Ben Bernstein: [00:00:00] This episode of Ramblin on the River is 

Sponsor Message 1: presented by BB Riverboats. 

Ben Bernstein: What 

Sponsor Message 1: does summertime in the Ohio River Valley mean to you? From the deck of a BB Riverboat, it means a breeze on the water, lush views, and a historic cruise by the Queen City skyline. BB Riverboats offers an experience as unforgettable as childhood summers.

This season, let our crew take care of yours as you cruise the mighty Ohio River. BB Riverboats. The river is waiting.

Moderator 1: You're listening to the Ramblin on the River podcast, presented by BB River Boats. The Bernstein family has been a predominant name in Cincinnati's hospitality landscape since the 1960s, and this podcast will be a collection of the stories, tales, and experiences from their [00:01:00] entrepreneurial endeavors in the restaurant and excursion boat business.

Join as they take you on a A journey through the family's history in their own unique style. Now, here are your hosts, Ben Terri and Alan Bernstein.

Ben Bernstein: Welcome back for another episode. Terri is very busy playing bingo scratch off cards. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. Somebody gave them to me. I'm excited. I found him in my purse. 

Ben Bernstein: Welcome back to rambling on the river. We appreciate you. Coming by and listening to this week's episode. My name is Ben Bernstein.

I am joined by my father, Alan, and my sister, Terri, as you have already heard Ben, yeah, excuse me. Don't 

Alan Bernstein: I don't think the order 

Ben Bernstein: in which we're introduced is proper. [00:02:00] 

Alan Bernstein: Thank you. 

Ben Bernstein: You had to keep your streak going. You're wearing me out. 

Terri Bernstein: Don't you do that every day? 

Ben Bernstein: Wearing me out. Do us a favor, go over to your favorite podcast platform.

Give us a like and subscribe head to our Instagram and Facebook page. Ramblinontheriver.com is our website, and you can email us directly at podcast@bbriverboats.com. Last week we started a little series, but before you do that, oh, okay. 

Alan Bernstein: Another interruption. we want you to go and like us or whatever you do, because our.

The United States listeners are going down and our international listeners are going up. Well, that's not true. Yeah, it is. We now have 18 or 19 countries. Yeah. Well, we only had two 

Ben Bernstein: the last time you told me. You know, next week, why don't we sit and think about new [00:03:00] things to talk about? 

Alan Bernstein: Okay. 

Ben Bernstein: Yay! Ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha. That's it. No, that's it. That's all. Yeah, that's it. That's all you wanted to, that's all I wanted to say. 

Terri Bernstein: Hey, I won $20. . . 

Ben Bernstein: Do you know that we're recording? 

Terri Bernstein: Yes. Do you? Yes. You've already brought it up That I, your income not paying attention and, and playing scratch off watering your father's being You're 

Alan Bernstein: on record now.

The IRS knows you made $20. I know. You're gonna have to claim it. I 

Terri Bernstein: know 

Ben Bernstein: that's bad news. Although I'm the one delinquent on taxes right now. My 123. You're going to jail. I might. I might. Where was I? Last week we started a little series where we're going to go through and have an episode about each one of our past restaurants endeavors.

Last week we talked about the Old El Greco Restaurant in Southgate, Kentucky. You ready? , which was a lot of fun. Actually. Terri found a lot of neat old pictures from El Greco. A lot of pictures that [00:04:00] really, where, where did you find them? 

Terri Bernstein: In dad's library. 

Ben Bernstein: Mm-Hmm. . . Mm-Hmm. . 

Alan Bernstein: I 

Ben Bernstein: Funny I 

Alan Bernstein: found, of which of which is being willed to my daughter Terri.

And none. To my son Ben, she can have them. That's well you you think they're junk and you were gonna throw them away actually That's so this already we 

Ben Bernstein: have. Yeah, the library is not junk. 

Terri Bernstein: That's the only thing he wants 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah Stand a chance in China 

Alan Bernstein: the the library's 

Ben Bernstein: property of BB riverbeds. It's no longer.

Oh That's 

Alan Bernstein: not our contraire most if not You 99 percent of that is Captain Al's personal collection. 

Terri Bernstein: Correct. And personal photos. 

Alan Bernstein: Okay. And personal photos. 

Terri Bernstein: When's the last time you were in there? 

Ben Bernstein: I don't know if I've ever been in there. 

Terri Bernstein: Oh. 

Ben Bernstein: I don't want all of the souvenirs from the 1982 World's Fair.

Well, you're not getting any of those [00:05:00] either. 

Alan Bernstein: That's fine. You're not getting any boats. You're not getting any of my Tall Stacks collections. I have 30 or 40 

Ben Bernstein: model boats. The ones that are out in our holding area. Okay. Those are now property of BB river. Oh, 

Alan Bernstein: contrary 

Ben Bernstein: Nine 

Alan Bernstein: of the law.

That is true. 

Terri Bernstein: I'll have to contact my attorney when you and I fight. 

Ben Bernstein: So anyways, we had an episode , about And she found some great pictures. She really did. She did. She did. She found them from your library. A personal library, yes. 

Terri Bernstein: He wants to put it on record.

It's his personal library. He keeps saying personal. 

Ben Bernstein: So this week we are going to move on to the next family endeavor. Well, I don't know if there were, yeah, it's in order.

It's in order. We're trying to do it in order. So we are going to move to the Mike Fink restaurant at the foot of Greenup street, now known as Ben Bernstein Place. [00:06:00] Way? No, place. I think you're right. Pretty sure it's place. I think you're right. 

Alan Bernstein 2: Yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: I was just there. I turned around on it. 

Alan Bernstein 2: Mm hmm. 

Ben Bernstein: Located at the foot of Greenup Street.

Yeps. There's a sign there. Did you say yeps? 

Terri Bernstein: I think you like pick up at the I think it was a 

Ben Bernstein: lisp. No, Terri's got the lisp marking point. I know. My, my retainer 

Terri Bernstein: is cutting my lips today. 

Ben Bernstein: Mm. 

Terri Bernstein: Actually, 

Ben Bernstein: before don't we have a date for surgery? Yeah. No. 

Terri Bernstein: We do. When 

Ben Bernstein: is that? 

Terri Bernstein: It's like, not this coming Wednesday, but I think the Wednesday.

Ben Bernstein: I don't know what people are going to do if we start 

Alan Bernstein: talking clearly. We may have to do a podcast without her. 

Ben Bernstein: What she tends to do. She might come on during recovery. 

Terri Bernstein: Wednesday, the 23rd of October. 

Ben Bernstein: That is 12 days from today.

Thank 

Terri Bernstein: you. They're going to put like a rod in my mouth. 

