Thanks to Brian and I chasing down a towboat on a fishing trip in October, and one of Brian’s excellent pictures appearing on this blog, people at Parker Towing Company in Tuscaloosa seeing it, and thanks to several nice people at Parker (including Ron Jesser), I had one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities on Tuesday. I got to ride on a towboat (the M/V Tim Parker) pushing barges along the Black Warrior River, from Gorgas to Shoal Creek, a 26-mile ride. The weather was great, the fall colors were amazing, everyone onboard the Tim Parker treated me like family, and the ride was awesome.
A little background on this. Readers know I enjoy spending time on the Warrior River near Bluff Creek, as I have done since I was 3 years old when my grandpaw bought a cabin down there (31 years now). I’ve posted pictures from there on this blog many times…clouds, rainbows, cold air (and a barge), and some others. 4 of the 5 ABC 33/40 meteorologists have been down there; James and I took my small boat through Bankhead Lock this summer. Since I was little, I remember rushing outside to wave at the barges as they went by. I kept a log of the boat names. So, riding on a barge to me is something I would have traded 4 box seats at the World Series for.
These are just a few pictures from the towboat, and from our cabin and Shoal Creek (taken by Sid Coleman). I will place a video on the blog later in the week, interviewing some of the crew about life on a towboat, showing some of the cool things they do, and the hard work they do year round. Thanks to Capt. Glen Freeman and Relief Capt. Marvin Williams…I’ll talk about the rest of the crew in the blog on Friday.
