Nine members of the Orange County California Chapter of the National Rush Limbaugh Fan Club got a taste of the radio talk show host's hometown hospitality Thursday.

Extending that hospitality was Limbaugh's mother, Millie Limbaugh, known for her gracious, down-to-earth, charm.

Mrs. Limbaugh treated the group to lunch at the Cape Girardeau Country Club. The luncheon was an opportunity to visit again with members of the Orange County fan club that she met last December in California.

The fan club members came into downtown Cape Girardeau Thursday morning aboard the Mississippi Queen, a paddlewheeler boat owned by the Delta Queen Steamboat Line.

They had boarded the riverboat at Chattanooga, Tenn., and were en route to St. Louis where they would leave the boat following a seven-night cruise.

"I met Rush once," said Ruth Calvert, president of the Orange County chapter. "And, we met his mother last year when she visited our club."

Millie Limbaugh met with the chapter's members at the El Toro Marine Base in California at Christmas.

"I was out there a week," said Mrs. Limbaugh. "I had an opportunity to visit the Reagan Library, the Nixon Library, and other activities."

"We're scheduled to take in the Limbaugh tour," said Calvert.

That tour included a look at the downtown "Wall of Fame" Mural, which includes Rush Limbaugh; and a visit past the hospital where Rush was born and past his childhood home. Also included on the tour is the barber shop where he shined shoes at age 13, the radio station where the radio phenomenon started his broadcasting career as "Rusty Sharp," and past Cape Central High School, where he attended school.

"I've liked Rush Limbaugh since the first time he was on his national program," said Jerry Scott, who was in the Thursday group. "He's conservative and believes in the same things I believe."

Two other big Rush Limbaugh fans were aboard the riverboat -- Carol Stirnaman of the Sacramento area of California, and Angie Huston, of Westminster, Calif.

"We're not members of the fan club," said Stirnaman, "but, we are big Rush fans. It's nice to be on the boat with the fan club group."

The Orange County Chapter of the fan club consists of more than 200 members, with an average of 75 to 80 attending the monthly meetings.

"Nationally, the membership is at more than 3,000," said Calvert.

Each of the Orange County members proudly displayed their "Orange Crush on Rush" buttons.

Limbaugh, who started his nationally syndicated talk show in 1988 with 56 radio stations, now appears on 600 stations. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993.

His fan clubs started appearing during the early 1990s.

The purpose of the National Rush Limbaugh Fan Club, say members, is to "reinforce Rush Limbaugh and his effort to promote and preserve the American ideal."

"We try to have guest speakers at our monthly meetings, who will best exemplify Rush Limbaugh's ideals," said Scott.