The water level in the Mississippi is low at this time of year, so the barge pilots must be extra cautious. There are five bridges across the river at or near downtown, with a sixth under construction, all throwing concrete and steel obstacles in the way of maritime traffic. Fog makes the task even more difficult.
There is a museum at the first lock and dam at Alton, Illinois, just north of us. (It's so flat south of here all the way to New Orleans that none are needed.) One of the exhibits is a video game in which you are the pilot, trying to maneuver your towboat and a chain of barges several city blocks long into a lock. I run the thing into the ground every time.
There is a museum at the first lock and dam at Alton, Illinois, just north of us. (It's so flat south of here all the way to New Orleans that none are needed.) One of the exhibits is a video game in which you are the pilot, trying to maneuver your towboat and a chain of barges several city blocks long into a lock. I run the thing into the ground every time.
7 comments:
et oui chacun son métier ;)) quand je vois les péniches manœuvres pour entrer et sortir de l’écluse d'Evry, je suis en admiration, moi qui rate déjà un simple créneau ;)
Nice bridges. I think Belgrade has five bridges too, and now the new sixth one I've posted a couple of times.
Mood here.
It for sure are impressive bridges an the more so in the fog.
This has a mystical atmosphere. I did a lot os sailing in the Mississippi just above Alton Lock & Dam. Unless people have lived along the Mississippi, I don't think they can envision how large the tow boats and barges are, or how many of them of up and down the river.
That really is a touch foggy Bob, makes for very atmospheric images, I like them a lot! I can just imagine me playing that game, I would be ricocheting off everything in sight haha!
Some say the Eads Bridge was more important to St. Louis, than the arch is.
The pilots are highly trained, and they have safety-safety-safety drummed into therm. The company from which I retired had one of the biggest fleets of barges that operates on the Mississippi. I always intended to take a trip down the Mississippi on one of the barges before I retired, but I never did it.
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