Cruising Thru The Heartland...

We ended up staying two nights at Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa, IL due to morning rain on Monday, August 11. That was OK though, because it gave us time on Monday afternoon to get on the bikes and explore what turned out to be an interesting town. Ottawa was the site of the first senatorial campaign debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858.

Washington Square Park was the site
of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858

We were able to cycle along a bike trail built on the site of the towpath for the Illinois & Michigan (I&M) Canal. This canal provided the first complete water route from the U.S. east coast to the Gulf of Mexico by connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River by way of the Illinois River. It was dug by hand, completed in 1848, and was closed to navigation in 1933 when the Illinois Waterway was completed. The portion of the canal at Ottawa no longer has water.

Collector's House and old canal boat on a
now-dry canal bed

The bike ride was not without a bit of excitement. As we were on the bike trail heading back to the marina we heard a tremendous crash out on the road. We ran back and out to the street and saw that a vehicle had left the road, flipped upside down, and was resting in the trees. Someone had already called 911, and Lon helped to keep the driver calm until help arrived.

You can't see Lon, but he's behind the guy with the
light green shirt. Thankfully the driver was not
seriously injured

Ottawa is a fairly lively small town, with some nicely restored older buildings. At the marina we met up again with Ted Swartz, who we'd last seen a couple of days previously in Joliet. We're still traveling on the same schedule as Rolfe and Harriet Wall, so we all met for dinner at Corner 230 restaurant downtown.

Courthouse

Keeping downtown Ottawa beautiful

Ted Swartz and Lon at Corner 230

Our source for ice cream in Ottawa

On Tuesday (Aug. 12) we started cruising again, and have cruised every day since. At most we've had one lock to get through on each of our cruising days. Tuesday night we stayed in a marina in Henry, IL. It was a little rough, as we were tied up on a portion of the lock wall from one of the original I&M locks of the 1800's. We walked through downtown, but there really wasn't a whole lot to see.

CARIB II and Time Out on the old lock wall
in Henry, IL

Ice cream in Henry

On the way to Peoria on Wednesday (Aug. 13) we started encountering some of the Asian carp that are infesting the river. Boat engines must disturb them, because they were jumping out of CARIB's wake--not to the same extent as I've seen in some YouTube videos, where small boats have been absolutely pummeled by dozens of leaping carp, but enough to be a little disconcerting. We had one carp decide it wanted to go for a ride with us, so Lon had to gently return it to the river.

Lon using our "Zipper retrieval tool" (a fish net) to
scoop up a carp that had leaped onto the boat. 

We cruised through lake areas in the river yesterday that had hundreds of white pelicans.

This is just a small portion of the birds we saw

The days on the river pass pretty much the same--meet tows/barges, pass tows/barges, go through locks, find our dockage for the evening, and explore where we can. On Wednesday in Peoria we spent the evening at the municipal dock and visited the Caterpillar Visitor Center (the company has its headquarters in Peoria). The "Taste of Peoria" was happening just down the street, but we passed on participating.

Our pathway to exit Starved Rock Lock: the relatively
narrow opening to the left of the three barges positioned
at the opening of the lock

Illinois River like glass on Thursday

Time Out meeting commercial traffic

The Caterpillar Visitor Center, Peoria

Inside the Caterpillar Visitor's
Center

Tonight we are in Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, Illinois. The owner/manager, Bob Skoglund, is very congenial and the four of us enjoyed an impromtu "Happy Hour" with him.

Harriet Wall and Bob Skoglund

Tall Timbers Marina

Tall Timbers Marina is at Mile Marker 120 on the Illinois River, which means that it is 120 miles from the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Unfortunately, it is also the last marina before reaching Grafton at Mile Marker 0. Normally this might mean a night anchoring out, and that still could happen, but Bob said that the low water level of the Illinois River will make it difficult to get into the usual anchorages. So we are going to try to put in a 99-mile day tomorrow in order to reach a restaurant at Mile Marker 20 that has a dock on which boats can stay overnight. We will be leaving at sunrise, will increase our cruising speed somewhat, and will be praying that we get through our one lock of the day without a long wait. After an 11 or 12 hour day we hope to be able to reward ourselves with dinner at what we've heard is a great place for barbecue.