Peoria to Havana, IL

This morning Kathleen went for a run along the river while I flushed our outboard with fresh water and checked it for proper operation. Everything looked okay to me, so our next hurdle was getting through the busy Peoria Lock, six miles downriver. I called the Lockmaster and was told that they were just finishing a split tow, with another one in the queue. However, they had another pleasure craft waiting, and if we got there right away, he would lock us both down ahead of the second tow, which would take at least two hours to break, lock and reattach. I said we’d be there as quickly as possible and we did a hurried pre-underway checklist, deciding to find out sooner rather than later if our outboard was gummed up. The engine ran fine and we arrived at the lock with a green light and open door, with a sailboat already in the chamber. We floated in the lock for the eight-foot drop and 20 minutes later we were continuing on downriver. Our outboard did alarm once while idling in the lock, but a shutdown and restart cleared it. 

We saw a fair bit of barge traffic for the next five miles, then the river became very scenic. There was a 15 mph west wind that kicked up whitecaps in several sections, but for the most part it was a beautiful day of river travel. Along the way we saw gulls, cormorants, geese, pelicans, buzzards, herons, osprey, bald eagles, hawks and are pretty sure that we saw a couple of golden eagles, whose wingspans can reach seven feet. We were also treated to one of the loudest cicada symphonies that we’ve ever heard, with their buzzing heard over our thrumming outboard for many miles. After the sailboat from the lock dropped behind us, we only saw one other pleasure craft on our 44-mile journey. About 3:00PM we pulled into Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, IL, where Bob, the owner met us, helped fuel up our boat and gave us the lay of the land. After wordlessly docking in our slip, securing and stowing the boat (the routine came right back to us), Kathleen and I walked into town, toured the five-block Main Street, then ate  dinner at Los Charros. We finished our delicious Mexican food and raced back to the marina to avoid getting caught in an approaching line of thunderstorms that looked ugly but turned out to be a bust. We played cribbage in the cabin, then relaxed in the cabin, finishing off a pretty good day back on the water! Map link: Havana, IL

Bonus Question: What common language’s name consists of four consecutive U.S. state postal abbreviations? (Answer at end of post)

Photo Journal: 

Sunrise at Peoria Boat Club

Illinois River scenery

Old lock on the river

Dragonfly at Tall Timbers Marina transient dock

Tall Timbers Marina fuel dock, office and restaurant.
Note how steep the gangway is to go ashore,
due to low water.

On the marina bulletin board

Bonus Question Answer: With over 950 million people speaking it as their native tongue, Mandarin (MA-ND-AR-IN), is the official language of China and has more native speakers than any other language in the world. Fun fact: Compared with the 26-letter English alphabet, everyday Mandarin uses about 2,500 characters.