Oh Those Damn Carp

After staying on the old lock wall at Henry we moved on to Peoria and stayed at the Illinois Valley Yacht and Canoe Club, commonly called IVY.  We had not seen any of the famous jumping carp until now.  I don't know what it is about our boat but they seem to love it.  We went through a long stretch where they were hitting the boat constantly.  Two of them ended up on the swim platform and I couldn't get them off until we got out of the herd because they would have knocked me off the boat.  Apparently there is a sport of shooting them with bows.  One guy drives a bass boat and others stand up with the bows cocked waiting for the fish to jump (see picture below).  We are travelling with two other boats so we called the IVY club for reservations and they said they could take us but it was shallow.  We were going in no matter what because the boat stank and was filthy from the carp crap. 

This was the last place to get fuel before Grafton which is about 170 miles away.  We were told that fuel would be getting cheaper down the river but it was $4.50 per gallon.  The great news is that I got 1.88 miles per gallon since the last fill up 250 miles ago.  We have not been running the generator the last few days so that is even better.  IVY is a very nice marina and everyone was super friendly.  One of the permanent members came down and we talked for a while and toured each others boat.  Besides the two boats we are running with there were at least three other Looper boats.  We met two of them (Dream Catcher and Jeremiah) at dinner on Saturday night.  In hind sight we probably should have stayed another day because we were close to Peoria and we could have used a rest day.  We passed the city of Peoria which was the largest city we have seen since leaving Chicago.  

We pushed on another 50 miles to Havana and the Tall Timbers Marina.  There was low water going into the marina but we made it fine.  Bob, the owner was a big help and told us where the town was.  There was a festival going on until 6PM so we walked up town and walked around a little.  The NFL package was free on Sunday so I got to watch some football and the BTN replayed the Notre Dame - Michigan game so I was happy.  Two other boats came into Tall Timbers (Sweet Pea and Something Special) and we had cocktails, then dinner and bed.  We are back on the river now passing a tow which is always fun.  I am not sure how far we are going today but I think we are going to anchor at the end - we will see.

 This was a marker at the Henry Lock

Another view of the old lock wall at Henry

 Are we in New York already?

 Jumping Carp

 Two fish on the swim platform

 An unusual boat made in Germany.

 Bow hunters after the carp

The IVY Club

 Peoria, IL

 An LST from World War II in for a visit.

 Guess which company has their headquarters in Peoria.

 The last lock of the day

 First time we passed a tow going the same direction

 A little skinny going into Tall Timbers

 Guess where I went first when I got to the festival

 A view from the street

 We were in Havana last night

 Sid, Evelyn, Dale and Jim

Gene, Jennifer, Michael and Ginny (another Ginny)