Saturday, June 3, 2023

M/V American Countess, 6/2/23

Every now and then, someone asks me where the Delta Queen is. I tell them its location on the last I heard, but the important thing is that we haven't seen it carrying passengers on the Ohio River since 2008, and it's doubtful we will see it again soon.

On Friday, the American Countess stopped in my area on a trip from Pittsburgh to Louisville. My work schedule prevented me from seeing it in the morning or afternoon, but I did manage to get a few pics from the Kentucky side of the river from Russell down to the Greenup Locks and Dam. Here are a few.









And this last one, in the Greenup Locks and Dam.

I knew it was getting late. As I turned around to walk back to my truck to get that last one, I saw the bottom edge of the solar disc touching the ridge off to the west. My original plan had been to get a picture of the boat coming out of the locks if there was enough light, but there wouldn't be time for that. I don't know that the lock gates had closed when this photo was taken, so it could be a half hour before the boat was out of the lock sufficiently to get a picture. That area isn't lighted, and I didn't want to be down there after dark without a flashlight, so I packed it in and came home.

Looking again this evening at the pictures I got yesterday evening, I found one or two that seemed to be special. I'll need to wait a few days to see if I feel about them then as I do now.

For the foreseeable future, the Delta Queen won't be taking overnight passengers anywhere anytime soon. If I read the American Queen's schedule for this year and next correctly, we won't be seeing it on the Ohio above the mouth of the Cumberland River way down near Paducah, so this is what we'll see and what people who want to travel the Ohio will ride.