Before we went bike riding Sunday afternoon, Adam and I had to get a look at the mv. Hoosier State. Adam loves the new AEP towboats, and he had seen the Hoosier State only once before. He's seen the mv. AEP Leader only once before, too, so we'll have to track that one down the next time it's in the area at a good time.
We went to the park where old Lock and Dam 27 was. We had seen the boat coming upriver at Huntington WV, so we waited. He had been pounding me at slug bug on the way to 27, so I jabbed him in the shoulder when I saw the Hoosier State come around the bend.
As Adam is fond of saying, we saw the mv. Buckeye State at 27 on Nov. 2, 2009, the same day the Hoosier State was delivered or went into service.
As it happened, the Ingram towboat Craig E. Philip was coming down the Ohio River at the same time as the Hoosier State was coming up. We hoped the two boats would pass where we stood or just a little downstream. Lucky for us, they did, with the Hoosier State on our side of the river and the Philip going closer to the West Virginia side.
This meant we would get a closeup look at the Hoosier State. Because these photos were taken before 2 p.m., the sun was behind the Hoosier State, putting the side toward us in shadow. That's the way it is around here. Before 2 p.m., you want to shoot photos from the West Virginia side if you can. After, you shoot from Ohio.
We hung around until the Hoosier State had gone out of sight upriver.
The river was maybe a foot above normal pool. Otherwise the old upper guide wall would stick out of the water more.
Adam asked if we would go up to the boat ramp at Athalia OH to see the Hoosier State again. I explained that we could do that, but the additional trip and boat watching would take an hour or more. He wanted to go bike riding, plus we had to pick his sister up from work later in the afternoon, so chasing the boat would cut into bike time. He figured he could see the boat again, but he really wanted to ride his bike, so we left.
