July 2009 (Part 1)

Looking back, the seventh month of July was a pretty good one on the river. There were new boats, this blog was new, there was a lot to explore and I had more time, less stress and fewer responsibilities than I do now.

So why not look back at that month and what made it good? That will take two posts, with the second one coming tomorrow.

On July 1, Adam and I caught the AEP Mariner coming down the river. I think it was the first time he had seen the boat, and I'm pretty sure it was the first time he got a good look at the new boats AEP was putting into service.

On July 3, I saw a horde of ducks and ducklings, with one young one catching my eye with how she walked around like she owned the place.

On the Fourth of July, I took the boys up to Point Pleasant for a boat ride. First we stopped to see the Bill Stile at a spot where Campbell used to park a lot of barges.

The excursion boat took us up the Kanawha, where we saw these three Amherst Madison boats, formerly owned by Ohio River Co., tied up and temporarily out of service. The Ohio and the Indiana are now in South America. The Pennsylvania has been renamed the O. Nelson Jones.

A week later, on July 11, I saw this AEP boat whose name I don't remember coming down past Huntington.

The next day, I was at a boat ramp when I saw this turkey vulture in a tree. Around that time, there was concern that black vultures were moving into the area and might push the turkey vultures out. Adam and I might have seen the carcass of a juvenile black vulture along four-lane U.S. 35 near Jackson, Ohio, that summer. That was the last I recall hearing of the invasion of black vultures, as all the buzzards I've seen around here have been of the turkey vulture variety.

From what I hear, turkey vultures locate carcasses through smell, while black vultures rely on eyesight. And black vultures are not above killing live animals. But that's something we apparently don't have to worry about here in the Greenup pool.

And on July 16, I saw these two Ingram boats tied together heading down the river toward Huntington. IT looks like one was pushing and one was deadheading, at least on this part of the journey.

I could have included a picture of a catfish that was maybe four or five feet long. Actually, its carcass that was on the water's edge near this shooting spot, but some readers might not appreciate it.

Tomorrow's entry wraps up the look back at July 2009.