Man, it's cold down by the river

There are days when I wonder what it would be like to work on the river, whether it's on a towboat pushing coal or a luxury passenger boat like the Delta Queen or a smaller boat that goes from town to town offering hour-long excursions.

Today is not one of those days. I went down to the river to get a photo of the mv. Killian L. Huger as it passed Huntington. Because of the time of day and sky conditions, my choices of shooting spots were limited. Anyway, I got the photo, but it was pretty crummy, so I'm not putting it up here.

The air temperature was about 18 degrees and the wind chill was in single digits if not below zero. And I was glad I don't have to spend time on a steel barge in a stiff breeze (with nothing to block it) working with steel cables. I've seen photos of coils of that thick rope that's used on barges frozen solid under ice in below-zero weather.

Back in January, Adam and I endured similar or worse conditions chasing the Paula Ruble down the Ohio River. The coldest part may have been sitting up on a bridge waiting to get an overhead shot. Lucky for us there was a concrete sidewalk barrier to protect us from the wind.

But, yeah, it was cold cold cold down by the river today.