Day 58 – Peoria, IL to Havana, IL - September 2, 2011

We have a much shorter day planned today, which is good since it is again supposed to be over 100 degrees.  We gave a call to the Peoria Lock before we departed from the IVY club to see if it is busy or not.  The lockmaster lets us know that he is finishing a tow and will be available in about 45 minutes with nothing else coming for quite a distance.  We depart and make the 10 mile journey to the lock, letting the lockmaster know just before we arrive.  He re-fills the lock (he has recently finished locking through some other down-bound boats) and we lock through easily.  Again there is no floating bollard and we have to manage lines, but it is much easier with just three pleasure boats in the lock.  We have reservations at the Tall Timbers Marina in Havana, Illinois for the night and we spend the night here with Brandy IV and two other Loopers that we have seen on and off along the river since Chicago.

It is as hot as predicted with the heat index well over 100 so we take it very easy after we arrive and do things inside the boat instead of outside.  We originally plan to walk to dinner in the later  evening after it cools down a bit, but decide instead to have a light snack of fruit, cheese and crackers and then catch a movie (with popcorn) at the Lawford Theater, a classic theater with an Art Deco interior that was originally opened in 1914.

            Miles: 39.8      Bridges: 7        Locks: 1

the tow James W Buky pushing 13 barges (three barges wide, four
barges long, plus one extra barge in the front)

just after we pass the James W Buky, he passes another barge

about 5 miles before we arrived in Havana,
we saw this bald eagle - we could see his nest
deeper into the swampy area behind him