I had a telephone call. It was a deep, husky but alluring voice inviting me to go for a walk. With invitations like that, what man can say no? It was the voice of Dorothy. I readied myself with the speed that only a man can. No need to primp and preen - men don't need lipstick nor eye-shadow not mascara. We face the world as we are - whether the world is ready or not.
I slipped into a pair of jeans and a comfy polo shirt - I'd been lounging at home in my lounging at home jeans and tee-shirt (the kind of clothes that one really shouldn't be seen out in lest one be considered a hobo). I grabbed my camera and climbed into my SUV. Starting the engine of my SUV empties a small Persian oilfield and I'm sure there can't be very many left by now.
20 pollution belching minutes later I was at Dorothy's house, ready to go. Needless to say, she still had her nails to paint and her cosmetics to apply. She wasn't even quite dressed when I arrive, having stepped out of the shower in her robe to answer the door. I sat on the sofa and waited while she completed her preparations for our photo ramble.
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| Flower by the river |
I drove us to the river - originally, we'd been planning to visit Saluda Shoales park to wander and do some photography but instead we went to the river as parking was free though I probably spent twice as much in fuel each way as the parking would have cost. 19 mpg is pretty decent for an SUV in America though nowhere near the 40+mpg most vehicles in Britain achieve. Having said that, most of the vehicles in Britain are so underpowered that they can barely drag themselves off the owner's driveway.
Immediately having parked, we wandered down to the river, pausing to photograph the flower above. This was actually growing beside the walkway near the river. We proceeded down some stairs to an old generating house beside the river that was now a fairly rough and ready museum.
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| Wall of the car park beside the river |
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| Weir beside the river |
I looked at the weir beside the river and wondered why the power generator was now a museum. With that amount of water coming down, even a small amount of power generated would be worthwhile.
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| Old gate house |
The old gate house used to work the sluice gate that allowed water to flow through the turbine hall. A bigger dam further up the river was built that generates far more hydroelectric power than this could ever generate. Having said that, this would produce enough power to power quite a few homes.
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| Generator hall |
This was the old turbine generator hall. The main works are actually downstairs but from here the top of the turbine armature is visible. It would take some work but all the the mechanism could be replaced with newer and more efficient equipment and this could be made to work and generate more power. Just think of the possibilities here, particularly with more people now driving electric runabouts.
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| Railway bridge |
Columbia is a small city with about quarter of a million residents. It doesn't really have any industry to speak of. It's essentially a large college town. It is the state capital but its main source of income is the University of South Carolina plus some other smaller educational institutions. If they were to vanish then Columbia would most likely become yet another ghost town. There is actually a railway to Columbia, which is almost surprising since there is no real industry any more to support a railway. Amtrak operates a passenger service and I have taken the train from Columbia to Washington DC before now.
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| The river |
This is the river that flows through the lower end of Columbia. At the top of the river is the Lake Murray dam which also contains the turbine house that generates a lot of Columbia's electricity. The rest is supplied by a nuclear power plant. Though this is a nice place to swim and fish, it is also not the safest place in the world. I'm not talking about the snapping turtles or the alligators nor even the snakes and water snakes but about the river itself. The flow is controlled by the floodgates at the dam. If there was a problem with the turbines, it's quite possible that the gates could be opened suddenly, allowing a tidal wave to roar down the river with potentially lethal effect on the unprepared.
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| Spanish Moss |
Spanish Moss is a feature in South Carolina. Nobody is quite sure where it came from but it festoons most of the trees. Apparently it makes a fairly decent animal feed. It's just a great long traily moss mass that seems to hang from trees. It never seems to grow along the ground, favoring trees instead. I have seen this as far South as Florida.
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| Caged walkway |
A little further down the river is a walkway that is surrounded by effectively a wooden cage. This allows the vegetation to grow over, rendering a lovely, naturally cooled passageway. It runs for about a hundred yards and though it cannot be seen here, many of the plants growing over the woodwork had some wonderful flowers that filled the air of the walkway with their delicate scent.
The end of the walk in sight
We continued on walking but determined to stop at the bridge before walking back to my vehicle. Dorothy was beginning to develop a blister on her foot from walking.
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| The last bridge |
This is the I26 bridge into Columbia. We'd walked maybe a mile and a half along the riverbank before Dorothy developed her blister. We turned around and slowly retraced our steps to my vehicle, Dorothy going barefoot most of the way in order to relieve pressure on her blister.
Having reached my vehicle, I pulled out a first aid pack and treated Dorothy's blister, after which we drove to one of our favorite Indian restaurants and had a wonderful Indian meal.
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