Capt. Sam Sheerer has worked on the river longer than I’ve been alive, so I have no choice but to trust his 34 years of experience as he pilots the John F. Secrest, pushing six barges piled with more than 10,000 tons of coal between piers of a bridge spanning the Cumberland River.
“I called the bridge, and they said we have 47-foot clearance. So nobody panic, we will make it,” Sheerer says. I ask how tall the boat is. Sheerer sips on a fresh cup of Folgers and tells me we’ll have less than two feet…