M/V Brees

Three weeks old, and I just now started working on it.

Better late than never, I guess.

On second thought, I could have gotten the crop or the composition a bit better.

It's starting to sprinkle

So we'll go home now ...

... if that's okay with you.

Late afternoon at Greenup

We were on an expedition looking for school buses. We had a little time, so we stopped at the public use area at the Greenup Locks and Dam and ...

One or two family reunions had broken up as people noticed it was almost half past 6. They said good-bye all the way to their cars and trucks.

While I was there, I had to get a shot of the Galveston Bay exiting the main lock upbound.

And if you were wondering, we did find some school buses.

It was a good evening.

Backup at Gallipolis, er, Robert C. Byrd

Yesterday I noticed that two tug-and-two combinations headed for Monaca were tied off to the West Virginia bank because of a backup at the Gallipolis Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam, so in the evening I drove up hoping to get some photos without having to trespass on private property. These are what I got.

First, the Tristen and the Brittany Lynn. There often are utility lines in the way of good river photos, it seems.

And the Lady Loren and the Stephen L.

The Kentucky was in line to go up. I assume it was sitting here while helping another boat with its double cuts.

All five boats got through overnight, so they're headed toward Racine as of this writing.

Drift barge still there

Tuesday morning I went down to Harris Riverfront Park here in Huntington WV in part to see more action in removing several years worth of drift that had accumulated behind the Huntington police and fire boat house. There wasn't much activity if any at all, but I did get off a few snaps.

And in this one, I can say that at least I got the pigeons in focus.

Sometime I'll ask what happens to all that wood. My boys would love to have a bonfire with it, but we don't have a fire pit that big.

M/V Mary Ellen Jones gets souged

I think that's the proper term. If not, I'm sure someone will correct me.

The boat passed Huntington this morning. The clear sky, the angle of the sun and the boat's white paint made me wish I had adjusted my camera settings a little differently. That's what happens when you change your settings when you're getting shots in certain light and forget to change them back right away.

As it passed me, I got a photo of it from the side. When I got home and uploaded it to my computer, I noticed these two guys. At first I thought they might be painting, but on further review it looks more like they're giving the boat's exterior a good cleaning.

I think that's called souging or sougeeing or something like that. You guys who do this for a living can set me straight.

Fishing at the Greenup Locks and Dam

Adam and I arrived shortly before the sun set following an hour or so of looking for school buses he's interested in.

This guy walked away pleased, I guess.

Maybe more later. It's getting late and my computer's getting cranky.

Digging out driftwood

This past Sunday, Sept. 15, I was down at Harris Riverfront Park in Huntington (America's Best Community, according to Frontier Communications) and saw the Earl Franklin docked at the upper end. That's where a marina used to be and where the city's police and fire department boats are housed. The Franklin was tied up there with a crane barge and at least two empties. My best guess was that we would see some dredging there later in the week.

Wednesday, I was back down there and saw the Franklin's crane barge up behind the marina dock pulling something off the bank.

Thursday, I went back down there because my six-year-old granddaughter wanted to go to the park. I didn't want to go, but we hadn't been there in a long time and the day will soon come when she's too old to want to do things like that with me.

She fell asleep on the way there, so I couldn't really get out of the car to get pictures of the Franklin working. As it turned out, it was digging a lot of logs and similar drift out of the boat dock area. These pictures I got either in the car or standing just outside it with my granddaughter asleep in the back seat.

This is how the action looked from the edge of the playground.

And here is a shot with the Franklin framed by playground equipment.

I have no idea what Amherst Madison will do with all that wood they pulled off the bank or out of the water. It would probably make a good bonfire.

One fine day at Willow Island

A photo without comment.

M/V Diane B. Siegel

Seen here shoving out of the auxiliary lock at the Gallipolis Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam the morning of Sept. 5.

Taken while I was up there working on a story and getting photos for the Waterways Journal.

On further review ...

I like this one better.

At first I didn't because I thought the camera was too close to the ground (actually, the old lock wall), but the more I looked at how the elements blend, the more I liked it.

Another load for Monaca

Sometimes when you're fishing, you pay attention to the unusual load passing you by, and sometimes you don't.

The boat is Marquette's M/V J.A. Ward, by the way.

Article on Port of Huntington/Tri-State

The Waterways Journal has a piece in its most recent issue about trends in what is known as the Port of Huntington/Tri-State, and it's not written by yours truly. It's written by staff writer David Murray. Check it out here.

A half hour at Sand-O harbor, part 2

Pictures of boats not named Capt. Kirby Dupuis

The Kenova and two other boats of Marathon Petroleum.

I tried channeling my inner Steven Spielberg by using the frame-within-a-frame technique. Didn't quite work.

A smaller boat pushing three coal barges. I didn't get a positive ID.

A couple of floating things where Crounse used to tie up empty coal barges.

And two of the M.K. McNally southbound.

I was going to add a couple of videos, but I don't have a directional microphone. Traffic noise ruined a couple of shots. Someone remind me why I'm supposed to enjoy listening to motorcycles roaring by at 130 decibels.

A half hour at Sand-O harbor, part 1

If I recall correctly, Sand-O Harbor is what the late Carroll "Willie" Wilson called his turf (?) on the Ohio River there at Mile 317.2 — the mouth of the Big Sandy River. He became general manager of Merdie Boggs & Sons there in the early 1980s at the death of Mr. Boggs (as he called him), his father-in-law. Willie had that job until he died, perhaps in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I just can't remember.

Someday I'll need to do an entire entry of Willie Wilson, but for now, this is a two-parter about the boats Adam and I saw during what was supposed to have been a momentary stop in the area as we searched car lots for a replacement for a car that we lost in an accident.

The stop started with getting pictures of the M/V Capt. Kirby Dupuis (or DuPuis) as it picked up its tow at Virginia Point Park in Kenova, W.Va., and headed south. These photos were taken from Virginia Point and from the small shelter along the Ohio in Catlettsburg, Ky.

The Capt. Kirby Dupuis is owned by Florida Marine Tansporters Inc. of Mandeville, La. As it passed by Catlettsburg, it also passed a former FMT boat now known as the Kenova of Marathon Petroleum.

The area at the mouth of the Big Sandy was a much busier place when barges brought as much coal out of the river as fast as trucks could haul them to the docks. It's still a busy place today, but not as much as back then.

Next up in this thread: Other boats we saw there at Catlettsburg in our brief visit.