Three boats, no sewer nostalgia

Today I found myself down by the river watching boats.

First was the M/V A.B.York, which I saw at South Point, Ohio, yesterday.

I don't know what was in the barge it was pushing, but the barge looked really new. I thought I saw the number "2013" on it, which would explain a lot.

I saw another boat coming upriver. I was going to ignore it, but as it got closer I noticed it looked awful funny on the front.

 So I watched it from the bridge, and this was what was on the front of the lead barge.
 

There was a similar structure on the next barge back. The barges were carrying anhydrous ammonia. I assume these structures had something to do with that.

And I saw this gentleman carrying a mop.

And here's the boat -- the Lydia Brent -- heading upriver past Huntington WV.

Off in the distance, I saw another boat, but I figured why wait. So I drove down the river and crossed the next bridge. I noticed this boat was one I hadn't seen before, so I went back to my previous spot and waited. It, too, was a Kirby boat, and it, too, was pushing two barges of anhydrous ammonia. At least that's what the barges said.

This boat was the Archie Wilson. I followed it up the West Virginia side to the next shooting spot. This guy was moving fast. As someone I know would say, he wasn't letting any moss grow on his barges.

I crossed the river to get one more set of pictures. I figured the sun was at an angle to light the boats up -- perhaps too much, given all that white paint -- so I might as well see how they look in this light. And this is what we got.

And that, friends, was my river excitement for the day.