By Larry Oaks, Northern Minnesota Correspondent

Star Tribune, August 20, 1998

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The first thing you should know is that the Knotty Bear, despite the suggestive name, does not feature strippers. On this dinner-boat cruise, the emphasis is on relaxation and romance.

On a recent trip, passengers in casual attire watched the moon's ice-white rays spill onto the dark waves of Gull Lake, in the Brained (Minnesota) lakes area. A string trio played softly from a corner of the lower deck. Couples cuddled by the railing and gazed at the shoreline as the boat glided slowly along. After five-course dinners headlined by prime rib, salmon or Cornish hen, the passengers sipped cocktails and coffee at softly lit tables.

In another gesture to romance, fake paddle wheels on each side of the 65-foot boat pretend to do the work of the boat's twin diesel engines.

Owners Rob and Marcy VanValkenburg (Br 4) picked the name Knotty Bear because it refers to both a ship's knots and the rustic log Black Bear Lodge & Saloon north of Brainerd, which they also own.

Rob Van Valkenburg said the idea of taking to the water surfaced while touring Gull Lake on a pontoon boat last summer with friends. "We said, 'What this lake needs is dinner cruises,' " he said. "I got interested, one thing led to another and it became a project."

And what a project it was. He had to go to Salisbury, Maryland, to find a boat, one that had been used for dinner cruises on a river that empties into Chesapeake Bay. The two-deck side-wheeler replica was called the "Maryland Lady." It's flat hull and 30-inch draft made it perfect for the shallow spots on Gull Lake.

Once the deal was struck, VanValkenburg had another problem: How do you move a 38-ton riverboat from a river in Maryland to a lake in central Minnesota.

Part of the answer was hiring Capt. Neil Raymond to sail the boat 1,800 miles, up the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway, through the Erie and Oswego canals and through the Great Lakes to Duluth (Minnesota. Raymond is an itinerant captain, ex-newspaperman and former ski bum who lately had been skippering boats in the Bahamas and summer cruises on Lake Superior out of Bayfield, Wisconsin, which is where VanValkenburg found him. He hired him on a handshake, both to transport the vessel and to be its captain this summer on Gull Lake.

The rotating support crew on the voyage to Minnesota consisted of Rob VanValkenburg, his head chef, Howard Smith, and various members of the Black Bear restaurant staff who drove to meet them for various legs. For the most part, it was a crew of landlubbers.

"It was quite a journey," VanValkenburg said. "At 5 miles per hour, the horizon doesn't go by very fast. We cooked on the boat and slept in shifts on air mattresses on the floor."

After a 28-day voyage, they made the Duluth-Superior harbor on May 25. A large crane lifted the steel-hulled Knotty Bear out of the water and onto a large semitrailer truck, which took it from Duluth to Brainerd. The riverboat's wheel-house and smokestacks were cut off to allow the tall load to pass under bridges.

By June 18 the Knotty Bear was back together and making waves on 12-mile-long Gull Lake, with a complimentary cruise to introduce the vessel to local resort owners.

"The reaction has been real good," VanValkenburg said. "We've been careful not to blow the horn very often or to be a nuisance. We try to keep far enough off shore so that we're not looking in people's windows."

Cruise coordinator Kelly Shervey said they're working with some of the large Gull Lake resorts to offer a dinner cruise as part of a resort stay, with the Knotty Bear picking customers up at the dock.

Other plans include installing big-screen TV sets for "Vikings Game Cruises" this fall and Brainerd Lakes Area scenic bus trips that include a dinner cruise.

Judging from this summer's business, it looks like the Knotty Bear may be a longtime fixture on Gull Lake. The VanValkenburgs operate about nine trips per week, Shervey said.

For $34.95, people can take a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2-hour dinner-cruise trip on Friday or Saturday nights. There's also a buffet-lunch cruise ($18.95) and buffet-dinner cruise ($27.95) on Sundays. Special bookings for groups can be made during the week.

"It's a nice way to spend an evening," said Dave Norton of Hackensack, Minnesota, who took a recent dinner cruise with his wife, Jayne, and their friends. "It's relaxing, you're up north, and being on the water makes for a great atmosphere.