Sunday, March 27, 2011

the Kentucky

Today Adam and I got to see the new Marathon Petroleum Co. towboat Kentucky actually moving on the Ohio River. The other times we've seen it, it's been tied to shore off in the distance. But today we got to se it close up.

Here the Kentucky is seen from a small picnic shelter at the upper end of Pomeroy, Ohio.


Here it's about to pass under the Bridge of Honor between Pomeroy, Ohio, and Mason, W.Va. In the lower right corner is one of the lights that turns the bridge purple at night.


And here's a closer look at the boat.


As seen from Tu-Endie-Wei Park in Point Pleasant, W.Va., with Kanauga, Ohio, in the background. Here the boat is at the spot where the Silver Bridge once stood.


Exiting the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam.


And heading down the Ohio River toward its home dock at Catlettsburg, Ky,


News nuggets

Many coal-fired power plants along the Ohio River have cooling towers to lower the temperature of water before it is returned to the river. Some don't. One of those is the Stuart generation station in Ohio at f about Mile 404. The question is whether the water that's being discharged into the river is too hot for wildlife and for human health, too. A public hearing was conducted on that last week, with comments from both points of view.

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The Cave-In-Rock ferry is back in business now that the river is going down and the ramps have been cleaned. If I can ever scrape together the money and the time, I'm going back down that way, and crossing the river on the ferry will be high on my to-do list.

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The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources wants to change its bass fishing regulations for the Ohio River to make them consistent with Ohio's, thus reducing confusion for people who fish in the river. The DNR is proposing a 12-inch minimum.

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Finally, Adam and I went to Virginia Point Park at Kenova, W.Va., Friday evening to see what we could see. There were no boats running in the area save for a line haul boat far, far down the river heading away from us. But we did see two backhoes running, clearing mud off the parking lot at the boat ramp there. I went to another boat ramp Saturday evening, but it was still covered in mud.

Some people don't mind driving in that mud. I made that mistake once. First, when you have a layer of mud on asphalt, it's as slick as ice. Second, the mud gets up in your wheelwells, and it's a pain to clean out.

So I'l not play in the mud for now.