Ben Bernstein: What are people going to do when you start talking clearly? Oh man. 

Terri Bernstein: Well, I will not be talking clearly then because I will have. So 

Ben Bernstein: it's gonna, so it's going to get worse? [00:07:00] 

Terri Bernstein: At least for like two more weeks and then I have to go back.

Ben Bernstein: So what, what do you get? So you get a rod this time and then what do you get in a couple of weeks? At what point are you going to be missing a tooth? At what point are we going to get pictures 

Sponsor Message 1: of this? 

Ben Bernstein: Where are we going to 

Terri Bernstein: not a chance? 

Ben Bernstein: Oh yeah. But what part of this process do are we missing a tooth?

I don't 

Terri Bernstein: know. Not telling 

Ben Bernstein: us. You'll 

Terri Bernstein: find a way to break in there and get a picture. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, I mean, if I'm lucky enough, you'll just send it to you. If 

Terri Bernstein: I don't do it soon, I'm going to have no front teeth. 

Ben Bernstein: Okay, where do we sign up for that?

Is there a doctor? I can find somebody, I will make a donation to their foundation to the dentist foundation 

Alan Bernstein 2: of 

Terri Bernstein: America. 

Alan Bernstein 2: Oh, well, 

Ben Bernstein: I guess if you say so. Get 

Alan Bernstein: [00:08:00] around everybody. It's story time! 

Ben Bernstein: A ramblin 

Alan Bernstein: on the river! A ramblin on the river! 

Ben Bernstein: This is the only point in the entire show where I do wish we had cameras.

Terri Bernstein: Yep. 

Ben Bernstein: It's the only point. The six seconds or whatever that goes for. Ten seconds, actually. Actually, Terri and I think we should have cameras more than Yeah, I know. That's another thing that we've now kept up with every episode we've brought up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure people are turning off at a record rate.

So as we just talked about, we're going to move on to the Mike Fink restaurants. The Mike Fink opened up in 1977, 

Terri Bernstein: the year after I was born 

Alan Bernstein: late in the year, September, October, I believe it was, and it was already a restaurant owned by the it was a floating old steamboat, an actual old steamboat.

Called the John W Hubbard and the John W Hubbard was an Ohio river [00:09:00] company boat. So it was headquartered here in Cincinnati and held the tonnage record towing tonnage record for a long time. Of course they kept building boats bigger and bigger and bigger. And when they got away from steam plants.

And they went to diesel engines. The horsepower went up dramatically, dramatically, dramatically. But it was an authentic old steamboat steam stern wheel co boats made specifically 

Ben Bernstein: for towing push coal barges up. That's correct. Higher River. It's formerly named the Charles Dorrance. That's way back way back before.

The babies purchased it and operated as a restaurant over in Cincinnati. 

Alan Bernstein: When 

Ben Bernstein: did they open? 

Alan Bernstein: I'm going to say in the late fifties, early sixties. So it was around for a long time. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I thought 

Ben Bernstein: it was, 

Alan Bernstein: and he fought with the, they wanted to do something. I [00:10:00] do not remember. Or cannot remember the specific argument that Captain Beatty and the City of Cincinnati got into, but they got into an argument and he said, well, the hell with you and moved it to Covington.

And that's why it was over on the Covington side and not on the public landing side. So how long was it in Cincinnati for? 

Ben Bernstein: Well I guess, I guess I should say how long was it in Covington for, I guess, before we can 

Alan Bernstein: probably, if anybody's going to fat fact. Fact. Check. Well, with us, it could be fat checked.

If anybody's going to fat check us, 

Terri Bernstein: Captain Beatty wasn't a small man either. 

Ben Bernstein: No, no, he was big. Your mother would yell at you right now for your enunciation. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, yes, 

Ben Bernstein: yes. And Cousin Vera would 

Alan Bernstein: be very upset with me. Oh, she was the, she was the true, oh my gosh. [00:11:00] that in proper grammar, 

Terri Bernstein: he was six foot one and 270 pounds at his largest. 

Alan Bernstein: Here's a big guy. So where did you find that? 

Terri Bernstein: I just Googled. 

Alan Bernstein: Wow. We were fact checking ourselves. So he moved it to Covington and that's where Mike Fink stayed until he was going to sell it. Now to, make everybody understand my dad, El Greco was asked to be on the restaurant associations board of directors and the restaurant association back then was very small.

But it was growing because independent. Operators ruled the roost. There were very few franchises. There was McDonald's and there was probably Burger King and stuff like that. But there was not like today where there's a corporate store [00:12:00] of all different kinds on the corner back when we were in the restaurant business then.

It was very few restaurants, but most of them, if not all of them were privately owned or family businesses. So very few fast food is what very, very little fast food, but it was growing quickly. So dad got on the board and the first item that dad had to deal with on the restaurant board was the potential sale of the Mike Fink.

To a big company in New Orleans and the board of directors of the association thought that that was terrible for Cincinnati and we couldn't let the boat leave that we had to save the boat and they went on to a campaign to try and find people who would save the boat from leaving and all that. My father ended up buying the Mike Fank.[00:13:00] 

Cause what else would you do? Well, in order to save it sounds 

Terri Bernstein: like my dad. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. All right, everybody, let's save the boat. What are we going to do? Everybody looks at each other. Okay. I'll buy it. Well, 

Alan Bernstein: that's essentially what happened with 

Terri Bernstein: that a few times. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. So we ended up buying it and everybody thought dad had lost his marbles.

In fact, his attorney at the time quit over the fact that he bought the Mike Fink and didn't ask for any professional help and what kind of professional help, legal help, not mental health. Well, maybe mental health. And so he quit and we still ended up buying the Mike Fink and dad said, I have a son.

He's young enough and he's strong enough that he'll do this. Now they were serious. We did not [00:14:00] know, nor did I know at that time, the pointy end from the round end on a boat, I mean, really, it was a bad situation and Dad said, we will learn this together and we'll do it. And, you know, dad was not afraid of not knowing he had an intuition for 

Ben Bernstein: figuring it out, 

Alan Bernstein: figuring it out.

And we did, we, we figured it out. Now captain Beatty stayed on as a consultant for us. It was less than a year, but I think his contract was a year. We had to actually tell captain Beatty that. We didn't even set in a previous episode. It didn't end on very cordial. Well, it wasn't, although we sort of work cordial it wasn't until there some contractual incident that Captain Beatty got upset with dad, not, not dad getting upset with captain Beatty.

So it was not a cordial goodbye. And although his [00:15:00] lovely wife may she rest in peace. 

Terri Bernstein: That was Claire. 

