30 pictures, 30 days Part 30

 A few months ago, I was in a meeting with a prominent local politician. He said there's no such place as Utopia. I said actually there is. It's a small unincorporated community along U.S. 50 and the Ohio River maybe an hour east of Cincinnati.

Utopia has an interesting history. We can discuss that later maybe. For these purposes, living along the Ohio River isn't really Utopia, but it can be a great place to live if you like rivers, boats, bridges and so many other things on the river, in it, over it and beside it. This series barely touched on bridges, and it didn't include dams, wildlife or the people of the river. If there is another series — assuming readers want it — we will probably emphasize those photos.

Anyway, thanks for looking at these pictures. 

30 days, 30 pictures Part 29

 McGinnis' M/V Garry Lacey, seen earlier in this series of river photos.

Adam and I attended its christening at Cincinnati in 2016. When we went on the boat, we were surprised at how steep the stairs to the pilothouse were. We decided to come down them backward, as if we were climbing down a ladder.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 28

 One of my favorites, the M/V Linda Reed of Crounse Corp.

One more boat pic and then we move to the final installment in this series.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 27

 This is the first of two photos taken after sunset on Christmas Day, 2021.

This is the Stacy Lynn.

HDR added for effect.

Next up is one taken after dark.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 26

 Back in December, my youngest earned another endorsement on his CDL. He could either go to the West Virginia DMV office in Huntington and wait for who knows how long, or he could drive an hour up to Point Pleasant and be in and out quickly. He decided to drive to Point Pleasant, as he had done before in his CDL training and certification.

Adam is pretty good at taking pictures of school buses. They're his first love, and he works as a substitute driver here in addition to another part-time job. On his trip to Point Pleasant, he saw this boat working some barges against the West Virginia shore. The problem was that this is a narrow part of the road. It's where the hill, the railroad track, the highway and the river all crowd up against each other. He didn't have his camera with him, either, so he had to slow down and get pictures with his phone. This is one of them.

The boat is the Sally Lapeyre of Canal Barge Company.

Adam does a pretty good job photographing school buses. Check out his YouTube channel (Project 681) for his video work.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 25

 I've posted this one before, but this time there's a small difference.

I photoshopped some of the lens flare out of it.

Tomorrow is another boat photo, but it's from a guest photographer who does some pretty good work in another specialty.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 24

The sternwheeler Kanawha showed up at Point Pleasant's riverfront park a few days early for the annual Tribute to the River festival. Another sternwheeler showed up the same day. Usually the riverfront is lined with sternwheelers during the festival, but it was not to be in 2021. High water forced cancellation of the festival.

 Some HDR editing added to see how it would affect the image.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 23

 The Coast Guard buoy tender Osage stops at Huntington.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 22

 This was taken at the riverfront park in Ashland, Kentucky, looking west (downriver) toward Ironton, Ohio. I had been up the river a few miles at Catlettsburg getting photos of boats in the fog, and I was hoping to get a Crouse boat in the fog at Ashland — the one I had photographed earlier. But between downtown Catlettsburg and downtown Ashland, rain began falling and knocked the fog off the river.

I was encouraged when I got to Ashland and saw that wall of white off to the west. That lasted for maybe two seconds before I realized that wasn't fog. That has heavy rain that had been forecast for that day. When it got to me, it fell and fell hard.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 21

 If only I had been looking this way five seconds earlier ...

30 days, 30 pictures Part 20

 

30 days, 30 pictures Part 19

 Nobody wants to sit in this swing this evening and watch the Ohio River go by. Oh well.

Tomorrow it's back to boats and barges.

30 days, 30 pictures Part 18

 The Ohio River at Huntington.

30 days 30 pictures Part 17

 The M/V Glenn A. Hendon

Cell phone pic.