Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Ludington, MI Day 2

Miles Traveled 0
Total Miles Traveled 6079
Day 349

We spent another day at Ludington, tied to a secure dock protected from the south west wind blowing across Lake Michigan.  It is amazing the affect a 10 to 15 mph wind has blowing across 60 miles of water.

I watched the SS Badger pull away from port this morning.  The SS Badger is a passenger and vehicle ferry that has been in service on Lake Michigan since 1953 and shuttles between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  It is the last coal fired passenger vessel operating on the Great Lakes.  The steamship makes the 60 mile cruise in about 4 hours using two four cylinder steam engines driving two cast steel, 4 blade props weighing 13,800 pounds each.  The steamships average speed is 18 mph, pretty impressive for a 410 foot long ship, 7 stories tall weighing 6650 tons.




2 comments:

Jeff said...

We were on the Badger about a month ago. It looked and smelled just like the old wabash river station.

Vic.Arghs said...

Exactly ! We were lucky enough not to stay at the marina next to the Badger dock. We heard you get soot all over your boat if you stay there. The Badger is pretty cool though.