Alan Bernstein: Claire was a, just a really nice lady. Really nice. And actually Captain Beatty was a pretty interesting guy. I mean I got to work with him quite a bit at the end. He retired after that.

So we end up with the Mike Fink. Not knowing the first thing about the Ohio River. I wasn't even sure where the Ohio river started and ended at that time. Well, in that very first year you had your first quick river. The first year was a right off. First winter was a challenge.

If anybody listening remembers the 78, 77, 78 winter. It was when we were below zero for three weeks. It was the last time this has happened. Yeah, it was the last time well, it hasn't happened since. That's what, that's what it means. I'm learning. [00:16:00] Yeah, clearly. Yeah so the freeze happens and it was a challenge.

It really was a challenge. It was so cold. It's hard to describe. Cold like that. I mean, it, it was just a burning cold air on your face, on your fingers, wherever, wherever you were exposed, it was, it was awful. And the river froze from one side to the other all the way bank to bank. There was no water to be seen anywhere.

Just ice. It was just ice. And as it froze, because the river was moving a little bit, it started getting chop yeah. Yeah. Like frozen waves. Yes. Yes. And so it was hard to walk on. It was hard to, you know, You couldn't pull anything. It wasn't like a, yeah, it wasn't going to play ice hockey.

Right. And, and [00:17:00] people started to think that they could drive on it. And several tried, 

Terri Bernstein: yeah, there's a picture of a beetle on it 

Alan Bernstein: is several tried and we're not successful. 

Ben Bernstein: What would possess you to want to try that? I don't know. Because the downside is so awful. I couldn't think of many worse things than breaking through the ice and being submerged in a car with 33 degree water.

It was not 

Alan Bernstein: a fact that you were going to sink. The ice was thick. I mean, real popping a tire getting 

Ben Bernstein: stuck in 

Alan Bernstein: the middle. That's what I'm saying. You're going to have, and then you would have to wait until I thought, you know, so it wasn't like you were going to fall through the, oh, you wait. Yeah, but, but it was dangerous.

No, no matter what you say. Very good point. But it turned into big news, big, big happening, a big half national news. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. National news. And in the middle of the three [00:18:00] week freeze the river started to come up. And as the river started to come up it posed a new problem because there was water at the edge.

The river started to rise, and the river kept raising and it got to, I think about 40 some feet. Which is pretty high. Which is pretty high, but as the water started to receive, and it was freezing as it was rising, so if you have ice going up like this, the banks would still free would start to freeze again.

And so you, and when the river came down and it was starting down, you know, what happens is that the ice falls onto the the grass. Okay. So now you have the river falling ice along your banks of the Ohio river. Right. And when it got heavy enough, those sheets [00:19:00] of ice would fall and a sheet of ice, it could be the size of a Volkswagen.

Oh, or bigger, much bigger could come down and run you over. And of course you're dead. Did that happen? Well, no, it did not happen a lot because people were told to be not to be stupid. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Except for the stupid people out in the middle of the water. But 

Alan Bernstein: there were several cars that were destroyed because the ice had come down the Hill, gone onto the parking lot.

And, you know it was a challenge. Like I said, it's hard to describe. The intensity of the cold. And it was that way for three consecutive weeks. And at the 

Ben Bernstein: end of it, the, the water actually reached flood stage. 

Alan Bernstein: At the very end I think the most of the ice had gone, but it came back and did reach flood stage.

But it went onto the street at the Mike Fink, but it didn't get into homes. [00:20:00] Oh, it would have been a mess if it got into homes. Oh, like a riverside. Yeah. So that was our first year. And of course you learned, probably learned a lot within a four or five months owning the boat, we had been through a disaster that not many people have ever been through and a flood stage flood and 

Terri Bernstein: any big thing that we do, we end up like that next year as a.

Big ordeal like every single we bought every time bought the landing. Yeah, it's finished. We hit kovat 9 

Ben Bernstein: 11 9 11 It bought the river, bought the New River Queen. Yeah. And freaking housing crisis happens. Yeah. Yep, yep. Deep recession. 

Alan Bernstein: That just seems to be our luck, but we make it through. I don't know how we do it.

We try to make it through. Yeah. And we have, so far we've made Yeah, we've, we've made it through. We have survived. Somehow some way. But to continue on about the Mike Fink restaurant itself, it was a great restaurant. And it became the 

Ben Bernstein: play. I 

Alan Bernstein: mean, it was, it was [00:21:00] the place in Cincinnati to go. And everybody went there.

Celebrities 

Ben Bernstein: city. You're thinking of Jeff Ruby nowadays, places like that. Yeah. Yeah. Boca soda. So that's, that's the kind of type. That's right. That, 

Alan Bernstein: that, that's right. And, and the Reds and the Bengals, of course, they were just across the river. The 

Terri Bernstein: Clintons. 

Alan Bernstein: The Clooney's Oh my God. The Clooney's were there all the time.

And restaurants are 

Ben Bernstein: so different now. Now they're totally 

Alan Bernstein: different. 

Ben Bernstein: If they hold 150 people, that's a lot. The Mike Fink sat what? 300. Just in the main diner without the upstairs. Yeah. Yeah, it was a big place there's not restaurants like that. I mean, there's very very few very very few Maybe Jeff Ruby and I don't think 

Alan Bernstein: then he I'm not sure he seats 300 maybe the new place.

They might they might I don't know, we're going 

Terri Bernstein: there tomorrow night. Oh, you are? We can 

Alan Bernstein: tell Joe. For my 

Terri Bernstein: daughter's 16th birthday. Oh, that's 

Alan Bernstein: nice. I can ask, 

Ben Bernstein: did you get an invitation? 

Terri Bernstein: I can't afford all of [00:22:00] you to go. Oh, no? If 

Ben Bernstein: dad went, like, you would pay anyways? I've not been invited. I wasn't invited.

Alan Bernstein: Okay. 

Terri Bernstein: It's really Emma and her date and Isabelle and her date. I'm sitting at the bar. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, well that's good. And you're going to drive them home? 

Terri Bernstein: No, I mean just to eat. Oh. So we're not at the table with them. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, well that's nice. Who are you going to the bar with? 

Terri Bernstein: Carissa, Isabelle's mom. Oh. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: How many times are you going to spy on them?

Terri Bernstein: Why would I go spy on them? They just, they can't drive, so, somebody has to, I mean I could leave and come back, but, 

Alan Bernstein: Well, I can tell you that Emma Rose is ready to drive because Grandpa has had her out. I don't know if the world is 

Ben Bernstein: ready for Emma Rose to drive. 

Terri Bernstein: I am not. 

Ben Bernstein: If she's anything like her mother, you never know.

Terri Bernstein: Squirrel. 

