The American Century on the St. Clair River

I was at the Troy office today and just before I left, I saw that the American Century was heading down the St. Clair River, so I decided to head over that way before heading home.  It was actually up in the 80's today and felt kind of nice given the weather we were having in January and February.  It is finally starting to feel like spring.

 I think because it was so warm, I was getting a little distortion in the air and it made for an interesting effect on the ship pictures.  I am going to take a wild guess and say that the water was still considerably colder than the air and I was getting the same effect that you see over a road.

 So the subject of this post is the American Century which is one of the thousand footers that sail on the Great Lakes.  She's been on this blog a few times, so I wont go over her history or stuff like that.

 It's nice to see that the Lakes are getting back to a degree of normalcy.  The ships seem to be moving normally again.  Which is a good thing.

 The American Century is heading to Conneaut, Ohio to provide taconite to the mills in Pittsburgh. 

 Something tells me they need it too.

 You don't realize just how big these things are until you get a crewmember in a picture for reference. 

 It almost looks like she is eating the subject of my next post.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 A closer shot of her pilothouse.

 And she slowly passes St. Clair down the river.

 Next I headed to Marine City to try and catch her there.  I kind of liked the way she looked in the water but I was still running into distortion.

 And she got closer.

 Almost a chance for a beam shot but not quite.  I kind of like these shots because they give a fair idea of the side.

 A shot of the pilothouse and crane.

 And she slowly passes by.

 A shot just after she passed by.

 And she dwarfs the Marine City ferry.

 One more shot before moving on.

 Next I went to Algonac State Park to get some pictures from there.  I kind of like that spot for downbound freighters.

 Especially when I get the opportunity for a beam shot.

 I wish the water were a little calmer because I can almost see her reflection.

 It's a quick spot though.

 Then I headed to Algonac proper to get a couple more shot.

 This gives me an opportunity for a beam shot with the other lens.

 Her pilothouse and crane.

One more shot before moving on.