On the Road Again, and the Tugboat

I'm on the road today to Elkins, West Virginia, to teach a week of Appalachian storytelling on the lovely campus of Davis & Elkins College. It will be a week filled with stories and music, as this is also Vocal Week, Old-Time Week, and Dance Week. Can you just tell what a good time is ahead?

Yesterday I told stories at the Inland Waterways Festival at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, OH, and I will be back there today to tell more tales. This festival is really unique--there are exhibits of Ohio River fish, model steamboats, a calliope and steam whistles. There are re-enactors of river life, boats to explore, and a demonstration of how the locks and dams system works. There is history, music, food and children's activities. The museum is open and filled with artifacts from the golden age of steam.It's a day the whole family can enjoy, with something for every taste.

One of the coolest additions to the festival is a free tour of the Mike Weisend, a tugboat that belongs to AEP. I have watched, photographed and wondered about these mighty boats as they pushed huge barges up and down the river. It's been on my bucket list to actually to get on one and explore. Yesterday I got to do just that.

It as pretty windy! I loved this boat--it's almost a luxury boat in its way, with a TV lounge, huge kitchen, windows, and clean paint. Clean! That seemed to be the word to describe it; everything was clean as a whistle.

I was up neat the pilot house looking down at Larry on the deck, and where he was was not the lowest level so you can see this is a pretty tall boat. The tall white things are the exhausts for the two huge diesel engines that power the tug. These boats can push thousands of pounds of cargo and are one of the most efficient ways to move large loads. The Ohio River has many afloat, often passing each other as they run their freight up and down the river. 

I have more photos to share, but they are on my phone so I will have to upload them before I can post. The pilothouse was fascinating, as was the pilot! So I'll have more to say about our tour in a later post. Right now, I need to get on the road for the today's adventures and journeys.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.