December 29 – Friday

We are anchored on the Ohio side of the river and just finished a wonderful spaghetti dinner that Patrick made. Today was a short day – Captain says about 30 miles.

We bid a fond farewell to Mike and Campbell Towing Company today. Achievement is in fine form. Her generator is purring, the water is surging through her pipes to the faucets and toilets, her hydraulic fluid is full, driving the windless and her boiler is producing heat (though we have to reset it pretty often).

I didn’t get to tour the Granddaddy Tug last evening. The guys all worked pretty late, but we did have a wonderful dinner at the Iron Gate Restaurant in Point Pleasant. The head server Brooke told us that the tale of the Mothman was a bit different than we thought. She thinks he was the one who caused the collapse of the Silver Bridge. I embellished a bit on the number of people – seems the collapse happened right at rush hour and a total of 44 were killed. Just shortly afterward there was a murder trial going on in town and the man accused of murdering his wife came to court with a bomb strapped to his chest. He blew up the Judge and two others. Their tombstones stand at the courthouse. What a unique, interesting town.

Prior to casting off today, Mike and I got to visit a bit. He very patiently answered all my questions about the barges, tugs and coal. Coal is now augured out of the earth, so the end result is ground up rather than in chunks. (Or the lumps that Santa leaves the bad kids). The empty barges are filled in a number of ways. If the mine is way inland, the coal is loaded on rail cars for transport to the barges, if it is close to the river they load directly to the barges. Barges rely on tugs for propulsion so while they are waiting for their loads they are maneuvered by a line wrapped around a huge wench (it’s called something else – but I can’t remember) with a guide wire that attaches to the other end. That way the barge can be moved forward or aft by sliding along the wire. They are moved in order to fill them with even weight distribution. The full barges are then set up for transport to the consumer. I think Campbell’s main delivery is to American Power Company, though they have customers everywhere. The barges are secured together by wire and depending on width will have up to three across and five deep. Most of the coal barges will be in this configuration. The chemical and fuel barges are a bit wider (52 feet) and will have only two across; otherwise they would be too wide to fit through the locks. (Locks are 110 ft. wide)

Mike is one of those rare individuals that go out of his way to be helpful. He too was taken with Achievement. I think he liked the challenge of getting to know her intimately in order to take care of her ills. He particularly liked the wine cellar. He has a wonderful sense of humor and is a bit of a practical joker. Yesterday he brought some jerky his wife made. The guys loved it. He asked them to guess what it was. They guessed beef or venison. His response was “Nope – its possum and it was sun dried for about 3 days on the road prior.” (It was really venison – very tender and very good – Yep! They did save me a bit)

When we said our goodbyes today I gave him a hug and a kiss. I think I embarrassed him; he had that look of “Aw Shucks” even though he didn’t say it. He will be one of the most memorable people on this journey. We cannot thank him enough! THANK YOU MIKE!