Day 391
Miles Traveled: 53
Total Miles Traveled: 5981Like the day prior, except for rain, the conditions were cloudy with haze until the afternoon when the sun began to shine. We had a nice cruise with "Always Home" down the east shore of Lake Michigan. The waters were almost flat (very unusual for this lake). Our scenery didn't change much throughout the day. There were sand dunes and trees on our left and endless water on our right.
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| our view for the day |
The Big Sable Point Lighthouse did provide a break to the monotonous landscape. It stands 107 feet tall and was built in 1867. Originally it was a brick structure. The bricks began to crumble, and, in order to save the structure, it was encased in steel plates.
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| Big Sable Point Lighthouse |
We ended our seven hour trip at Ludington, MI. Like many of the harbors on the east side of Lake Michigan, a cut has been made or natural passageway improved to connect a smaller lake with Lake Michigan. Ludington sits on Pere Marquette Lake.
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| entering Ludington channel and Pere Marquette Lake |
Our dockage for the night was at the Ludington Municipal Marina. We have stayed at several of the state marinas and found them to be nice with friendly and helpful dockhands. They also are conveniently located close to town for amenities like shops and restaurants.
Right next to the marina was the Ludington Waterfront Park which displayed many unique bronze sculptures. Below are a few of our favorites.
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| sculpture of a steam engine car ferry |
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| "The Spirit of Ludington" honoring all seafarer |
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| "Follow the Leader" located right next to playground in the park |
After our walk through the park and downtown Ludington, we met up with Wayne & Donadee of "Always Home" at House of Flavors for dinner including ice cream sundaes for dessert.
As Angie was working on the blog, there was a loud horn blast heard coming from the entrance to lake. We went to investigate and saw a very, very large ship moving extremely slow down the channel with a police boat escort. It was the "SS Badger", one of the last and largest coal-fired, steam engine car ferries built in the United States. Actually, she is the ONLY coal-fired steamship in operation in the U.S. She started her service in 1953 and continues to take passengers, vehicles (from bikes to RV's), and commercial trucks across Lake Michigan from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI. It was impressive to see this enormous ship come into such a small body of water, turn around 180 degrees (by dropping her anchor and using it as a pivot point), and back into the dock.
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| "SS Badger" Ferry entering entering Pere Marquette Lake |
SS Badger turning
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| "SS Badger" Ferry after turning 180 degrees started to back up to her dock |
The "SS Badger" unloaded its cargo and took on more in preparation for its cruise back across the lake. The evening ended as we listened to bagpipes being played off of the fantail of the "SS Badger" as she left the port at Ludington.
So glad you had a good day to travel! The Badger was one of the highlights for us in Ludington and we got to see the bagpiper playing too. Keep blogging, we are following your trip! Kathy & John
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