The latest copy of the Waterways Journal arrived in my mail today, and it had a couple of photos I shot last week of the Mister Mac and its tow moving up the Ohio River.
The photo on the left was taken from the walkway of the Ben Williamson Memorial Bridge at Ashland, Ky., although I was closer to the Ohio shore. The Ben Williamson bridge is the older of the two bridges there, and when it was renovated a decade or two ago, the sidewalk on the bridge was removed and a new one was bolted onto the outside of the bridge structure. It's a strange feeling being out there with no big steel bridge beams under you.
I knew I would get this shot early in the morning. As things unfolded, the Mister Mac approached Ashland as the sun was beginning to rise from behind an Ohio hill that almost crowded into the river. The golden light and the smooth, mirror-like river surface enhanced the visual of the boat and its unusual tow coming up the river. It was pretty chilly, too. I could see the mist from my breath. Around here, that's not unusual for a morning in early May. In this case, it was May 1, and we were coming off a relatively cold April.
The smaller photo on the right was taken from the sidewalk of the 6th Street bridge at Huntington, W.Va. I wanted to get an image showing what the refinery equipment looked like from the inside, and this was the best angle I could get.
Looking back, I wonder if the pilots of the Mister Mac ever got annoyed with all the drone activity as the boat moved up the river.
Here is one last shot of the Mister Mac's tow as seen from the 6th Street Bridge.
I knew the light would be working against me at this angle, but I wanted to show the difference in size between the two pieces the boat was pushing.
And if you're curious about how local media covered the Mister Mac's voyage, here is one from the Pomeroy Daily Sentinel.
