MORE OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER - HENRY TO PEORIA TO HAVANA

Henry, Illinois




We left Ottawa feeling a little heavy hearted.  To us, it seemed like a wierd place full of ghosts and we really felt as though we could not get out of there fast enough.  Nevertheless, the folks there that we met were really nice and the City has our appreciation for the use of the dock for the night.

We ran all day.  However, notwithstanding a 9 hour day, we only travelled 37 miles.  Why, you should ask?  The Starved Rock Lock, that's why.  We got stuck waiting there for some 3 hours while a 12 pack had to split its load and lock twice.  We have had occasion to be in the right place at the right time.  When this happens, we can sometimes get squeezed in during the split and locked down since they have to lower the water in any event so the rest of the barge can then be lifted.

 However, today, this was not to be.  The wind was from the south, exactly the opposite direction the barge was going.  There are these cables and hydraulic winches used to pull a load out of the lock and get it over to the outer wall when the tow boat is waiting some 30 feet below.  Basically, they give the load a big shove and then catch it at the other end.  If they get it just right, there would be room for us to squeeze into the lock between the last "cell", the wall, and the back of the barge.  It's a tight squeeze, but we have made it happen twice, now.  Well, due to the direction of the wind, the barge stopped a little short.  It was out of the lock so the gates could be closed, but there simply was not enough room for us to squeeze in.  So we waited for the rest of the barges and the two boat to be lifted and then coupled and then moved out of the way.  We finally got under way again 3 hours later.

As such, we were faced with that difficult dilema:  will we make it to our planned destination before dark or should we start thinking about a back up plan?  There was some weather coming so we had to take that into consideration as well. We decided that if we had no further serious delays, we would make it to our planned destination before dark, so we "whipped the hampster" and got a move on.

It was just about 5:00 p.m when we pulled into the fuel dock behind the old lock wall at Henry, Illinois.  I can tell you that there is nothing here but clean fuel, a bar and restaurant, and a relatively inexpensive place to tie up for the night. However, the town is not completely without interest.

It turns out that this is one of the only places on the Illinois River that has never flooded (an interesting claim to fame).  Furthermore, Abraham Lincoln spoke here once.  Moreover, their local baseball team once played exhibition games against both the Cubs and the Whitesox.  The river is used by the folks here for commercial fishing and was once a gathering spot for shells for making buttons.  Finally, Henry has the distinction of having been the location of the first lock and dam constructed on the Illinois River.  It is from this that the town's slogan came:  "Best Town in Illinois by a dam site."

As I am writing this, it is pouring rain.  It is still dark out and I should probably go back to sleep for a while.  At some point, when the rain stops, we'll be casting off the lines and going somewhere.  Not sure where just yet.

More later.

Peoria, Illinois

How can you not visit a place called "Peoria"?  I have heard of it, but never thought I would ever get there, particularly on a boat.  Nevertheless, we went.  The city has a dock which we tied to.  There was electricity, too.  There are these pay-as-you-go meters there to pay for dockage, but they were broken and full of spiders.  Ok, plus number 1, free dock.  There are signs posted that say, "No Overnight Dockage", but nobody enforces it and in fact, the locals look the other way.  Ok, plus number 2, free dock for the night.  There are power pedestals up and down the dock that provide a source of electricity.  It's 15 amp/110 v, but that's good enough to keep the fridge and the freezer running, to make hot water, to watch tv, to keep the batteries topped off, etc.  Ok, plus number 3, sufficient electricity at no cost.  So, free, overnight dockage with power?  I think I'm likin' Peoria.



After we got tied up, we went on our ususal "walk about of discovery" and learned some interesting things about this place, all of which demonstrate an evolution, if you will, that started in the 1600's and continues today. 



You see, where we now have Peoria, we once had an indian winter hunting ground called  "Piniteoui" which, translated, means land of great abundance.  The area was later the home of French fur traders who moved their wares up and down the river in canoes.  Peoria became the "hub" for much of the French trade and exploration in the mid 17th century. 