Ben Bernstein: Before we get to that, since we're on the subject, I My niece, like she says, turns 16 on Sunday. On Monday. On Monday. Yeah. And I say, Tare, what does she want for [00:23:00] her birthday? And she said, gas cards. And in Kentucky, you can't drive for six months. You have to get your temps and you drive for six months.

That's right. What, what, what do you need a gas card right now? She's getting a car. She's getting 

Terri Bernstein: a drive. I'm not paying for her gas. Get a job. Kids need jobs. 

Ben Bernstein: I bet she doesn't pay for one tank of gas her entire life. She knows that she won't, that's 

Alan Bernstein: always, that's all she has to do. Grandpa's going to have to keep extra cash around because she'll be called.

I don't think it gets as a gas station. Take cash, 

Terri Bernstein: go inside, pay ahead. And then it's a mess. All right. 

Ben Bernstein: We're going to get her a credit card. Authorized user. Yeah. All right. Bring it back. Yes. Very, very 

Alan Bernstein: popular 

Ben Bernstein: place to 

Alan Bernstein: go. And we had just a lot of famous people all the time. it was an every day, every meal 

Ben Bernstein: occurrence, 

Alan Bernstein: [00:24:00] lunch, dinner.

Ben Bernstein: The two things that stand out in my mind is what set it apart. Number one, it was the first, I don't know if it was the first place, but it was the most successful place with a raw bar, a physical raw bar. It was the first, absolutely first that, and then the captain stations and cooking at your table.

And what do you laugh 

Terri Bernstein: at? Setting them on 

Ben Bernstein: fire. Yeah, I got it. There would be certain dishes or desserts or whatever you would order and they would come and prepare it right in front, right at the table. That's correct. And then the raw bar, you go up and I remember, man, I mean, in today's terms, could you imagine what the value of the seafood that would be.

Laying there on the raw bar every day when you would walk into the Mike Fink, I mean King crab right now is what 90 a pound or something. And I think we bought it for a dollar. It was something. It was something ridiculous. And we would have the biggest crab. 

Alan Bernstein: They were, they were baseball bats. 

Ben Bernstein: Those big 

Alan Bernstein 2: knuckles.

Ben Bernstein: The South [00:25:00] American prawns that were, they're three times the size of the largest shrimp you've ever seen. The oysters. Those are golf oysters. Those were delicious. And to imagine, you know, how little they used to cost back then it was, it's incredible to think about in today's terms, it 

Alan Bernstein: is, it really 

Ben Bernstein: is.

But 

Alan Bernstein: yes, that is what, 

Ben Bernstein: there are no raw bars anymore. At least you can get fresh, I mean, he'll have on his menu, a raw bar selection, but 

Alan Bernstein: it's 

Terri Bernstein: not in front of you when you walk in, but you can't go up and pick it out, but it is displayed in the front entrance when you walk in, 

Alan Bernstein: but those were two things, the cooking at the table and the raw bar were definitely two things that the set might, maybe we should put a raw 

Terri Bernstein: bar on our boats, let people go up and buy, 

Alan Bernstein: well, but you could only have people in the top 1% come because, well, now people I 

Ben Bernstein: think of, do you remember crab?

Do you [00:26:00] remember walking into the Mike Fink? You know, you would walk down the side of the boat. 

Alan Bernstein 2: Mm-Hmm? . 

Ben Bernstein: You would walk in the arctic entry or you would walk in that front door, and then there'd be the little hallway to keep the, do you remember the smell? The raw bar smell? Oh yeah. In that little area before you walk through the front door.

Ruby 

Terri Bernstein: smells like that when you walk in too. I 

Ben Bernstein: mean, there's, there's no way around it. There is no way around it. It's not a real great smell. No, but it's a seafood smell. It is. And you walk in the front door and boom, it was right there. And it was a really neat feature. 

Alan Bernstein: So I have a few stories.

I don't know if you want to hear them now or do we want to wait till story time? Well, no 

Ben Bernstein: this is story. We've already. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, are we 

Ben Bernstein: in story time? I heard yourself babbling. In the recording. we do have one story again, two weeks in a row.

We, we are going to retell a story again, but we'll, we'll save that one for the, for the end. So I didn't even realize the Mike Fink had a dumbwaiter. And so, but there's, there's a, I guess to keep with the theme of the [00:27:00] show, we have a very famous story of a dumb way to tell the story about the 

Alan Bernstein: my dad invited the governor at the time to come and speak to a group of Northern Kentuckians who were talking about redeveloping the riverfront and, and all of that stuff, and dad asked the governor if he.

would come and talk. And of course, the governor said yes. And we had this big dinner. I mean, the whole boat was the event. And we had a lady that when we bought the boat, came with the boat. Her name was Sie. Sie. Sie and Essie. Put 

Ben Bernstein: that in a list of names that's never used again. 

Terri Bernstein: She was kind of grandma and grandpa's go to, she took care of the dog. She fed em 

Alan Bernstein: and mom and dad. That was sort of her role, 

Terri Bernstein: right? 

Alan Bernstein: They're stewardess or whatever. You know? We haven't talked 

Ben Bernstein: [00:28:00] much about Segund, just saying just. Throwing that out.

Terri Bernstein: Well, we can talk about her now. I mean, yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: well, it's a Mike Fink story. Yeah so they're having this talk and they Introduce the governor and the governor gets up and s. e Was helping get the dishes down to the dishwasher and this dumb waiter was a You 1950s version, maybe it was an early, maybe a 49 or whatever.

And so Essie opens the door to the dumbwaiter and without looking, takes this huge tray of dishes and glassware and China and so forth, puts it in a dumbwaiter and closes that door. And when she closed the door. The whole tray went down there was no dumbwaiter there there was no dumbwaiter it was down [00:29:00] This crash

No, it's even better than that they go down and they crash like you have never seen Heard a crash before and then then Then it gets quiet totally quiet Governor looking around and as he goes, oh shit

Everybody busted out laughing, but i'm telling you. It's the most famous dumb where dumb Dumb waiters 

Ben Bernstein: story story I can tell I guess we should say for those who don't know what a dumb waiter is It's not it's not a passenger elevator. Not an academically. It's only for 

Alan Bernstein: It is only for dishes and it is a little elevator.

Yeah, it's a it's a little where was the dumb 

Ben Bernstein: waiter at the mic 

Alan Bernstein: It was hidden 

Ben Bernstein: behind the service 

Terri Bernstein: like in the kitchen. It came to the kitchen. Oh, and then it was upstairs on [00:30:00] the 

Ben Bernstein: Cause there were those wicked stairs in the, in the front that you would, if you walked 

Terri Bernstein: into the kitchen on the first floor, it was on the left hand side, it 

Alan Bernstein: was, it was there and it went up to 

Terri Bernstein: the next floor 

Alan Bernstein: and it went down to the the hall.

