Ottawa to Peoria: Maybe Don’t Boat Through a Storm

Well that was an eventful day. A couple days ago, we were in contact with IVY Club to see if their entryway was deep enough to accommodate our 4.5′ draft. That day, they were not confident it was. The concern was that it might be deep enough to get in, but then if the water level went down, we might not be able to get out the next day. So today we started with a sunrise departure from the friendly, informative, and accommodating Heritage Harbor and headed for the Peoria City docks. We really enjoyed our time at Heritage Harbor. As Owen hailed the Starved Rock Lock a short time later for a lock-through, we noticed the port engine beginning to overheat. The Lockmaster at Starved Rock Lock anticipated a 20-40 minute wait, so Owen turned off the engine while we waited. The wait ended up being 35 minutes, so bonus points to the Lockmaster!

Once we were situated in the lock, Owen went down below and checked things out. The coolant was slightly low. He filled it, and we were back in business.

That attempt to ruin our day thwarted, we continued our trip toward Peoria. The plan was to stop at the Landings at Henry Island to top off our fuel, as that is the last stop for diesel right now until Alton. We did not know there was a severe thunderstorm between Ottawa and Henry Island. The wind picked up, there was lightning and very loud thunder, and nowhere to pull over. So we muddled through. It probably wasn’t our finest boating moment, but it didn’t get “Lake Michigan” bad, and we didn’t have any “Jesus Take the Wheel” moments. We probably should have more thoroughly checked the weather for the day, but the weather apps we looked at certainly did not show that storm.

It was nice and dry by the time we got to Henry Island. The owners were kind enough to help us out with fuel and a pump out. The Henry Island lock is no longer a lock, but it’s a great place to stop for fuel, and there’s an attached marina. There’s room on the (rough) lock wall to tie up, and a floating dock for fuel. The restaurant nearby is closed and does not look to reopen for some time. The owners said there are food trucks there on weekends. It was a great stop, and the people there were fantastic.

The wind picked up again as we headed into the deceptive Upper Peoria Lake, which is large and shallow with a narrow channel. We had been warned to stay in the channel, which we did religiously.

Soon enough we saw the Spirit of Peoria, and we knew our stop for the night was right behind it. There were slips for 25′ and 30′ boats, and there was an Our Dash-sized spot along the edge. We were also welcomed by a sign warning of mixed sewage. We were the only boat there. After we docked and got off the boat, we saw a sign that said the docks were closed for the winter. We were able to hook up to 30 amp power. We had heard that the power pedestals were hit or miss, and we were fortunate that the first one we tried worked. We followed the dock to the Spirit of Peoria, which provided the entrance to the docks. There are public restrooms in a park building near the entrance to the Spirit of Peoria. A sign on the building says they are open Monday-Friday during business hours (7-4? 4:30?), but we found them to be open outside those hours.

We had dinner at the Blue Duck Tavern (everything on the menu looked really good, but tasted just “meh.”), and then we heard there was going to be a jazz in the park concert at 6:30. We went, and it was a great show by the Nikki Malley Quintet. The trumpet player was amazing.

We were slightly concerned about safety overnight, but there was nothing to worry about. The docks are against a very high wall next to a park. From the park, only the top of our boat was visible, plus our antenna, and our boat was about eight feet from the wall. So if anyone even noticed it was there, they couldn’t reach it, and the hassle of having to walk down to the Spirit of Peoria (where there are cameras), down the ramp, past the fire department boat garage, through an unlocked gate, would have been too much for all but the most determined of ne’er-do-wells. We could hear people in the park in the evening and again at bar closing time, but no one was interested in us.

The next day, we had hoped to go to the Caterpillar museum, but it was (still) closed for Covid. Instead, we went to the Peoria Riverfront Museum. It’s a little bit of everything in one building–there’s a T rex exhibit, duck decoys, mounted butterflies, wall art, modern art, and a space part. I really enjoyed the Preston Jackson exhibit, and we liked the Planetarium. We spent a couple hours there, and that was plenty.

The day was dreary with rain off and on. We had lunch at Kelleher’s Irish Pub, and the bangers were top notch. We took a little walk in the rain back to the boat, where we did fun boat stuff like cleaning bathrooms. We also watched a movie and enjoyed some down time.