WaterWorks: A River Journey to the Sea

We've passed by quite a fewTowboats during our travels on the river, and we've been keeping track of some of the names of these powerful boats that push barges up and down the rivers. It turns out that in spite of the brutal power these boats can sometimes deliver, their names can be somewhat poetic. A sampling of names of boats that we have seen thus far are as follows:

Alvin C. Johnson
American Pillar
Andi Boyd
Arthur E. Snider
Athena
Bill Miller
Boonesboro
Bootsie B.
Caleb Lay
Carl L. Johnson
Christopher M. Parsonage
City of Chicago
Craig E. Philips
Cynthia
Debi Sharp
Dianne NealDirk Taylor
Dixie Leader
Doug Roberts
Eastern Star
Edwin A. Lewis
Elwood Jones
G. L. Furr
Hal D. Mill
Harlee Branch, Jr.

Helen Lay
J. Andrew Eckstein
Jackson H. Randolph
James E. Anderson
James K. Ellis
James R. Morehead
Jean Akin
Jeffrey A. Raike
Jerry E. Holbert
Jerry Jarrett
Jerry Tinkey
Jimmy Brown
Jincy
Jo Anne Stegbauer
Judi
Kelly Lee
Kelly Rae Erickson
Lee Synnott
Louise S.
Loyd Murphy
Marathon
Martha May
Mary Harter
Mary L

Mary Parker
Nancy Sturgis
Oliver C. Shearer
Pocahontas
Robert Knoke
Sandy Drake
Sara Page
Sarah L. Ingram
St. Louis
Stephen L. Colby
Superamerica
Susan E.
Susan K
Tennessee
Titletown USA
Tri-State
W. Stanley Jones
W.H. Dickhoner
W.T. Toutant
Wally Roller
Washington
West Virginia
Yvonne Conway

Congratulations to Amanda E. Jack of San Francisco, CA !
2005 Towboat Poetry Contest Grand Prize Winner

As Helen Lay down,

the woeful wake whispered of

what Martha May tow.

For detailed and interesting vessel information and location, you can track your Poetic Towboat in real time on the US Army Corps of Engineers website at:
http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/NIC2/RPT04/default.cfm?district=3

Check out the Towboat Website of Bill Alden, a friend we met in Louisville, KY:
http://home.att.net/~river.photos/index.htm