Between the Sticks

For anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of the Mississippi, it is hard not be a little jealous of Bob Deck. A deckhand as a teenager and a Harbor Captain by the tender age of 22, Deck worked the big river during the 1970's and 1980's, a boom time for the Twin Cities barge business. Like Mark Twain and George Merrick before him Deck paints a vivid and nostalgic portrait of a working life on the river. And for budding river rats, he also provides practical tips on how best to guide barges through certain tricky stretches of water in St. Paul. -Mike Mosedale, reporter and river lover Ride on the Mississippi River with Captain Bob and share in his adventures as he navigates through floods, weather and curious passengers aboard tugboats and sternwheelers at the head of commercial navigation for the Western Rivers. Meet the pilots and deckhands that make their lives and living on the Mighty Mississippi. See the river through the eyes of a man who grew up on riverboats.