9-2-18 9-3-18 Peoria, Hot Hot Hot

We pulled into Peoria where they have free dock and some with power. The upper section is reserved for smaller boats and the lower section is where they want the larger boats.  We go right to where we are supposed to be. Bob N Along and Last Call are all tied up only to find out there was no electric at the power stations.  Bob and Scott took the Volt meter and found there was no power at any of the lower slips. They talked to the guys on the fire boats next to the dock and they said when they put their power in they took it out of the marina.  What a shame. While they walked the docks, an Asian Carp jumped on the dock right in front of them. They scooted him back in the water.  Crazy fish. Power was found on the upper docks, so we took turns helping each other get docked because the slips were very small and not intended for our size boats.

Once hooked up, we immediately turned on the air conditioning.  It was mid 90s with heat index in the 100s.  Natalie was a dream and cooked us all a great dinner. Other boats came into the marina that evening, they were not tiny. We were impressed with their ability to slide by us and back into their slips.  Twin engines make that much easier.  They were quiet and left the next morning. We were crammed in like sardines all searching for a little power.

The next day was Labor Day was another hot one.  We all dropped our bikes and went riding before it got any warmer. Bob and Natalie planned to go to the parade, we went to the other side of the river to pick up some photos I had printed for a Scrapbook for my daughter and son-in-law. They said the parade was all unions.  Neither of us are from an area where Unions are a big thing, so this was new for both of us.

Fun Fact:  “Labor Day, the first  Monday in Spembert is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” from the US Department of Labor. We got back about the time the first groups from the parade were getting done and heading to the community picnic.  We were so hot, there was no way we were going to stand in the sun and watch the parade.  We almost didn’t stand in line to get food but were glad we did.  The vendor we went to had homemade tamales. After getting our food we went immediately to the air-conditioned boat and ate. The tamales were delicious! Shortly after, it started to rain on and off and we didn’t mind having an excuse to stay in our cool boat.  Later in the afternoon we took a walk and were melting again, so we HAD to get ice cream in order to make it back.

Peoria has a 31” tall painted bronze statue depicting “Abraham Lincoln presenting the contemporary “Common man” with the Gettysburg Address, underscoring its continuing relevance in today’s society.” Here is your history reminder lesson for the day. “The Gettysburg address reminded people what they fought for. Lincoln believed “common folk,” not the wealthy should control the government for only they would guarantee that laws would continue to enable everyone to prosper.” Funny how these lessons in my 50s mean so much more than when learned in school. Did you know Illinois is known as the Land of Lincoln?

The next day we went to the Caterpillar Visitor Center, see my next blog on that. When we returned to the marina, there were other Looper boats and as usual we all met on the dock exchanged cards and got to know each other. Great fun meeting other people.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

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