That was what happened when I saw the Juanita coming toward me. Up the river a bit, I wondered where she was, as she was not docked at the place I normally see her. But as I neared the strip plaza section of St. Albans, I saw her coming. With traffic the way it was and with how the road was designed there, I couldn't pull off until we had passed one another.
I first encountered the Juanita when she was still a workboat for AEP at Lakin, WV. They still used here there to push around a barge or two and do other work suited for a dinner bucket boat, as they called here. The pilothouse was heated by a potbellied stove. The deckhand was a man by the name of Worthy Love, I think. I was there doing a story on working sternwheelers for the Huntington newspaper, and the photographer gave me a photo of Mr. Love posing on his boat. I may have that photo still in my big storage bin of river stuff, buried deep in my basement.
A few years ago I got to step aboard the Juanita again at the river festival they have each year in Point Pleasant WV on Labor Day weekend. He owner, Tom Cook, gave me a tour of the boat and talked about this and that and the other thing. And I got a few good pictures of her, too.
Here's one. Here's another.
If I'm lucky, I'll see her again this summer, when the hills are green and provide a much better background. Or before. You never know.
