The French Rivers Blog is the story of a journey I took with the late Dave Webb, about the building of a ship on the Thames River in London and then traveling through the rivers and canals in Europe. The Shenandoah was an eighty foot, eighty ton, steel hulled replica of a Dutch canal barge, and was Dave's dream project when he retired as an American Airlines Captain.

I came on board soon after he had purchased the unfinished hull in Hampton Court; we subsequently took her from there up to Cookham Dean to have her interior finished.

During the process of the project in England, I traveled the Thames Path from Greenwich to Marlow, and often visited with my London friends. When it was time for the maiden voyage, I declined to join "the boys" crossing the English Channel and met up with the boat again in Bruges for what turned out to be the adventure of a lifetime for the next few years.

Eventually based in St.Jean de Losne in France, we took many road trips, crewed on another barge in Germany, and generally lived a life very few people are privileged to experience.

As it turned out, captaining a barge was not like captaining a 777 airplane, and Dave's dream fell short of his expectations. Our paths diverged amicably and we continued to stay in touch. Dave sold the Shenandoah and moved back to his childhood home; I returned to Beaufort all the richer for the adventure and the friendship.