September 28, 2008: Havana to Bath Chute, IL

We left The Next Thirty Years at anchor and crossed back to the Riverside Park in Havana this morning in our dinghy. It was a challenge to find our way into a place to pull the little boat to shore in the flood. This is the first time I have worn water shoes to church (so that I could wade in) and we changed our shoes on the shore.

Then we cycled through downtown Havana with its streets paved with rustic brick and a Main street with fancy facades above fading businesses. We passed their historic water tower that was dated 1853 on our way to the church.

We attended First Baptist Church of Havana on the corner of Main and Pearl. The sanctuary had a lofty A-frame ceiling with warm paneling across the front and had the happy hum of friends greeting as the 70 or so people gathered. We met their friendly pastor Dave Byrd, who turned out to be from Fayetteville, NC and went to Mars Hill college. The message was based on scripture from Psalm 69 as prophecy of Jesus’s life and mission to us and the promise that God is always with us. The hymns were accompanied by a grand piano and we enjoyed singing with the congregation of around 70 worshipers. They were collecting their World Missions Offering aligned with the American Baptist convention.

After church and lunch back on the boat, we called Coast Guard again about the status of the river. They told us that the water had not dropped enough and the 20 mile stretch below us was still closed. We are very disappointed because the river is open to commercial traffic and we are looking forward to our flight home from St Louis. We decided to move the short distance down to the actual boundary of the restriction at a little spot called Bath Chute.

So tonight, we are anchored out at Bath Chute, a narrow tributary to the Illinois, where it is very peaceful and you can hear a cricket serenade. We are sharing the anchorage with 6 other looper yachts who have gathered here and are all awaiting the river opening.>