Thursday, April 28, 2011

Adam meets David Smith

Adam and I had a pleasant evening out shooting pictures of towboats. We saw the D.A. Grimm picking up a barge or two or three (we couldn't tell) at Kenova's Virginia Point Park. We got to see the Omar close up. I hadn't seen the former Ohio River Co. boat in maybe 20 years, and Adam had never seen it. We were about to leave when David Smith, a pilot I've known for maybe 20 years, pulled up and started talking with us.

I met David in the 1980s when he was captain of the Ashland Oil boat Valvoline. Now he's a partner in River Marine Enterprises LLC of Paducah. He spends a lot of time with the Bridgett Cauley. The boats owner contracts with River Marine Enterprises to operate the Caulley. We talked about that boat and some others, including the Smitty, which David said is headed to the Illinois River soon.

It was a good conversation and nice to catch up with someone I hadn't seen in a while.

We got some good pictures. It will take a while for me to download and choose a few to put on the Web. Plus we stopped at the Boat Store at Merdie Boggs, where Adam got a red t-shirt with the silhouette of a towboat and barges, with the words "Just Tow It." He'll probably wear it to school tomorrow.