Another name disappears

One bad thing about growing old is all those things you used to like seeing aren't around anymore.

The Ohio River Company boats, the Ashland Oil boats, Ohio Barge Line, G&C Towing ... you know what I mean. Now it looks like the Cenac boats will be rebranded.

According to this story in the Waterways Journal, Kirby Corp. has agreed to buy the marine fleet —boats and barges — of Cenac Marine Services.

July 25, 2018 — The M/V Odette Cenac enters Locks and Dam 52 downbound.

When the deal is completed and Kirby puts its colors on another group of boats, that's another name that goes into history.

It's the way of things.

A barge

I like boats, but I like barges, too, even if they are devoid of the architecture and personality that boats have. An example is this one as seen last fall being pushed by the M/V Chip Lacy.

I look at this picture and see a lot of things. When the weather gets back to tolerable, I'll return to the river and check on a few things related to barges as well as to boats.

On further review

Back on the 10th of the month, I got some pictures of one of those tug-and-tow combinations headed up the river to Monaca. At the time I was pretty disappointed in what I got and figured I had wasted an afternoon.

I looked at the pictures again and decided maybe a couple were salvagable.

Here is the tow at Huntington, W.Va., (America's Best Community) as seen from the front.

And if you ever wondered how the wires on the tow in the back were arranged ...

Not the best, but maybe not a total waste of an afternoon.

M/V James R Morehead

Another day, another big load

All Good Cars ...

This week I said good-bye to an old friend who had been with me since April 2011. We had made several round trips to Camp Lejeune to see my son while he was in the Marines. We commuted to Charleston WV daily — a round trip of more than 100 miles. We also traveled to towboat christenings in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, and maybe more, but I can't remember. We chased boats, sunrises, sunsets and fog. We went the Point in Pittsburgh and Fort Defiance at Cairo.

But a few weeks ago, there was a rear-ender. Tuesday we got the news that the damage was too much, so after 281,239 miles, I had to say good-bye to my Honda CR-V. I can't tell you how many times it got my wife home in deep snow late at night or before dawn. The thing was great going uphill in snow, but not so great downhill.

Now I need to find a replacement. Ideally it would be a compact pickup with four wheel drive. With my luck lately, I'll have to settle for a Smart Car. But we'll see.

Nameboard

So here I sit, waiting for a load of laundry to dry. What else can I do but look through some recent photos and see what I can find to play with that might turn out interesting. How about this one of the M/V Janis R. Brewer's nameboard?

It was worth a shot, in more ways than one.

Warmer days, longer weather and green hills

Sitting here thinking about how I've not been able to get out and get some good pictures lately, so I reach back in the archives for better weather.

Independence Day is less than six months away, folks. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to warmer weather, longer days and green hills. And going down by the river to get my head straightened out. The only bad thing is knowing I have to go home afterward.

Not this time

So today I went out to get some pictures of the latest tug-and-tow combination to come up the Ohio. I got back home, looked at them and thought, these pictures are okay, but not worth sharing. So I will wait until conditions are better and I'm not on a learning curve trying different things with my camera.

If I'm going to put my name on something, I want that something to be good — if I have the choice.

Images from Big Sandy harbor, 1/8/19

The riverfront park at Ashland, Ky.

Another tug and tow on their way to Monaca

This evening the tugboat Sea Cypress and the towboat Sarah Cenac passed Ironton, Ohio, on their way to deliver more parts to the Shell ethane cracker plant being built at Monaca, Pa. I had hoped to get the evening sun reflecting off the boats, but the sun dropped behind the hill a few minutes before the boats passed beautiful downtown Ironton and went under the new bridge there.

If you want to see a short video of the Sea Cypress in motion, go to my YouTube upload.