The French built forts and settlements along the Illinois River and Peoria was their central location for trade and commerce.  In that regard, it is said that Fort Crevocoeur was the first European settlement ever built in the middle of America.  Even while the British Flag flew over Illinois in the late 18th Century, the French in Peoria continued to enjoy doing what they were doing and in fact, one of its villagers, Jean_Baptiste Du Sable, is said to have left Peoria, headed north, and founded Chicago! 



Later, after the Revolutionary War ended, much land was granted to the French in Peoria out of gratitude for their support in the war.  Not unpredictably, westerly moving American settlers ultimately displaced the French Peorians and the local indians.  They built their own forts and started farming.  I guess one could say there must be something in the water (and I don't mean Radium) because within a short period of time, farms and families flourished.  Peoria found itself in the middle of an economic and population boom in the early 19th Century.  It became a population center with the resources to support many industries including meat packing, casting foundries, pottery makers, warehousing, distilleries, and earth moving and farm machinery manufactories. 



Today, Peoria is home to Cat Diesel, as well as Tomatsu (a big earth moving/farm equipment manufacturer.)  Here's an interesting tidbit.  It is said that by 1900, due to the abundance of good water, corn, and means of transportation, distilleries grew up in the area and brought vast wealth to the city.  Peoria was allegedly known as the "Whiskey Capital of the World." 



Peoria's downtown area is very commercial with tall buildings, lots of restaurants, and services.  Peoria is sort of like the office building at the industrial site, complete with banks, commodity exchanges, warehouses,  and other financial institutions, and all the little bits that service the industry in the surrounding areas.  They have AAA baseball, professional basketball, and professional hockey teams that play in a beautiful Civic Center and Arena.  There are better restaurants.  There is higher fashion.  There is an airport, a train station, river boats, recreational opportunities, highways, bridges, paved roads, etc.  It is truly a modern industrial hub with all the amenities. On the outskirts of town are the big industrial sites and power generating stations. But in town, is where the business of industry takes place.
 


Peoria is a perfect example of how, as a direct result of geographical considerations, a town sprouted, evolved, flourished, and continues to thrive.  I'm serious.  You have to always ask yourself, "why does this place exist" and then look at a map if you want to understand it at all, especially in short order. 



In conclusion, while there is certainly an historical basis for Peoria's existence, the City does not necessarily dwell on its past.  Rather, it takes its past and continually works it into the modern, ever changing and evolving city it is today.  I like that.  Not every town thrives on being called an historic landmark.  Some places, like Peoria and Albany, embrace their history, but recognize that there is a lot more to them than old forts and historical homes.  While places like Peoria love tourism and offer lots of fun things to do and to see, this is not the focus.  It's a "working city".  Instead of living in its past, Peoria continues it and is a demonstration of how places can change and yet still remain the same.

I'll tell you.  It never ceases to amaze me what this country has in store, if you take just a moment to look around you.

We are tired.  The travelling has been hard the last few days with a lot of wind and a lot of rain.  We can travel through the weather.  The boat is big and heavy enough to handle a lot when we are on the rivers.  And, since we cruise in the confines of a nice, warm pilot house, moving in the wind and rain presents no concerns.  However, when you travel in tough weather, you have to maintain tough concentration, and that gets tiring.  Not only that, but each of the six locks we have gone through on the Illinois River over the last seven days, have had major delays.  I mean hours!  That gets tiring after a while....the waiting.  You have to be ready to go.  Also, you don't always get to tie up and wait. Sometimes, you have to just roll around in circles and try to hold position in the channel and not get blown out into the weeds or into the mud.  It's a hassle.

So, for now, we are going to stop for a couple days in the town of Havana and rest a day or two.  We are at a Marina known as Tall Timbers Marina.  It is a beautiful little marina that has all the fixin's for a couple down days.  The folks are really nice here.

More later.

HAVANA, IL

Havana is a really small community with barely 2000 people living here.  As such, it is very quaint.  We came here on the recommendation of a fellow cruiser who told us that the Tall Timbers Marina was really nice.  Well, he was right.  This is a great place.  It is a very small marina, but it has everything you could possibly want and is a very short walk from town. 

