LOCK AND DAM

You may or may not have them in your part of the world, but lock and dam systems are important in ours. The Mississippi River is the nation's central freight highway and of untold economic importance. You just don't see them much from the road, with a few exceptions.

When our tour boat slid into L&D 27, the last one on the the river's southbound course, big steel gates closed behind us and the water level of the lower river. This is the lock for small boats - we went through the big one on our way back. In front, a horizontal gate slowly lowered, letting in water from the north and raising the boat some 15 feet / 4.5 meters. I've seen this things from the side before (the next one up has a visitor's center) but never been through one on a vessel. 

If you are terribly curious, there is a long discussion about how these work around the world at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_(water_navigation) .         

BIG LOAD

One of several things I learned on Saturday's trip on the Mississippi: just how big can the barge flotillas be and how much they can carry. The overall size is limited by the size of the locks. Each barge is a standard size. The locks can hold three across and five long, plus the push boat. We were told that the whole assembly can hold the equivalent of 900 US truck trailers. It's all fungible stuff, usually coal or grain. As we were disembarking, we saw one go by with 18 of the enormous fan blades used in new-style wind generators.

The light was terribly dull so I decided that B&W was the lesser of two evils. There are some shots that came out well in eerie, muted color.               

ROLLING ON THE RIVER

The family did something a little different on Saturday. We took a ride on one of the riverboats, not just the usual two hour, here's how boring it looks outside of downtown trips, but a five hour journey through the first lock on the Mississippi, which is north of here, up to the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri. (The grade is so flat from here to New Orleans, dropping 450 feet / 137 meters over a wiggly course of 1,278 miles / 2,056 kilometers, that there is no need for  locks.)

The boat makes a pretense of being a stern wheeler for old-timey effect. When it got into the lock and had to so some fine maneuvering, it was obvious that there were propellers underneath. 

The day was gray and drizzly so outdoor photography was not at its best. There are still some other images worth a look.            

BEGONE, SATAN

Well, uh, this was just the last good photo from the Renaissance Festival. The man, who was running the swing-the-big-hammer-and-ring-the-bell amusement, probably doesn't know a thing about karma. 

We spent much of Saturday on a long and unusual boat ride on the Mississippi River. Images to follow.  

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Every generation thinks that its children and grandchildren are degenerate and will bring about the collapse of all accomplishments of the past. That hasn't happened so far, although the older people in charge now might actually accomplish it. Still, the power to openly and massively express contempt for what has gone before has bloomed in the last 50 years. It's the doing of my generation. (I was at Woodstock, etc., etc.) 

And now we have this. I'm sure they are perfectly nice young people behind the shirts but, virus or not, we're not inviting them to dinner.