Day 6, Tuesday: The Wright's in Wisconsin

116 miles (plus 62 water miles): Parked in Dave and Ann Wright's driveway, Amherst, WI

As I said before, the campsites at Ludington State Park were on top of each other. However, there was an upside. The family next door reminded me of the Alfie and Karen Bigarel clan. Teenage girls sitting around playing cards. Tents, camper, husbands, wives, sisters, brother in law all sitting around the fire ring drinking and telling stories. Well, it wasn't long before they dragged me into the group. They were all excited that I was a high school science teacher from NY. Anyway, I stayed up past my bed time. :-)

I was up and on the road by 6:30 Tuesday morning. Got to the ferry docks by 7:00. Damn!! There was a long line. But as it turned out, everyone was like me and wanted to be sure they were not late. By 7:30 the line was done. A bomb sniffing dog did check me out and I had to open the camper door for a brief inspection, but I passed. The routine at the ferry dock is this. You park your vehicle with the keys in the ignition. Their staff parks the vehicle on the ferry. Passenger cars are driven on. But RV's and tractor trailers are backed on. Apparently there is not room to turn them around to drive off the boat later. Zoey either had to either stay in the vehicle, or go to a kennel on the boat. The staff was very friendly and said that almost everyone leaves their pets in the vehicles, with the windows cracked. So that's what I did. Now, one advantage I discovered was that vehicles with pets were parked on the ship last so they could get fresher air. That also meant that they were the first off. Nice perk.

Once on board you can not visit your vehicle. So make sure you bring something to read. In fact I saw a couple of people with laptops. The trip actually takes a full 4 hours for a crossing of 62 miles. The time zone changes halfway across the lake, so only 3 hours on the clock. The Badger is a huge steamship that still burns coal. It was originally built to transport railroad cars. Now it takes everything from cars, to motorcycles, to RV's, to tractor trailers. The ship is 410 feet long, can carry 620 passengers, and up to 180 vehicles. It was probably about half full on this day. The weather was beautiful, although windy and chilly. Not a day to sunbathe on the deck. But there are several food lounges, a movie theater, bingo, gift shop, and a quiet lounge for sleeping. It was a good experience.

After debarking the ship, it was only a short 2 hour drive to Dave and Ann's home in Amherst. The GPS took me right to their front door. What did we ever do before cell phones, GPS, and google? Now, for those of you who don't know Dave and Ann, they are a trip. Kathy and I first met them back in the late sixites when they lived in Gouverneur and Dave taught school there while Ann took art classes at SUNY Potsdam. We all had our children at about the same time. They moved from Gouverneur in 1970. We have shared many adventures together, most recently a 2 week adventure in the Canadian Maritimes in 2007. Since 1970 they have both made their living as artists, Ann mainly as a painter and Dave as a sculptor. Here is their website: www.artbywrights.com/. I helped Dave move some sculptures to a galley in nearby Stevens Point. Then we went out for dinner, and Dave and Anne treated. Two of Dave's brothers showed up and kept things lively.

We are planning our next adventure. Right now it looks like we will go to the Bayfield area in Northern Wisconsin right on Lake Superior and do some camping and kayaking.

Guess I got kind of long winded. Sorry. See ya.