A good time in Point Pleasant

I got back from the National Maritime Days Celebration at Point Pleasant, W.Va., where the 2009 towboat Mountain State and the 1931 towboat J.S. Lewis were open for tours. Adam was with me, of course.

The best part was meeting some people who I have come to know through this blog and my Flickr account. We met habitual riverboat photographer Fran Mullen of Crown City, Ohio, and his brother, Harold Henry. We met C.R. Neale, a 20-something pilot who doubles as a pretty good photographer, especially of night shots. And we saw Joe Kincaid, a pilot on the AEP towboat Hoosier State, and his family.

Adam had a ball sharing his river knowledge and soaking up whatever he could learn from people who work on the river every day. As L.M. Montgomery said of young Anne Shirley in "Anne of Green Gables," this afternoon his tongue was hinged on both ends.

Here are some photos that I did a quick edit of to get them ready tonight.

Adam meets C.R. Neale.

Joe Kincaid shows his family around the Mountain State. His daughter constantly asks, what does this do? She was a cutie.

A grandmother and her grandson enjoy the sidelwalk along the river as evening draws closer.

The towboat Milton comes out of the Kanawha River with several coal barges and heads down the Ohio River.

And here's what the radar on the Mountain State showed. On the left side of the screen is the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge. On the right is the Silver Memorial Bridge.

I hope to have more photos tomorrow evening.