The Ohio River -- on it, in it, over it, beside it. No politics.
I've had this one sitting on my hard drive for about a month now, wondering what to do with it. The original didn't look as good on screen as it did in real life, so it just sat there. Tonight, as I couldn't sleep, I decided to play with it -- cropping it and doing stuff I normally don't like doing, such as adjusting the temperature. This is a windmill in Indiana as seen from the state road between Lawerenceburg and Rising Sun. It's beautiful country.
I don't know how old Barge C546 is or how much life it has left, but it looks like it's been banged around a bit -- something to be expected considering when it's loaded it carries as much coal as 15 to 17 rail cars.
A few more photos from yesterday. We'll start down by the river and end with some final thoughts.
Here are a couple of the old lock itself, or its remains.
I'm an old coot -- sometimes too nostalgic for my own good. While the people up on the bank ejoyed the food and socializing, I stood alone down by the river, lost in thought. I heard steam and whistles. I saw paddlewheels and Pittman arms. I heard water pouring through the wickets. And I saw people of a hundred years ago working the locks,or families in the houses up the hill.
From time to time I imagine myself back in, say, 1946 or earlier, wondering what my parents and grandparents saw. I think about the changes in the landscape and its people since then. It's an exercise of the imagination, and it's also a recognition that as each generation passes we lose memories of how regular people lived. Some things, places and traditions we have today are worth preserving. Some aren't. I hope the younger generations make wise choices between the two.
Here are a few photos from yesterday's centennial celebration of Lock and Dam 27 on the Ohio River, organized by the Rome Township trustees and HomeTown Love-Rome. There was a cruise-in and live music. There were vendors and food trucks. It was part of an effort to remind the community of the nice park there at Mile 301 and of improvements that could come.
More photos in Part 3.
Today the M/V Michael T. Somales came down the Ohio River pushing 15 loads of electric car fuel, as seen through the open trunk of a 1961 Ford Galaxie, a gasoline burner.
The antique car was at the park at the old dam site as part of a cruise-in held as part of the former lock and dam's centennial celebration. Alomg with the cruise-in, people could enjoy food, live music, vendors and a bunch of other stuff.
I expect to have more on this later. All I'll say now is that it was a good centennial celebration for a system that made the Ohio River navigable year-round for boats like the Somales.
I wanted to get a few photos of fall colors along the Ohio River yesterday before this week's weather stripped more leaves off trees, so I went to the little park down at the mouth of the Guyandotte River. Here are a couple that I got.
That's my favorite bridge in the background. I had to play with depth of field to make it an out-of-focus backdrop that I think worked out well.
Things happened today. I planned to get a few pictures of autumn leaves down by the Ohio River, but then I learned the Jean Akin was at Virginia Point Park in Kenova, so ...
I got hundreds of pictures today. This boat was in one-third to one-half of them, I would guess. This isn't the best pic I got of the boat today, and it's not the worst. I would say it might be in the 60th percentile. I have lots of photos to go through before I pick out the ones most suitable for posting. It's a good problem to have.
It had been two or three weeks since I had been to Catlettsburg KY on a photo expedition. I woke early this morning, so I figured I would go down and see what action was there. I didn't expect much, and my expectations were real. I saw one Marathon boat moving around the dock there, and up the river I saw the Map Runner approaching the tank farm and terminal at Kenova.
About two weeks ago, the trees here went from bright yellow one day to leafless the next. I'll adjust my river photography accordingly, as bare trees don't make good backgrounds in most cases. But I will adapt.
