river barge tours

I read your original post. It would have been a neat experience to travel the Mississippi on a barge.
The only drawback, for me, would be if you saw something/someplace that looked interesting you couldn't stop for a few hours or a couple days.

A good alternative would be a river cruise on the Mississippi (or other Midwestern rivers). After some years' hiatus, there are some these days. Smaller ships, leisurely pace, and some of the stops allow for walking tours of old historic towns - rather fun! (We did one about 12 years ago.)

One of the best trips DW and I did was for our 20th wedding anniversary. She was informed of the flight 4 days before, and the big surprise 2 day before because we had to buy wet/cold weather gear:

A canal boat (narrow boat) trip in Yorkshire, England accompanied by BIL, SIL and two large dogs! A skippered trip (he went home at the end of the day and came back each morning!) gave us both confidence and privacy.

Great fun.