessel, owned by RiverBarge Excursions of New Orleans and propelled by a towboat, is one of the largest passenger boats on the inland waterways.

The vessel is made up of two 295-foot barges and custom built to include a floating hotel-resort. It can carry 198 passengers.

The aft barge, named for the explorer LaSalle, contains 99 staterooms about 200 square feet each. The forward barge, named for the Spanish explorer DeSoto, contains lounges, a gift shop, library and game room.

Area residents will have an opportunity to see the Explorer up close. It was expected to dock here about dawn with tours to be conducted between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

The Explorer is longer than the American Queen, the largest of three passenger paddlewheelers of the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. of New Orleans. The Queen, one of the largest vessels on the inland waterways, is 428 feet and can handle more than 400 passengers. The Explorer, including the towboat, is 730 feet long.

The vessel is en route from Cincinnati to St. Louis. It was in Paducah, Ky., Wednesday. From St. Louis, it will head to Nashville, Tenn.

This marks the R/B River Explorer's first stop at Cape Girardeau.

The Explorer will concentrate on seven different excursion areas during various times of the year. They will include such destinations as St. Louis; Kansas City; Port Isabel, Texas; Matamoros, Mexico; Cincinnati; Memphis; Baton Rouge; and New Orleans.

E.G. Conrad Jr., chairman of RiverBarge, and Jeffrey D. Krida, president of the company, say the vessel was designed as a "different kind of vacation."

The focus is on the river and how it shaped America, they said.