Topic starter
31/01/2009 5:07 pm
Saturday August 1, 2009 will find MOR returning to the S.S. BADGER for a morning Lake Michigan crossing from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowac, Wisconsin. We'll stay in Manitowac until we return to Michigan the next afternoon. For those with a bit more time, a block of rooms will be put on hold in the delightful village of Saugatuck, Michigan for Sunday night.
The BADGER is coal fired with two vertical Uniflow reciprocating engines. If you have a USCG license, bring it. Maybe, if the Chief is feeling charitable that day, you might get to see the machinery. For us other mere mortals, as they say in New York City, forgitaboutit!
The final details are yet to be worked out. The BADGER's office is closed this time of year, so keep watching this string for further information come March.
31/01/2009 9:42 pm
Sounds neat!
It looks like both my Buick Roadmaster & myself might be joining you all on your trip west to the east coast of Wisconsin! As you know, Manitowoc has a great museum & WW2 sub downtown across the river from the Badger dock.
That weekend or the following, depending on my work & Church schedules, I am looking at doing a drive along the top of Lake Michigan, ending in Ludington.
You all almost have enough time to scoot up to Door County to check out their maritime museums!
Topic starter
31/01/2009 10:10 pm
Pete, I sure hope so! The Manitowoc Maritime Museum is worth a trip alone. One of the triple expansion engines is set up and slowly rolling over from the ferry CHIEF WAWATAM. All of the valve gear dances, the crossheads glide, and the ship-up jacks ship when the engine is stopped to back. it's a real treat to watch.
25/03/2009 2:48 am
FYI... the Badger website is up & running!
The start of their 56th sailing season starts May 22nd which also happens to be another great day in history...
Anyways, I'm looking forward to parking my Roadmaster in the staging area in Ludington for the cruise!
Here is the Manitowoc Museum website: Wisconsin Maritime Museum
And Door County's Museum: Door County Maritime Museum - Explore Door County's Rich Maritime Heritage!
Topic starter
25/03/2009 3:14 pm
Thanks, Pete, for the information.
I have contacted the Best Western Hotel in Manitowoc about reserving a block of rooms for Saturday night August 1. I don't have an idea of the room price yet. We'll ride the Steamer BADGER from Ludington to Manitowoc on Saturday morning and ride her back Sunday afternoon.
We are further investigating reserving a block of rooms in Saugatuck, Michigan for Sunday night. The Steamer KEEWATIN (The Keewatin Maritime Museum|) is a museum there, and the paddlewheeler STAR OF SAUGATUCK (Saugatuck Boat Cruises - Saugatuck Michigan) offers trips on the Kalamazoo River and out into Lake Michigan, N.C.P. So stay tuned for further information.
Topic starter
25/06/2009 6:44 pm
The Str. BADGER trip is starting to fill up with MOR regulars. The cost is $74.00 per person for the round trip crossing. We will leave on the four hour Lake Michigan crossing at 8:00 AM EDST Saturday, August 1 and arrive in Wisconsin at 11:00 AM CDST. On Sunday the BADGER leaves for Ludington at 1:15 PM CDST and arrives at 6:15 PM EDST.
MOR has blocks of rooms at The Four Seasons Hotel in Ludington (800) 968-0180 for Friday night, July 31 and at the Best Western in Manitowoc, WI for Saturday night (920) 682-7000. Mention that you are with MOR when you make reservations, and for the Best Western mention that you will need transportation to and from the car ferry.
Many people are planning to drive to Saugatuck, Michigan on Sunday night and stay there. The Scotch built Str. KEEWATIN is a lovingly maintained as a museum at Saugatuck. Also in Sagatuck there are numerous art galleries, restaurants, and wineries in the area that make Saugatuck a tourist magnet in its own right. Many in the group are staying at the Twin Gables B&B in town (800) 231-2185. There is no group space on hold there, but they know we're coming. Make sure to mention MOR when you book, and that you have heard how wonderful their home-cooked breakfasts are!
Contact me for further information.
05/07/2009 4:30 am
God-willing I'll be also heading west on the Badger August 1st!
I'll likely be heading west via the Lake Express from Milwaukee to Muskegon on the 31st...I'm gettin lazy in my old age, as I originally planned on driving around the top of the lake to get to Ludington, and for the cost of hotels & the fuel my 22mpg Roadmaster consumes (at the expense of missing out on some super spectacular scenery)...that equals the fare for the Lake Express!
Topic starter
05/07/2009 5:06 am
I sure hope that you can make the west-bound crossing with us, Pete. We'll be on the BADGER's 8 AM Ludington departure for Manitowoc.
Topic starter
07/07/2009 8:24 pm
The special $74.00 round trip fare is still available through MOR, so come along and join us! Reservations for hotel rooms are another question. Michigan and Wisconsin hotel rooms during Summer weekend nights can be as scarce as hens' teeth. Book your hotel room and join MOR on the last operating coal-fired passenger steam ship working the Great Lakes!