So that's a very good dumbwaiter story. Now 

Terri Bernstein: when I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time with my grandfather there. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, 

Terri Bernstein: and I used to sit on his steps of his his office, which was the pilot house of the boat. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, 

Terri Bernstein: and I used to Do a lot of recordings with him 

Ben Bernstein: recording they would 

Terri Bernstein: record me like Singing songs and he had this like little tiny tape recorder And I would recite like everybody thought I was the most intelligent person ever because I could recite the night before Christmas 

Ben Bernstein: Oh 

Terri Bernstein: Do you not remember all those little tiny tapes?

Ben Bernstein: You really fooled them. 

Terri Bernstein: You guys are so mean to me. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, that was a low blow. That was [00:31:00] a low blow. She's crying. 

Terri Bernstein: I know. 

Ben Bernstein: No. Oh! 

Alan Bernstein: So is there a point of this story? 

Terri Bernstein: We're just, she's 

Alan Bernstein: just 

Terri Bernstein: telling, I'm telling my story. Oh, 

Ben Bernstein: gloating. Okay. Gloating. Okay. You made some clearly it 

Terri Bernstein: was very exciting. 

Ben Bernstein: You made some killer cinnamon toast. 

Terri Bernstein: I did. 

Ben Bernstein: Yes. She did. You and Megan 

Alan Bernstein: and 

Terri Bernstein: Sunday brunches. 

Alan Bernstein: Wait a minute. That wasn't what's her name there?

Terri Bernstein: No, it's just me and Megan. 

Alan Bernstein: Okay. 

Ben Bernstein: Which one? Monahan or Bernard? 

Terri Bernstein: Bernard. 

Ben Bernstein: Mm Hmm. Okay. You were moving the boat in high water. Oh, yes, yes. This is, 

Alan Bernstein: and you didn't have a truck. This is no, we didn't have a truck. So. Here's what happened in high water. The boat needs to move in to keep the game.

It's 

Ben Bernstein: always the biggest 

Alan Bernstein: pain in the ass. Oh yeah. It was, it 

Ben Bernstein: was a big river came up every couple of feet. We had to live 

Alan Bernstein: three spuds all by hand. 

Ben Bernstein: Did [00:32:00] captain Batey put in the system of pulling with, with the with the come along and everything to pull the boat in and out.

Yeah, we didn't. Because that was a genius. It was all 

Alan Bernstein: there. It was genius. It was all there. Yeah, but it was all manual. Yeah Now the winches were electric, right? But but the lifting of the spuds and all that stuff was a manual process A spud pole is a pole that goes down into the water and into the bottom of the river That keeps the boat stable.

Ben Bernstein: And that's what the boat wrote when the river rises and falls, that's what it goes up and down, keeps it in the place that you need it to be. And these are big pipes, big pipes, but when the river rose, Especially at the Mike Fink, you used to have to lift those up and actually move the boat closer to the bank so your gangway could actually reach to the point where people's feet didn't get wet.

That's natural. And then at the Mike Fink, if you remember, in fact, it's probably still [00:33:00] there, the, the track for the stairwell to go, and there was actually a track for the two wheels for the, for the ramp to go up. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. But sometimes. When you were doing that maneuver, it wouldn't move for some reason it would get locked up.

It would get, yeah, the boat evidently the boat would 

Terri Bernstein: get Kelly, the 

Alan Bernstein: boat would get a little, it would. And so back then I was sort of a pretty heavy guy. Heavier than you are now. Oh. Oh, yeah. Well, I only weigh 2 68 right now. 268 pounds. I was four 20. Wow. So anyway, so Dan, our harbor master would say he was a fireman, a Newport fireman, and he would say, Hey, Alan, grab onto that cable.

Now, this is a inch and a [00:34:00] half wire rope cable and he says, I'll wind it and you'll be the extra weight that we need to get the boat to move. So I get on it and he starts cranking it up and I start up in the air and at some point I figure. Well, I, I don't want to bail out right now, but at some point I'm not going to be able to hold 420 pounds up in the air to them.

Where your feet were off 

Ben Bernstein: the 

Alan Bernstein: ground. Oh, the feet were way off the ground. I bet you I was eight, nine feet up. You had another problem back then too. Oh, yes, and I didn't wear suspenders. And I could feel my pants loosing along the way. It's a terrible feeling. Yeah. Anybody that's heavy. So you know it could 

Ben Bernstein: be any second.

Oh, 

Alan Bernstein: it could be. And then down they went. And of course, everybody in the restaurant's watching. I mean, this isn't like, nobody's, you know, nobody's [00:35:00] seen this. And they all saw it and they come out onto the gunwale of the boat. And they're just hysterical. And I finally said, dink, I can't.

So I let go, fall into the water. Now it was 19 degrees outside. The water temperature is about 41, 40, 41. And I don't know if anybody has ever experienced going from 19 to into water. That was 40, which is actually warm, you know, or warmer. But in the meantime, that water is cold. So I drag myself up the end of the mud and onto the grass.

And I get out and of course I'm soaking wet. And I said, Dink, I got to go change clothes. He says, hell no, we got to get this boat in. So I stayed out and helped him. I don't know how he did it. I don't know how I did it here. But, 

Ben Bernstein: I was frozen. [00:36:00] I would love to hear from some of the random people who happen to be dining there.

I bet you there are kids who were dining that still remember. That still tell that story. Yeah. That this, this fat guy's up there 

Alan Bernstein: hanging from a wire. We were at this 

Ben Bernstein: restaurant one time when I was a kid and this guy lost his shorts and fell into the water. 

Alan Bernstein: And it was so funny. That it might have been one of the top three funniest things in his lifetime.

So that's the kind of stuff that we get ourselves into at the Mike Fink. But now going as are we to, are we going to the cooking at the table incident? Yeah. I mean, if that's where you're 

Ben Bernstein: ready to go, I 

Alan Bernstein: think 

Ben Bernstein: I mean, you just set yourself up for it.

Well, I, well, I'm sorry. Sorry. 

Alan Bernstein: I, you may 

Ben Bernstein: as well keep going. Okay. 

Alan Bernstein: We told everybody that we cook at the table and this is real cooking and that real. What were the dishes you used to do at the table? Rochette, halibut, [00:37:00] 

Terri Bernstein: Natchez, 

Alan Bernstein: NAS file Mignon and Ben Jeanie. 

Terri Bernstein: Alfredo was, why 

Alan Bernstein: was it, was it just a show or was it show?

