Tugster can now move from the “silent” era to “talkies,” and what better way to inaugurate this to showcase Cornell leaving Krevey’s Pier (aka Pier 66) on a bright July morning and demonstrating only two of its seven voices.  First you’ll hear the New York Central #6 chime and then the “peanut whistle,” a high-pitched toot, a voice that–in a system of disappearing sound signals–could acknowledge a command.

K is a tough letter.  And I’ll mostly get to it later in the post, but for now, Cornell lives in Rondout Creek, almost 100 miles north of the sixth boro.   The Rondout flows through Kingston, formerly capital of New York.  Cornell Owner/Captain Matt Perricone here approaches barge Black Diamond for transit from Kingston to the sixth boro’s second annual City of Water Day, tomorrow.  Free boat rides . . . music from the likes of Sea Devils . . .

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Once the tow is made up, Cornell

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heads downriver past Poughkeepsie

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and Newburgh, toward a place of many spirits

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which Matt wards off by serving as the tow’s own figurehead as we head into the Hudson Highlands.

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Any time I pass here I find my awe of the river’s beauty kindled anew.

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Washington Irving published his satire Knickerbocker‘s History of New York in 1809, a book that begins with Hudson’s travels, surely a gone-to-dust fun read this Quadricentennial year.

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More fotos of the trip will appear soon, but here Buchanan 12 pushes 15 empty stone scows northward as we pass Stony Point Battlefield and Light.

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As I said, “K” is a tough one.  “Kill” (like Kill Van Kull or Catskill aka “Kaatskil”) starts with it, but of course I mean the Knickerbocker sense, not the English.  “Cornell” sounds like it could start with one.  “Kindle” does, and that’s my word.  Sometimes I find I work so many hours that I find myself interacting with such a thin sliver of life I start to feel isolated almost out of existence.  Meeting so many intriguing people in the process of blogging does kindle and rekindle exuberance for life,  curiousity, love, and all our beloveds anew daily.  Almost all people are story tellers, and I find I just don’t connect with a lot of people’s stories until . . . through experiences like traveling the river I find unexpected common ground, face to face, or  . . . VHF to VHF.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.  Off gallivanting again before dawn.  Crew in Cornell “talkie” are Paul and Karl . . . whom you hear say “all aboard.”

Remember, click on fotos to enlarge them.  To discover where Cornell has appeared in this blog before, use the blog search window.  Land background in the video is Hoboken, NJ.