September 27, 2008: Peoria to Havana

We left the Wharf Harbor covered dock early this morning with the plan to see a little more of the Peoria water front before heading south. The city docks were pretty much deserted because the flood had made it impossible to get from the dock to the shore. We pulled up to a place near the bridge along side the floating pier and tied up. It would be an adventure just getting to shore. We took our bikes and walked the long pier to where the connecting ramp would have normally taken you up to the shore. Today the ramp went down to where the concrete ramp began. The walkway was blocked off, but we were able to climb over the fence and lower the bikes onto the concrete ramp.

Our good luck was that our entrance to the shore led us into the middle of the Peoria Fine Art show. This is an annual weekend show with 150 artists from all over the country. Our timing was perfect to be here this weekend. The art was incredible- amazing ceramics, blown glass, water colors, truly unique framed photographic art and fine wood working that we saw as we walked through the village of little white tents.

We rode our bikes down the river trail to find the local farmer’s market. What fun! There was a band playing some brassy New Orleans jazz in the morning air. The ensemble included a saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and a string bass creating a carnival atmosphere. All the produce was local, and we did not find any fruit, but we did find some local “basil vinegar”, Nona’s rubbing spices (basil based) and some fresh focacia bread for dinner tonight.

To return to the boat we retraced our steps and cast off into the swift current pulling TNTYs out of the dock just by the Spirit of Peoria paddlewheel steamship. Now we are headed south with knowledge that the river below us closed at mile marker 102.

South of Peoria there were more gravel and samd and coal shipping yards. We saw industrial barges, train tracks with engines moving cars around and cranes standing at the ready to move the freight from barge to train or back again.

Today was our first experience with a flooded lock. The Peoria Lock and Dam was flooded which means that the water below the lock is as high as the water above. In this specific case, the water on the upper side of the lock was already 10 higher than normal where you would usually lock down 8 feet, so the water below the lock was 18 feet over. The lock was not operating and the gates which control the flow of the river beside the lock were lowered. So the route we took was over where the gates are and the water was about 24 feet deep there.

At mile marker 138 we entered a stretch where the Coast Guard had just opened the passage declared it an official no wake zone. This is an area where the river is contained between levies and the concern was to not create wave action to weaken the levies. In this area you could also see flooded cottages where no one wants any additional damage to be done to personal property by a wave from passing boats. There was also more debris in the river requiring careful attention here.

Tonight we are anchored out in Havana, Illinois. We took our bikes into shore in the dinghy for a ride around and we found a church for tomorrow. We also found a great supermarket with strawberries and honey butter. Tomorrow is going to be great.