It was show and it was exciting and pe you know, people would. Yeah, it's a something 

Terri Bernstein: you could do with it, 

Ben Bernstein: but it wasn't nobody else was doing it But every dish wasn't served at the table. I mean, no every no, no, 

Alan Bernstein: right? No, you're right There were only certain ones that you could order there was about what eight or nine Seven or eight items.

And then there were several desserts that you could get at the table. Right. So 

Terri Bernstein: speaking of that, I ran into Larry the other day at the grocery camp. Did Larry wet you? Yeah, he was at the grocery store. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, I'd love 

Terri Bernstein: to see him. He lives over by me somewhere. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, okay. Yeah, I see him from 

Alan Bernstein: time to time.

Okay. He's a good guy. I like Larry. We had this old guy from Beverly Hills. Who was sort of a small individual, but he was a great cook. Great. His name was Art was it Artie? No, not Artie. Oh my god. Alan. [00:38:00] Getting old is just 72 years. Terrible, terrible. Anyway, it'll come to him.

It'll come to him in the very, 

Ben Bernstein: in the middle. 

Lou, Lou Schultz, kind of like that. Good 

Alan Bernstein: timing. I figured it out. Yeah. I, I hope Lou's listening. I don't know if. Lou's still around or not, but Lou had forgotten to turn his burners off and somehow or another a wave went by or somebody hit it and it spilled onto the tablecloth, which caught fire.

And the whole Rashad, which is the, the whole cart and all the cooking equipment and everything on it is ablaze. In the middle of the dining room, full dining room. And I see this. So I go over and I said, Lou, open the door, open the door. And I point to the door, he opens it up and out this cart [00:39:00] goes in one shove.

I make it through the door, into the river, the whole kit and caboodle. And of course, everybody applauded. Yeah. Except dad, 

Terri Bernstein: I was going to say, I bet your dad was my 

Alan Bernstein: dad said, Alan, do you know how much money you threw in the river? And I went, no dad, I, you know, I saved millions. Well, absolutely. I did because I'll tell you, it was going to go.

But anyway my dad was not real happy with me, but we did get the fire out and we didn't have to call the fire department. Or fight a fire. We just open the door and a way out. It went so that's my, the river sweeps away and that's my fire story. 

Ben Bernstein: We are up to the repeat, which is my favorite story.

I tell this story, this takes a little 

Alan Bernstein: bit, but I want to make sure everybody understands it. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: So Mr. Carl Linder. And his kids and [00:40:00] his entourage, there was about 10 of them came to the Mike Fink every day, every day there, there's very few days that I could count that Carl and his entourage was not there.

But one day Carl didn't come at his normal time. And so my mother figured that he wasn't coming. 

Alan Bernstein 2: Right. 

Alan Bernstein: And went ahead and gave his table to someone else and about 15 or 20 minutes after they were seated and started eating, here comes Mr. Linder and talk about panic. I think my father panicked a lot more than my mother, but cause she was ready to give us a, I'm sorry, a snow job, a snow job.

But so here comes Carl and mom and dad had to tell Carl that they gave his table away and that he was going to have to sit [00:41:00] somewhere else today. And so they seated him at a table and he had a nice lunch and they were there till everybody was well, well gone. They weren't a 

Ben Bernstein: quick table.

And Carl, they were not a quick table. No, no, no, no, no. Come 

Alan Bernstein: to eat. No, they really didn't. They, it was back in the days of the old 

Ben Bernstein: three 

Alan Bernstein: martini. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So Carl had lunch and they then left. And about three 34 o'clock in the afternoon truck pulls up to the Mike Fink.

And. Says I have a delivery for Mr. And Mrs. Ben Bernstein. And so they said, Oh, that's, that's us. So they open it up and there's a note in there. It says, dear Ben and Shirley, I am giving you this table and four chairs so that you know, that any time that I come to the Mike Fink. I will always [00:42:00] have a table and chairs to sit at now.

Ben Bernstein: Sincerely. 

Alan Bernstein: Carly, Carly. Yeah. Now my father, who was a great practical joker himself, and a guy with great humor decided that he was not going to be upstaged by Mr. Linder and he didn't know how he didn't know how, and he had pondered for quite a while that he needed to figure out what he could do to sort of get his point across.

So one night my father loved ice cream. He loved it. And one night they went to United Dairy Farmers, which Carl owns, and went up to the ice cream station and said, I would like a banana split. And the girl behind the desk or counter said, I'm sorry, sir. We don't have any [00:43:00] bananas. And that was the, the, that was the light that needed to happen at 

Terri Bernstein: the time.

Didn't he still own Chiquita banana? Oh 

Alan Bernstein: yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we, we would buy Chiquita. I mean, back then Chiquita banana was the big banana anyway. Which is grown in Ecuador, by the way. Right. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: It's the banana capital of the world. 

Alan Bernstein: So top banana, my dad was a top banana. Yes.

So the the light went off and dad said, that's it opportunity. Now this is an opportunity. So he calls his friend, Charlie squirrel who was our food pervert. Who is our food purveyor. And he says, Charlie, I need you to do me a huge favor. I need you to find a stock of bananas, about 200 bananas that are green. That when you get a stock of bananas, they're all green. 

Alan Bernstein 2: Right. 

Alan Bernstein: So. [00:44:00] He said, Ben, I, how am I going to find, he said, Charlie, I know you can find it. And I want a stock of green bananas. And sure enough, Charlie researched enough.

He found a stock about 200 bananas in green. And he said, I'm buying the whole stock. So dad bought this stock of bananas. It came the next day. And he called a courier. Delivery service. And he said I need a delivery to someone and I need a delivery guy. Now, in the meantime, mom had talked to Carl's secretary.

They had a pretty good, you couldn't just walk in and talk to Carl, there is nobody that walks in to see Carl in there. So actually I'm sure a lot of people actually try, they might try, they may try, but they don't get in. So my mother calls and pre sets up this whole thing and dad [00:45:00] sends it over.

The courier comes. It was really funny when the courier got there and dad gave him. Could you, what do you think 

Ben Bernstein: that courier was thinking? 

Alan Bernstein: Well, like what in the hell? Yeah, he just did. I don't know, but, and dad gave him very specific instructions. Yeah. And of course he. goes over, he was in the Provident Bank building, you know, the old, I guess the building's still there, but it's not called Provident Bank.

Which at 

Terri Bernstein: the time they owned Provident Bank as well. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, yes. So Dad sends the courier over and he goes to the secretary and she made sure that Carl was not involved in anything, but she said, Carl, we have a delivery for you. Here, here it comes. So, the delivery guy goes in and puts it down, and leaves, 

Ben Bernstein: What did he have it in? I mean, it has to be, it has to be a claim. 

