Delta Queen's last trip could be tomorrow

The Delta Queen makes its last scheduled trip as an overnight passenger boat past Huntington sometime tomorrow. The Delta Queen will be at the Point Pleasant, W.Va., riverfront park from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. I asked the company today if we could get a reporter and a photographer on board, but they turned us down. They said Homeland Security regulations require 48 hours clearance.

It's a 40-mile trip from Point Pleasant to Huntington. Assuming the Delta Queen leaves Point Pleasant on time at 1 p.m. and travels at 5 mph, it's an eight-hour trip, meaning the boat won't get here until 10 p.m. Assuming it travels 10 mph and there is no delay at the Gallipolis Locks and Dam, that's a four-hour trip, putting its ETA at Huntington at 5 p.m.

The last time I chased the boat downriver, it moved closer to 6 mph, if that. It moved really slow. It didn't go under the 6th Street bridge until a while after sunset, and I barely got off some shots of it passing Harris Riverfront Park before I lost my light.

If I get off work early enough tomorrow, I'll probably chase it downriver again. If you see a middle-aged man with a gray beard sitting on a guardrail along Route 2, intently staring upriver, it's probably me.