On to Ludington –
and the SS Badger
After a long leisurely
morning – a side effect of the 3 AM thunderstorm that disturbed our sleep,
knocked out the internet at the grocery store and littered the streets with
limbs and debris, we headed out onto Lake Michigan for the shortish run to
Ludington. The winds fortunately slacked
off enough to make the lake comfortable and in late afternoon we dropped the
hook in a cove on Lake Pere Marquette. On one side we had protected forest and
the other a Dow Chemical operation – but down the lake we had a great view of
the SS Badger dock. This is the only former railroad car ferry still in operation
as a car and passenger ferry. Celebrating
her 60 years on the lake, she sails several times a day during the summer
between Ludington and Manitowoc, WI. The Badger is the longest ferry ever built
for the Great Lakes at over 400 feet and after our tour of the Milwaukee, it
was fun to see one of these behemoths glide into the lake, drop anchor and spin
around to back into the loading dock.
Since we didn’t pay the fee to travel on the Badger we don’t know if
this 1950s era ship is appointed in the manner of the Milwaukee, but just
seeing her smoke stack and hearing her horn made our visit to the Milwaukee
come to life.
Ludington is the town
where two marinas are joined by a sculpture park only a couple blocks from the
heart of downtown. Nearby is a state park and for those with wheels the
distinctive Point Sable lighthouse. We confined ourselves to a stroll downtown,
an ice cream snack, and peek into the antique mall. (My collection of Travis
McGee books is growing as I haunt the antique and used bookstores of Michigan.)
Our anchorage in
Ludington revealed a new twist – this spot is deep and therefore requires
several hundred feet of chain be let out with the anchor. At about 150 ft we jammed up and Steve had to
go and untwist the chain – not an easy operation. We finally got enough out to
safely weather the night without dragging - not a good thing to drag and end up
on shore, on rocks or in some cute cottage garden. For our morning exercise we
pulled the remaining hundred and fifty feet or so of chain out of the locker
onto our bed and proceed to UNTWIST. After all the twists were worked to the
end and off, we fed it back in and hope to not have to repeat this routine for
another few months. Steve speculates that the twists are a result of all that
current reversing on the Atlantic ICW, but it just may be another one of those
every once in a while boat chores. (Note that royal WE really means Steve with
minor assistance from the Admiral.)
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