Natchez &8212; If anybody was ready to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, it was the crew of the Steamboat Natchez.

After a 34-day Cincinnati to New Orleans voyage, the 20-man crew returned home Wednesday for a few days of celebration after their extended trip.

The New Orleans Steamboat Company&8217;s hurricane evacuation plan called for the Natchez and the Riverboat John J. Audubon to weather the storm 100 miles upriver from New Orleans.

&8220;Usually we ride out the storm for about three days, get the all-clear and then go back home,&8221; Captain Steve Nicoulin said.

&8220;This year we didn&8217;t get the all-clear, so we hung out there for about 10 days.&8221;

With company headquarters damaged, the Natchez docked in Baton Rouge for two weeks, allowing the crew time to check on loved ones and get off the boat for a little while.

Crewman Troy Delaney used his leave time to check on his family, which had made their way to Virginia in the wake of Katrina.

Delaney&8217;s one bedroom condominium in New Orleans East was flooded, making him homeless, like most of the rest of the crew.

Still, he was glad to have the opportunity to keep working, so he showed up at the boat on Oct. 19 for the month-long trip.

The boat normally makes day trips in and around the New Orleans area, but the hurricane changed the business model a bit.

The Natchez steamed non-stop to Cincinnati, where it started running day trips of the river towns on its way back down to New Orleans.

&8220;It&8217;s a chance to keep the boat working and give the crew a chance to work,&8221; Nicoulin said.

It&8217;s a good thing the boat only sails day trips, otherwise there would have been no place for the crew to sleep at night.

&8220;We sleep all over the boat, and then, when we get ready for passengers, we pick everything up,&8221; Nicoulin said.

After a month &8212; longer for those who evacuated with the boat &8212; everybody is starting to get ready to get to shore, but Nicoulin reported no real problems among the crew.

&8220;I&8217;m kind of like the mother hen,&8221; he said. &8220;It&8217;s been interesting, we&8217;re all starting to get a little tired of it.

Delaney said he has enjoyed getting to see the towns on the tour, but that he and the crew look forward to returning to their previous work lives.

&8220;It&8217;s quite an adventure,&8221; Delaney said. &8220;We&8217;re kind of wishing we could be back home to take care of stuff and get back to a semblance of normalcy,&8221; he said.

As for the future of the company, nobody knows. It plans to operate an abbreviated schedule out of New Orleans until the pre-Mardi Gras winter season &8212; a slow period anyway &8212; when it hopes the tourists will start to come back.

&8220;We&8217;re hoping to get through the winter and get into the spring and have things be vibrant again,&8221; Nicoulin said.