Alan Bernstein: The stock of bananas is eight, ten feet, eleven [00:46:00] feet tall. It's gotta be. Right. I guess he drug it over 

Ben Bernstein: there. I mean, you know the way I picture this. You know, a lot of couriers, especially back then, would just ride bikes around downtown.

Well, no, this was a little car. I picture this guy with a big tree, with a backpack with a tree, with all the bananas, and he's just pedaling away. 

Alan Bernstein: But anyway, there was a note stuck to the stock of bananas. Dear Carl Shirley and I went to United Dairy Farmers and you were out of bananas. And we want to make sure that when we go to United Dairy Farmers, that there will always be a banana for my banana split Ben and Shirley, Ben and Shirley.

Carl's not going to be outdone by Ben. So Carl's pondering for several days what to do to get back. So [00:47:00] in the mail, no, I actually, it was a courier and a courier comes over I dunno, two, three weeks later and they have a little package for Ben and Shirley Bernstein and they open it up and it is a.

You know, a business card order comes in a little box. Yeah, I'm sure. You know what I'm talking about? Probably were printed on business cards. Well, they might, I don't know, but instead of 

Ben Bernstein: cards, 

Alan Bernstein: there had to have been a thousand or more cards, maybe a 1500, I don't know, maybe five, whatever that were free banana splits.

For dad and mom to use so that they never had to pay for a banana split in the fine print at participating locations. 

Alan Bernstein 2: And 

Alan Bernstein: you know in business today, nobody has fun like that. I mean, you, you wouldn't do this kind of stuff today. It just isn't done. And [00:48:00] it's a shame because. Carl and Ben had, this was over several weeks.

I mean, this wasn't a one day thing. It was, it was a well over a lot of time and it was written up in the newspaper. So anybody that wants to look at of course, if you Google Linder or Bernstein, you might get a lot of articles. I have the article. 

Ben Bernstein: Right. But Terri, I thought you said you were going to post that article.

You're going to take some pictures of the, you know, what, of the article. We have 

Alan Bernstein: to find the article. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, well, maybe not. Maybe. No, I mean, I have it. I, I, well, you always say that when you tell the story, but 

Alan Bernstein: it's in the library. I just have to find it. 

Ben Bernstein: It's in the library. Do you not have a Dewey decimal system or a card?

Cow? Oh, no, 

Alan Bernstein: no, no, no, no, no, no, we do not have a Dewey decimal system. 

Terri Bernstein: The worst part is when I'm in there, I know I have seen certain pictures. Yeah, I just can't find them [00:49:00] It takes forever. I'm 

Alan Bernstein: sure now total time suck. I don't know if you know, Terri knows But we are building an annex to the library. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah 

Alan Bernstein: and we are moving the papers and books to the annex and You The old library which is library now is going to be all photographs and Personal thing, you know things that we've kept over the years.

I I think I have a couple things from you a Couple things for me. Yeah, I think you wrote some letters 

Ben Bernstein: dear mom and dad wrote some letters Yeah, well, I write you letters about I hate you Whatever must've been a school assignment that I had to bullshit my way through. Alright, well, .

Now the Mike Fink was a main restaurant and then a floating dining barge.

When did the floating dining barge come? That had the floating [00:50:00] dining barge was not the Mike Fink, Mike's brother Herbert. That's right. It was Herbert. 

Alan Bernstein: Dad gave that. Well, how in the hell was it ever called the Herbert Fink? It 

Terri Bernstein: was, it was called the 

Alan Bernstein: Herbert when we bought it. 

Terri Bernstein: Oh, I thought it was, no, no, 

Alan Bernstein: no, no.

It had Herbert on the back of the bar. Yeah. And so we made it the Herbert Fink, right? Yeah. It's kind of funny. Herb. Yeah, for sure. I think it was like 120 feet long and 35 feet wide. And we put a canopy over it and he, and it, it, well, that 

Ben Bernstein: became the main dining room. Well, and that became really the showcase of it all.

Oh, sure. 'cause you had picture windows all the way across. All the way around. And you sat on the window there and you were right. You every seat was a window seat. Yeah. Well, every seat wasn't a window seat, but you could see out the Yeah, absolutely. It wa And that's really in the end, I mean, certainly some other things.

Yeah. That was. The Romance of [00:51:00] Riverboat Dining. That's the Mike Fink, And there's 

Alan Bernstein: more, I mean, we can do 

Ben Bernstein: I'm sure we will circle back from time to time. Okay. What would be the next in order? What would be next week's show?

Crockett's would be the next in order. Crockett's 

Alan Bernstein: and the River 

Ben Bernstein: Cafe. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, except back then, I mean see, it was no, no, no, wait a minute. It was 740 Marina, what was the name of the restaurant? Captain's Anchorage. Mm hmm. Captain's Anchorage. 

Ben Bernstein: Huh? Before we bought it. No, when 

Alan Bernstein: we bought it, it was 740 Marina and Captain's Anchorage 

Ben Bernstein: Restaurant.

Stay tuned for next week. Oh, yeah. All right, let's move on 

Moderator 1: Now it is time for rambling on the rivers

Word of the day[00:52:00] 

Terri Bernstein: Maybe you should do a little story leading up to the word. 

Ben Bernstein: Well first off I mean, it happens to everybody. it's not a unique story. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, certainly the word doesn't happen. 

Ben Bernstein: The word, well, the word is made up by you. It was pretty, 

Terri Bernstein: I think it was made up by you. 

Ben Bernstein: Maybe I know. I feel like dad.

He told me what he 

Alan Bernstein: did and I said, there's 

Ben Bernstein: no way you had, and here it is. Here it comes. The word of the day is Go ahead. Sneasel shits. And yes, it's probably exactly what it sounds. How do you spell that? 

Alan Bernstein: Let me spell. 

Ben Bernstein: This will take two of them. 

Alan Bernstein: Sneasel. Is SN Sneeze with an EL . Go on. Nee Snee. Snee.

[00:53:00] E-E-E-Z-Z-E-L-E. Sneeze. . 

Alan Bernstein 2: Yeah. . 

Alan Bernstein: Everybody knows that. S-H-I-T-S? 

Ben Bernstein: Yes, and yes, it is exactly. What it sounds like. It's not a marine term? No. You know, I don't specifically remember the story. Oh, I do. I mean, I'm saying I don't remember it like it's burned in my memory. But I do remember. I do remember you calling everybody.

