Really Random Tugs 48

We’re going west to east to south to farther east in today’s post, starting with the Missouri River north of Omaha by about 50 miles at the port of Blencoe IA.  From here grain and soybeans are barged all the way to the New Orleans area for transshipment to foreign markets.  That’s MV Tony Lippman stemming the current after dropping off some barges with fertilizer ingredients she’s pushed all the way here, fertilizer that arrived in the US by bulk carrier from foreign producers.

MV Tony Lippman is 144′ x 35′.  For more specs on this 1971 build, click here.

These two boats, at the Upper Mississippi River port of Hannibal, almost look familiar, but they are Sir Josie T and Sir Robert.  For more info, click here and see a photo by Tim Powell, frequent contributor on this blog.

CMT on the stack above stands for Canton Marine Towing. Near to far here are Sir Richard and Sir Robert. 

Now we’re back in the sixth boro and at the south side eastern tip of Motby.  From left, it’s Teresa, barge Acadia, Jane A. Bouchard, Evelyn Cutler, and Susan Rose.  Note that Teresa has a small US flag high in the rigging.  Might that be a courtesy flag in the wrong location, since she’s said to be flagged Liberian?  I was hoping to see her stern to confirm that. 

From Tony A and on a rainy day,

it’s Steven Wayne!  She first became a regular in the sixth boro as Patapsco.

Courtesy of a son of Neptune aka Neptuni filius himself, the vessel alluded to in a recent post and now here for all to see, it’s M. A. R. S. War Machine, ex-Paul T. Moran.   The photo was taken somewhere in the south.

And finally, from the mighty Ij River, it’s a 1907 or 1904 built Anna Sophia.  Photo by een zoon van Ij.

All photos, except of course those by Tony A and the sons above, WVD.

Rumor has it that tomorrow is an unusual day that in years past I have acknowledged.  I’m staying put.

Road Fotos 2021 D

I had to leave the Missouri way too early, and will return as soon as possible.  For my last set from the roads of eastern Nebraska, let’s start with friendly boaters zipping downstream. 

Barges loaded with Iowa and Nebraska grain head south for the lower Mississippi and export.

Note the red floats on either side, safety lines I suspect in case of runaway.

Morning I stopped at a boat ramp near Brownville, population less than 500, where 

I stopped to see Captain Merriwether Lewis, a USACE dredge

one of the last surviving vessels from the (relative) straightening of the Missouri beginning in the 1930s.

She was the result of a 1920s infrastructure project we still benefit from today, and is currently a museum I could not wait around to see.  Well, next time.

Driving back to the Phelps City MO side of the river, I saw the perfect illustration of the advantage of barging.  The white trailer extreme right below is 

the first white trailer to the left here below . . . .   All those trucks headed to the elevator would

NOT fill even half a Missouri/Mississippi River barge.

All photos/choices/sentiments, WVD, who needs to get back here.  Events compelled me back over the Mississippi too soon and back to NYS.