Marathon on the Kanawha

I've been working in downtown Charleston, W.Va., since the first of the year. The building we're in is on the banks of the Kanawha River, and my desk happens to be by a window. Today I was on a different floor and saw a boat coming up the Kanawha. I got a closer look at it and ran up two flights of stairs, grabbed a company camera and told the boss that an Ohio River boat was about to deliver two barges of petroleum products to the terminal across the river.

The boat was the Marathon of Marathon Petroleum Co. Usually Marathon uses a smaller boat to deliver barges to the Charleston terminal, but today I wasn't complaining.

The camera I used was a Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot. I had to be careful going from what I assume was optical zoom to digital zoom. But several of the pictures turned out okay anyway. And here they are.

Remember, photos are my property and are not to be printed, downloaded, copied or otherwise used without my permission.

By the way, I've known my supervisor since 1999, and she knows my love of the river.

We're scheduled to move into a new building around the first of March. It's a couple of blocks away from the Kanawha, and I won't have a window view of traffic going by. I'll probably miss the place.

M/V Charleston, 2 of 4

Here are some interior shots of the 64-year-old towboat Charleston, which was available for open house and public tours this past weekend at Point Pleasant, W.Va.

First, the pilothouse, where Captain Jimmy works.

The view out the back door of the pilothouse.

The engines and the engine room.

The galley.

 A commendation from the Coast Guard.

And my 11-year-old, almost 12-year-old son Adam dreaming of piloting one of these vessels someday.