I was on my way to work. Yeah, we were on our way. And, you know, it was probably this time of the year and you had some allergies or a little cold and driving down probably Dixie Highway and Had a big old hot shoe and then a big old oh. So we had to we had to turn on about face and we had, we rounded [00:54:00] to

and we, we went back to port and changed our clothes. We had a little, yeah, it was a little delay getting to work. And unfortunately that just sometimes. It happens. Sometimes you gamble and sometimes you lose. 

Alan Bernstein: That's right. That's right. But it's a good, it was a great story. We were having a lot of fun here at work while he was going home to change.

Yeah, I remember Terri Vogt. Terri Vogt was laughing so hard. I just, and then when I, I came up with the word right away, the Sneasel 

Ben Bernstein: Shits. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, I, I think it was right. I 

Ben Bernstein: said, you know, I sneezed and I, well, yeah, that it's yeah. Yeah. And it's shit happens. Yeah.

Moderator 2: Welcome to As The Paddle Wheel Turns, our look at pertinent current events happening right now in the world.[00:55:00] 

Ben Bernstein: Alright, this week we have just concluded two straight weeks of major weather incidents. If you listened to us a couple episodes ago, we said we were We were filming or recording live from Hurricane Helene at the time. The bunker of Hurricane Helene. Which rolled through Cincinnati for four or five days straight of rain.

And then, unfortunately, the Citizens of Florida got to go through it all over again with Hurricane Milton. And a few episodes about hell, probably about 10 episodes ago. Now, when we talked about the Bella Cincinnati, we had captain Troy Manthey on board who owns an operation in Tampa and Clearwater down in Florida.

And he had to ride this one out. He actually sent his His wife and one of his children went to high ground. Yep. To high ground. To [00:56:00] the high ground. And he and his other child, his other child, went to the, the Marriott, I guess right there in front of their right, right front of their facility.

Right. Rode the storm mount. Mm-Hmm. . And very luckily the storm actually dipped a bit and it went just a little south. And just enough South to kind of lessen the, the, the wind load. But the biggest part was it brought all the water out of the bay and didn't flush all the water into the bay.

So they 15 foot. Forecasted storm 

Alan Bernstein: surge, but yeah, he, he did very well. 

Ben Bernstein: There were I saw some videos where the bay in some places was completely dry, totally dry, but it 

Alan Bernstein: all comes back and it all comes back, 

Ben Bernstein: but they are safe. They got, they made it through with no damage, which is just yeah, it's hard to believe.

Very, [00:57:00] very hard to believe. 

Terri Bernstein: It looked like it was going to completely wipe it out. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, and they say, you know, they I've watched a lot or listened or whatever, read a lot about, you know. Hurricanes down there and this has been the worst case scenario. This was the, Tampa's has always somehow just skated by without a direct hit.

And there has been a lot of concern because when they developed downtown Tampa, there were a lot of concerns that nobody was, Doing it in a way that was effective for defense of a hurricane. Correct. And you know, they, they've kind of just skated on by and they always kind of just missed the major impact.

And luckily it happened again. 

Terri Bernstein: How about all those tornadoes? That was crazy too. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. It was and that was far away from Tampa that I mean it was all [00:58:00] 16 

Terri Bernstein: at a time. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, I I think they set a record For the amount of tornadoes they actually had down there 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, Sometimes it makes its way here Like we saw a couple of weeks ago Very rarely do we get you know, any major incidents from it, but it's really been, and, you know, I just heard that there's another one lining up.

Terri Bernstein: Yeah, right behind you. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah I don't know. I think it's in the Atlantic, not in the Gulf. But, well. Anyways. But yeah, it was, but. It was quite the week. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, and I, I think that certainly my heart and thoughts go out to everybody. I know a lot of people that live in Florida.

A lot of people have businesses in Florida. I 

Terri Bernstein: have some high school friends that live there and their houses were destroyed. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, it's Well, Troy said, he said they got through, the boats had no damage. But they did have quite a few of their employees that have major damage at their home. Yeah, [00:59:00] 

Alan Bernstein: and that, 

Ben Bernstein: and that's just as And really the sad part, the hard part is, you know, all the debris and everything from the storm two weeks ago.

A lot of that stuff was still sitting out there. It's still there, yeah. And hasn't been picked up yet, and now Now it's 

Alan Bernstein: spewed everywhere. Yep, 

Ben Bernstein: now they gotta Do it all 

Alan Bernstein: again. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, I think I would wait for the next hurricane 

Alan Bernstein: that's brewing to make sure that it's 

Ben Bernstein: not like the river here, you know Yeah, the river the river recedes and then picks up whatever's on the bank.

Yeah well 

Alan Bernstein: But anyway, my my thoughts and all of our thoughts and prayers go out There are certainly many 

Ben Bernstein: ways to help if people want to help you know, that's all very easy to find specifically to whatever type of organization you would like to support. Right. But for those of you who have listened and, and a lot of you know, captain Troy at least we can report that everything turned out a, okay.

Alan Bernstein: Yep. Now you have to [01:00:00] go out and just understand if I had everything that I earned, all of my stuff in a house and it was destroyed instantly, I don't know how I would handle that. And here are people who 

Ben Bernstein: lose everything. What would be worse? If you lost everything in your home, or if you lost your whole library?

here 

Terri Bernstein: Probably the library because there's nothing left in the house. That's yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: I I put it all here. Well luckily 

Terri Bernstein: Nowadays everything is pretty digital like I take 

Ben Bernstein: a lot of things. 

Terri Bernstein: I mean I keep All my daughter's pictures. 

Ben Bernstein: Your 

Terri Bernstein: stuff now. You need 

Ben Bernstein: to digitize that stuff. Oh my god, I don't know. It would take years.

I mean. It would take years. When you talk about preservation, at least you have a backup. Yeah, that's true. That never goes away. Okay. Alright, well that is it for this episode. [01:01:00] Like we talked about, We will talk about our next Crockett's is next. Restaurant Adventure. Restaurant Venture and Adventure.

I guess it would be both terms. Again, thanks for listening. We'll see you all next week.

Moderator 1: Thank you for listening to the rambling on the river podcast presented by BB river boats. Stay tuned for the next episode of our podcast and remember to like, subscribe and follow us on all your favorite podcast platforms.

Ben Bernstein: The previous episode was brought to you by BB Riverboats. 

Sponsor Message 2: The moments that await just around the river's bend are what we look forward to each day. Watching high school sweethearts tie the knot, or watching them celebrate 50 wonderful [01:02:00] years together. A group of old friends reuniting for one more adventure, or young minds embarking on their first.

At BB Riverboats, we believe a cruise on the mighty Ohio is where lifelong memories are made. And that once you experience it, you'll want to share it with others time and time again. Plan your group event at BBRiverboats. com. Journey Aboard.