Next day we dedicated to exploring Peoria a bit. Because the highway outside the IVY Club in the direction of Peoria was fairly hostile to bicycles - no shoulder, no sidewalk - we took an Uber to the CAT Museum. Actually it is the visitor center for the Caterpillar Company (no felines), which has an extensive exhibit of its corporate activities, trucks, diggers, farm and mining equipment - all the famous yellow machines that work the countryside around the world. It was a great stop - and a pretty popular one. Caterpillar was until recently headquartered in Peoria, but has since moved to Chicago, leaving some of its operations in Peoria.

After seeing the CATs, we took a walk along the riverfront - lined with some docks and restaurants to and past its downtown. There is a Riverfront Museum as well as a few stores. Back a few blocks, the main city of Peoria seemed quite abandoned on this Saturday afternoon - nearly everything was closed - it is not a place that people live, just one where they work.

We returned back to the boat by Uber and then later went to dinner in Peoria Heights. The Heights seemed to have much more in the way of restaurants, bars and nightlife - and seems to be where some of the affluent of Peoria live. After a great dinner of Spanish tapas and wine, we turned to go back to the marina to prepare for the next step of the journey down the Illinois River.