Pic Today 3/23/14

BARGING DOWN THE

MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI

While at a friend's house last evening

on the banks of the Mississippi River,

I watched tug boats push their barge loads

slowly but surely downstream.

The ice is now gone,

with traffic free to flow.

Some 500-million tons of grain

are shipped to New Orleans annually

by barge on the Mississippi.

(Nearly 75% of U.S. exports

to the rest of the world.)