The nearly 90-year-old steamboat is being towed to its new owners in Louisiana for $5 million in repairs and, if Congress allows, a chance to cruise the nation's waterways again.

It has been moored in Chattanooga, Tenn., as a floating hotel since 2008, but the boat's new owners hope that this year Congress will finally approve legislation allowing the boat to cruise the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers again by 2016.

Cornel Martin, a part owner of the boat, was "anxiously anticipating her arrival" Friday in Louisiana. He worked on the vessel from 1993 to 2004.

"She's got a lot of history and a lot of nostalgia about her, and she's still got a lot of life that's left in her, so hopefully, Congress can see their way into letting her cruise again and giving Americans and international visitors that opportunity to see America from the decks of a 1927 steamboat," he said. "It would be a shame to lose that piece of our history." ---->