Chasing the Roger Blough

I've been boatwatching for a while and since I first saw her, the Blough became my favorite ship.  Since I had the rest of the day to kill, I figured that I would chase her as far as I could.  I was happy to catch her because I haven't seen her that much this season and I figured this was my last chance to catch her before the shipping season ended.

 I first caught up to her at Riverside Park in Detroit.  It was just as well because the pictures aren't too bad.

 The river was relatively smoothe as I was taking my pictures.  The reflections were pretty nice.

 It was even nicer as the Blough approached the Ambassador Bridge.  The clouds were pretty cool too.

 I kind of wanted the full expanse of the bridge in a picture.

 I caught her at Belle Isle next.  Like I said in one of my other posts, I wanted to catch the CSL Assiniboine.

 This was from a point in the middle of the park.

 I wasn't expecting to catch them passing either other though.

 The Blough working her way up the Detroit River.  Even though she wasn't going any faster than normal, it seemed like she was booking.

 Next I headed up to Algonac State Park.  I wanted to catch her as she sort of entered the St. Clair River.  The park is great for downbound ships but not as good for upbound ships.

 A stern shot as she continues up the river.

 My next stop was Marine City.  I decided to catch her from the church parking lot because I was looking for a slightly different vantage point.  One of the nice things about Marine City is that you can see the ships coming up from a ways.

 She passes by the front.  Not too bad of a reflection here.

 I stopped at St. Clair next.  This is probably one of the better spots to catch ships.  You can get some nice head on shot but you can get other angles.

 I'm not sure I like the power plants in the background but I guess it's okay.

 I do like it better when there isn't much in the background.

 A shot of her pilothouse as she passes by.

 And she continues on her trek.

 I then stopped at Marysville for my next set of shots. 

 Marysville is another nice spot for ship shots.  If you've got a long enough lens, you can get a straight on shot.  The backgrounds aren't too distracting and in the fall, you get some nice colors.

 I saw the stack in the background and tried to time the shot so that she looked like a steamship.  This was probably the closest.

 And she gets closer.

 The river was probably the smoothest here and so I got the nicest reflections.

 A shot of her deckhouse.

 And her special unloader.

Finally, I headed up to Port Huron to catch her as she passed there.  This is probably my favorite spot on the river.

 Mainly because you can get the best frontal shots.

 You can also get the three quarters shot.

 And of course the ship framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

 She passes by.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

The Roger Blough was returning from Conneaut, Ohio where she delivered a load of taconite.  That was approximately 17 hours before this picture was taken.  From start to finish, the pictures in this post represent about five hours.  In about 19 hours after this picture, she will be passing DeTour Village.  In five hours after that, she will pass through the Poe Lock in Sault Ste Marie.  Roughly 24 hours after that, she will be passing under the lift bridge in Duluth.  Since this is probably her last trip of the season, she will be laying up somewhere in Duluth giving her and her crew a well earned rest.