Hanging Out in the AC in Havana Illinois

We have remained in this town to await the promise of cooler weather tomorrow when the temps may only reach the upper 80s. I am especially looking forward to the low 70s for highs by Friday.

Two more Looper boats came in to this small marina yesterday late afternoon. We think we have seen them before but not sure. One boat was from New Rochelle, NY and the other from a port in South Carolina. The one from NY started scrubbing his aft deck right away in this heat! Turned out several carp had jumped in their boat. They immediately threw them back into the water but they left slime and blood on the deck that has to be scrubbed off as soon as possible to avoid a terrible stink. These fish, some as big as 90 lbs., are easily disturbed by motors on boats and this causes them to jump up in the air... some as high as eight feet! The main problem with the carp is that they are eating the food that other types of fish eat which hurts the fishing industry. They are doing everything they can to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes and other rivers.

I have often wished our boat had a lower deck as it would be easier to tie up at most docks however, now I am so very glad that we had no carp jumping into our boat...many hit the boat hard yesterday but none came aboard. It was jarring as I kept thinking we had hit a dead head (underwater stump!).

Havana was established in 1853 and between the 1890s to the 1950s it was the most important inland fishing area in America! I found out today that 65% of the pumpkins you buy in the fall are shipped from here. But like most small towns today the population has decreased with folks leaving to find jobs in other locations.

We took a walk early today before it got too hot. This is Main Street.

I thought this building was interesting.

Up at the top of the hill on Main Street is a water tank built in 1889.  It is one of the four oldest in Illinois and they claim it is the oldest in continuous use.... and still being used today.  We noticed loose bricks at the top of this tank!  Uh Oh!

They have a small but nice water front park with a shady path.

Through the trees you could see the forever barges parked on the other side of the river awaiting harvest grains.

There were some pretty flowers outside of a Nature Center.

Here is Miss gg parked along side this small dock. Down from us you can just see the bow of a large Sea Ray. When one of the other Loopers left this morning putting his bow & stern thrusters to good use he remarked that who ever thought of thrusters should be awarded the Nobel Prize! Yeah, it was a tight fit for three large boats last night.

And here is the little office on a floating dock. That high ramp behind it is the “high water” bridge so they do get more water in here at times!  This was obviously too steep to use now to exit the marina for town. There was a lower ramp behind this building that we used.  

We are off tomorrow to find “The Barge” some have told us about at Beardstown, IL.  It is a good place to tie up.  Anchorages are few and far between and often take two anchors, one in the stern, to hold the boat in this river.  This barge charges a low fee and is close to town for resupplying the boat.  The following night we do plan to anchor out as we make our way toward the mighty Mississippi River.