When we first got here, we met the guys on this boat called Pencil Pusher.  These were four "old" guys delivering the boat from the west coast of Michigan to its new home in Fort Meyers, Florida.  These guys were funny.  One of them, the oldest of the old guys, was a retired Coast Guardsman.  He also described himself as a "Viagra Field Tester."  The second old guy is a farmer and knows nothing about boats.  One day, the four old guys were in their usual local place drinking coffee, and he got "Shanghied" and literally dragged aboard for the ride.  After almost several hundred miles, he still claims he knows nothing about boats.  The owner of the boat is called, "the kid" because at 62, he is the youngest of the bunch.  Having recently declared himself single again and being done with the snowy Michigan winters, he will take up his time fishing and boating on the beautiful west coast of Florida while living on his boat.  Then there is the fourth guy.  He doesn't do much boating, but he went along for the ride.  These guys were great.  We laughed a lot.  Best of luck to them all.

The old guys left the following morning and Brenda and I got to our chores.  We had a closet full of laundry, a really dirty boat, and lots of other things to get done.  First, however, I had to fix the washer/dryer.  It was washing just fine, but it wasn't drying at all.  Ultimately, I figured out the problem and now, all the laundry is done.

The owner of this marina is a guy named Bob.  He and his manager Lynette, were the best.  We got invited to a Fish Fry on Saturday night.  It was their end of season bash.  We had a really great time, met some nice folks and ate some really good fish.  I also learned a couple things about breading fish that I will try to do myself sometime soon.  I suspect the technique and ingredients will also work for chicken or anything else you want to deep fry.  It comes out lite and crunchy, but not greasy at all.  Got to give it a try.

We got into town a couple times as we were going back and forth from the Dollar Store and the hardware store.  There is not much going on here.  I think times are hard, and a lot of the businesses were closed and gone.  I also think that many of these towns close up for the season.  Seriously.  Restaurants are only open on weekends and stores that might otherwise be open on weekends are closed, except by appointment.   There are a couple grain elevators in town that process corn into the fixin's for ethanol.  There are a couple factories down the road as well that are foundaries.  There is quite a bit of coal movement around here as well.  This part of the river is a barge fleeting area.  So there are smaller tugs pushing around singles and coupling them to make bigger loads so the bigger tow boats then come and pick up the big loads and then move off with them.  It's pretty interesting to see.



This dude is doing it the hard way.



Funny, when you hear of a town named Havana, you might be inclined to instantly think, "Cigars."  Well, you'd actually be pretty close to right on the money.  The funny thing is, the town has a strong connection to cigars. For nearly a century, Havana was one of the state's biggest producers of fine cigars. Taking advantage of its name, (at a time when "truth in advertising" regulation was very lax) city fathers established more than 50 cigar factories, rolling up "Havana" cigars for Chicago cigar aficionados. 

Another Havana, IL claim-to-fame are geese and water fowl. Because of the tremendous width of the Illinois River near the town of Havana, there are islands and backwaters teeming with water fowl. And for close to a century, Havana supplied Chicago hotels with its duck and geese for both food and fountain. 

One of the strangest things taking place in this area is referred to as the Redneck Fishing Tournament, where the folks from a town called Bath, Illinois, not that far from here, fish for the Asian Carp using anything but fishing poles.  There are folks who tell you that these fish, when properly aggitated, leap across the water and, in several cases, have caused injury to boaters and jet skiers.  These fish can get rather large.  So, the name of the game is apparently to catch as many as possible using anythig but a pole.  Some folks run little outboards on johnboats at just the right speed to get the fish to jump, and then swing at them with baseball bats and kill them.  Others get them to jump using similar techniques and then catch the flying bastards in nets.  It's all pretty wierd and extremely funny.  Check out their website.  It'll make you laugh.  Once again, it is amazing what you find in this country of ours.  http://redneckfishingtournament.com/



Brenda finds elephants just about everywhere.



Today, we leave Havana and this wonderful place called Tall Timbers Marina.  We're heading back out on the river and heading south.  We'll intersect with the Mississippi in a couple days.  We were on the Mississippi before at the other end, so to speak, when we went to New Orleans.  I wonder how this will compare. 

In any event, talk at you later.