Watching the barges go through the lock :)

6 photos in this post

As you know, we are staying by the Ohio River. Yesterday afternoon we were here to see a barge heading downstream towards the dam, so we hopped in the truck and headed up to the lookout station. Here we spent a fascinating couple hours watching the barges.

As we got there, this barge was in the lock and the water was being taken out to allow it to be at the right level to go out the other side and continue on its journey. It was perfect timing on our part as then we waited for the water to rise again and this next barge to come through. The locks for these barges are WAY wider and bigger than the canal locks that are in England!

Richard did some research and calculations while we were standing there and figured this barge was carrying approximately the same weight as 4 x 100 train cars!

I have to say, I would NOT want this job! WAY too slow! If you know me well enough, you know I don’t like to be slow be it driving down the road or getting a job done. I want it done right but I want it done ASAP!

After the second barge was through, here comes a little pleasure boat. It just made us laugh as it looked SO minuscule compared to the massive barges!

We didn’t stay to see this one go through as although we heard them on the radio, we were back ‘home’ before they made their appearance.

Liz