Waking Up to the Joseph L. Block

As I was tracking AIS on the way up to the Soo on Thursday,  I saw that the Joseph L. Block was heading to Cedarville.  So I basically dismissed her because I thought she would load there and head to somewhere on Lake Michigan.

 So in the morning I decided to check AIS to get a good idea of what ships would be in the Locks and when.  It turns out that the Joseph L. Block was making her way up the St. Marys River and would arrive at the Locks at roughly the same time they would open for Engineer's Day.

 It was kind of cool that it was the Joseph L. Block.  She's a ship that I don't see often enough.  She almost exclusively sticks to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  Although, she has made a couple of trips to Cleveland this year.

 Give that she is painted like her fleetmates and I love this scheme, I think she's a pretty neat looking boat.

 She passes by Mission Point.

 A shot of her pilot house.  I didn't stick around to get the stern shot because I wanted to make sure that I caught her in the locks.

 After getting through the line to get into the Locks, I made it in just enough time as she prepared to enter the Poe Lock.

 And this is what Engineer's Day is about.  It allows you an opportunity to get up closer to the ships than normal.

 There were quite a few people here.

 The captain peeking out of the pilot house.

 And there aren't too many places where you can get an angle like this.

 And a few as she is in the Locks.

 And she prepares to leave.

And she clears the Lock.  I'm not quite sure where she was headed.  I'm going to guess that it was either Duluth or Superior though.