Catching the Alpena on her Way to Layup

So on Friday I decided to go do some boatwatching.  I saw that there was a nice handful of ships passing either on the St. Clair River or Detroit.  Three of these were ships that I was really interested in catching.

 First up was the Alpena.  She is currently the oldest self powered laker on the Lakes and is likely to stay that way for a while.

 I don't think carrying cement is particularly taxing for a ship.  It also seems like her owners take pretty good care of her.

 She is always nicely painted.  I think she stays mostly on the lower lakes.

 At any rate, I missed her on Tuesday as she headed up to her namesake city.  I think she was picking up one more load.

 And she was taking that load back to Cleveland (which is where she was when she was before heading back to Alpena).

 I think this would be her last load of the shipping season.  It always seems like she comes out pretty early though.

 Anyway, I might end up going to see her in Cleveland because she's in a pretty accessible spot.

 A beam shot.

She continues on her way.  From this point it is about another two hours to Detroit.  From Detroit, it's about three hours to the mouth of the Detroit River.  From the mouth of the Detroit River, it is roughly another 7 to 9 hours to Cleveland.  So all told, she's about 12 hours from her destination.