Grand Excursion heads up the river

A celebration of the Mississippi River — that’s how this weekend’s Grand Excursion 2004 is being described. Event coordinator Lynn Hunt says the expedition from the Quad Cities to the Twin Cities is a reenactment of a similar upriver trip in 1854. Hunt says all of the riverboats and three trains will gather at one time on the Mississippi River between Rock Island and Moline in Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. Although Hunt is encouraging people to take a boat or train ride, she says there’s plenty to do on shore.Two big riverboats, the Delta Queen and the Mississippi Queen, are delayed by high water in Hannibal, Missouri. They can’t get under a bridge there. Still, that won’t affect the Grand Excursion. Charlotte Morrison of the Quad-Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau says the only cruises offered on the two Queens.Five other boats are arriving on time to offer two-to-three hour cruises to grand excursion visitors.