Friday, July 26, 2013 – Ludington, MI & Manitowoc, Wisc
On Friday, we got up early at 6:00 am so we could be at the head of the line for the Ferry. The Ferry office opened at 7:30 AM. We were about to board the SS Badger. The Badger was built in Wisconsin in 1952. It was one of 14 ships that formed a fleet of ships that would pick up rail cars in Ludington, MI and take them to Manitowoc, WI where they would be rolled off and they could continue on the rail line. Prior to the fleet being in existence, the rail cars would have to be unloaded from the rail cars and reloaded onto the ships. This was very time consuming. With this fleet, they could simply roll up to 22 rail cars onto the boat and roll them off on the other side. By the late 60s the rail traffic had substantially reduced due to the increase in trucking and the construction of the Interstate HWY system. Most of the ships in that original fleet have since been sold off for scrap and today only two of the original fleet remain afloat. The SS Badger is used to carry cars, trucks and passengers and in our case RVs. It’s sister ship the Spartan sits in the docks in Ludington but is not in service. These ships are coal fired steam ships. The Badger is the only remaining coal burning passenger ship in operation in the United States. So, I wasn’t too excited about getting on a boat that is over 60 years old. I read in the office that I shouldn’t worry, it received a complete overhaul – in 1990 – more than 23 years ago. Also the Spartan, is often used as a “part” ship to keep the Badger going.
Undeterred, we got into line, unhitched our tow car and watched the load our two vehicles on board. We then found some comfortable seats to sit in for our 4-hour boat ride. The weather on the Michigan side was nice, but it was rainy and the lake had some significant swells on the Wisconsin side. We did make it safely.
Once we were in Manitowoc, we hitched the car back up and began to make our way to LaCrosse, Wisconsin. We did stop long enough in Manitowoc to have lunch at the Courthouse Pub that sits directly across from the County Courthouse. Unfortunately, we later realized that Elisa had left her favorite raincoat at the restaurant. It was raining when we went in, but it had stopped by the time we were done with lunch and she must have overlooked it. She will try to call them to see if they can ship it back to us.
We are not stopping to look at much so we can make our way to South Dakota. So it was a quick trip across much of Wisconsin and we stopped and slept overnight in the Walmart Parking lot. Surprisingly, we got a pretty good night’s sleep. When we woke up we saw that 4 or 5 other campers had joined us later that night.
Photo 1 – Here we are in line and waiting to board the SS Badger in Ludington, MI. We arrived there at 12:30 AM that morning, so we didn’t get too much sleep before we had to get in line.
Photo 2 & 3 – Our little Hyundai is waiting in line for the workers to load the car onto the ferry.
Photo 4 – Here we see the sister ship the Badger – the SS Spartan. The two ships were named for the University of Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan State Spartans. The Spartan is not in service and is used as a parts donor to keep the Badger going.
Photo 5 & 6 – We are coming into dock at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The ship backs into dock very slowly. The prop wash churns up a lot of silt from the bottom of the harbor. Small smelt become disoriented or are incapacitated from all the silt in the water and the seagulls come in for lunch as the fish float to the top.
Photo 7 – Land side view of the dock in Manitowoc
Photo 8 & 9 – Our RV arrives safely and is offloaded.
Photo 10 – The Budweiser Brewery in Manitowoc
Comments