A Quiet Day Down the Illinois from Peoria to Havana



Tuesday, August 13 2019
Day 4 on the Loop – Peoria to Havana, IL (43 Miles)

Today was a fun, and quite quiet day.  It is very nice to have a day where there are fewer nerve-wracking moments!

After breakfast we moved Sunny Tug over to the fuel dock and pumped out, since we may not have easy access to that service for a few days.  We then left East Port Marina (East Peoria) for the 43 mile trip to Havana, IL.  We were careful to go slowly through the No Wake Zone in Peoria, especially since the Coast Guard has a base right there.  A fellow boater had warned us of this, which was a good thing since, if there were any No Wake signs, we missed them.

At mile 157.7 we came to the Peoria Lock and Dam.  We were there for about an hour as a tow with five barges was locking through northbound.  We spent the time practicing keeping the boat in one place... harder than it looks since wind and current can blow you around. We then locked through, with a tow with one barge also in the lock.   This lock was a little different in that the lock attendant handed both John and I lines to hold on to as we dropped the 11 feet.

This was the tow we waited for at Peoria Lock and Dam

The rest of the journey to Havana was very peaceful, with very little other traffic.   In fact, we saw no one for miles.  We did meet two tows, that were headed northbound as we headed south.  We tried to hail on channel 16 to ask them which side they wanted us to pass, but there was no response, so we just got out of the channel and let them pass by.


This was the view out of the window for most of the day.  Very quiet with woods on each side.  Sometimes you think you are in the middle of nowhere, till you look at Google maps to see a town or roadway running beside you, just out of site.

Just us and the river!
We called Bob at Tall Timbers Marina and he gave us directions in to the small marina and was very hospitable.  For $40 we tied up at a nice floating dock, with power, restrooms, a shower if we wanted, and a nice grill area.

We took a short walk into town to buy some pot holders and other necessities and then went in search of dinner.  Havana is a nice, and very quiet, little town with some wonderful historic buildings and brick streets!  


We found a small restaurant/bar to have dinner.  There were three customers and us in the place.  They all gave us a warm welcome and one of the customers thanked us for coming into town.

It is still warm and humid so it is great to come back to the air conditioned boat and have some quiet time to write my blog and get ready for tomorrow.  As I write this, the sun is setting and a tow is passing by the entrance to the marina.

Sunny Tug at Tall Timbers Marina, Havana IL.




Catching up on the blog.... Thanks to John for the picture!




Comments

  1. KathleenAugust 14, 2019 at 8:30 PM

    Doing the blog is your captain's log. Instead of star dates we have loop dates.

    Nice shot of you by John.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeffAugust 24, 2019 at 3:12 PM

    The international maritime rule is that oncoming vessels pass port to port, or do the tow guys us that other one... MIght is Right!

    ReplyDelete

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