Manitowoc to Ludington July 31, 2022

Manitowoc to Ludington

July 31, 2022

Well, so much for our rest day.  Normally we would already be in Ludington, however the Badger was not making a Saturday afternoon trip to Ludington so we had to take the Sunday trip on our rest day.  I guess it was kind of a half rest day as we didn’t have to be at the ferry dock until 12:30 PM.

In Manitowoc there is a very nice looking maritime museum and a WWII submarine which can be toured.  I have always looked at this and wanted to visit but never been able so this was my opportunity.  Greg was loading luggage between 8:00 -8:30 Am so I was there with mine and then I was off to the museum which opened at 9:00 am.  I wasn’t disappointed it was a really good museum.  There was an entire gallery on the ship wrecks along the Wisconsin shore, a gallery on ship building in the Ludington area, along with hundreds of ship models and some full size boats which built in the area in addition to the highlight of the tour the USS Cobra.  It took a full 2 hours to walk through the galleries, which were very good with lots of interactive displays.  Then I was off on a guided tour of the submarine.  Once on board and the tour group were in the submarine I have to admit to a few moments of claustrophobia. Things were really tight in there with hundreds of valves and switches.  A total of 28 subs were built in Manitowoc and were then barged down the Mississippi as the St Lawrence sea way was not large enough at that time to accommodate the subs.  They were also launched sideways rather than stern first as the river where they were constructed was not wide enough.  The side ways launch was a first for this type of launch.  

After the museum I was off to catch the Badger. It was a long and ardous process but finally we were all on and the Badge set sail.  The first 15 minutes is fun as you can see the shore and then there is 4 hours of utter boredom.  It was too windy and cold to be on deck and inside was hot, humid and crowded.  A perfect place to catch covid.

Finally Ludington was in sight and everyone crowded the stairs to get to the car deck.  Fortunately they let the cyclists down first and as I had purposely lagged behind on loading my bike was the last one loaded and I was the first one off the boat.   We cycled through town and found a place to eat supper.  As this is a tourist trap I had a overpriced and terrible burger for my supper.  Around the corner to the school to set up camp. As we had lost an hour due to time zone change by the time I had my tent set up and crawled into bed without a shower it was 10:00 Pm.  I was totally exhausted.

Tomorrow is a 94 mile day and the forecast it for pouring rain.  I can hardly wait.

Terry