22/07/2009 8:53 pm
Steamships in Michigan
I do not recomend the Lake Express crossing Lake Michigan. If Lake Michigan is rough it will be a bad ride. But if you do take the Lake Express or are able to get to Muskegan I recomend the touring the Milwaukee Clipper, the LST 393 and The Great Lakes Naval Memorial which has the USS Silversides and the Coast Guard Cutter McClain.
I also recomend in Manistee, which is north of Ludington, touring the SS City of Milwaukee, an older and smaller ferry like the SS Badger.
25/07/2009 2:25 am
Allan Bigelow;17803 wrote: I do not recomend the Lake Express crossing Lake Michigan. If Lake Michigan is rough it will be a bad ride. But if you do take the Lake Express or are able to get to Muskegan I recomend the touring the Milwaukee Clipper, the LST 393 and The Great Lakes Naval Memorial which has the USS Silversides and the Coast Guard Cutter McClain.
I also recomend in Manistee, which is north of Ludington, touring the SS City of Milwaukee, an older and smaller ferry like the SS Badger.
I've heard the Lake Express can get choppy...so does the Badger! Last time I was on the Badger was September 9th 2001...and it was a rocky ride west to Manitowoc...until the last hour of the trip when the west winds were buffetted by the Wisconsin cliffs!
My brother & his future wife & inlaws have taken the Lake Express to Michigan a good half dozen roundtrips, with only one being cancelled due to rough waters early in the season. His future in-laws are not sea going @ all, and they love it when they make their trips to Grand Rapids...despite it being more expensive than the Badger...
The Clipper is docked right next to the Lake Express dock...however according to my sources, (my Mom is a lifetime member of the Clipper organization) the Clipper is temporarily closed for tours.
It's a galant lake cruiser...one that my grandfather & mother used to frequent over the years when it was in operation! I hope to take tons of pictures!
27/07/2009 7:30 pm
The Manitowoc, WI newspaper has a great write up on the SS Badger...
Day In The Life: S.S. Badger crew | htrnews.com | Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
Coal-fired steam power lives on up here on Lake Michigan!
Also a neat 80 pic slideshow...
Day In The Life: S.S. Badger | htrnews.com | Manitowoc MAN-News | Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
02/08/2009 1:52 am
had a great & rocky ride to Manitowoc with 19 brave souls from the S&D MOR group this morning!
Even I almost got sea-sick on the rolling lake! A quick nap cured me of the green gills and once the Wisconsin shoreline was in full view, the sun came out and the wind started to die down...
I had the pleasure to have had a great conversation with many of them in the MOR group and I was proud to have welcomed them all to my wonderful & beautiful home state! I also want to thank them all for welcoming me to sit with them all and participate in some good conversation!
Dr. Frank, I think you should make that trip an annual event!
I went over to Muskegon on the Lake Express...the lake was very calm that day...it was also the fastest I've ever been on a big boat! Despite that...it was a smooth as if the Delta Queen was crusing the upper Illinois river! I was lucky!
Whoever invented the digital camera...well I don't know...I'd say it's a curse...as I took 154 pictures over two days! Good Holy Lord!
06/08/2009 2:30 pm
I had to add this...so forgive more "lake talk"...
I washed my Buick last night...still smells of the sweet coal dust from the Badger! In fact it had a nice layer of coal dust when it was driven off in Manitowoc!
Topic starter
06/08/2009 3:41 pm
WOW, what a MOR outing! Thanks, Pete, for your postings.
I think that it can be safely said that we all had a good time...well, except for a bit of mal de mer on the west bound crossing. Most of the people making the MOR BADGER crossing arrived in Ludington on Friday evening. There was plenty to do including visiting the street fair that had the main street of Ludington blocked for us, and then dinner at the Old Hamlin Restaurant. This was MOR's second visit there, and as far as I know we're welcome back for a third. Hopefully, one day MOR will test their patience again and return. Lunch at Beerntsens Candy Store (circa 1930) in Manitowoc was like stepping into the cabin of a fine packet. Then trying to decide what's for lunch and hoping that you would get it was for all part of the fun. Many explored the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and wondered at one of the actual triple expansion engines from the car ferry CHIEF WAWATAM. The diner at the Best Western Lakefront Hotel Saturday was quite nice. Most people ordered the prime rib special and it was decided by all that the cooks at the Lafayette could take a lesson on how to prepare and serve a proper piece of prime beef from their Wisconsin counterparts. After dinner, in the long tradition of MOR adventure, some even visited the wedding reception down the hall.
The seas for the return trip were much more to everyone's liking, and we were returned to the Micigan shore to continue down to Saugatuck. Most stayed at the Twin Gables B&B there, and not one complaint was heard about the farm fresh blueberries, strawberries, walnut breakfast cake and quiche served to its Monday morning guests. The 1907 lake steamer KEWATIN is docked in nearby Douglas. This Clyde built steamer is a relic of the bygone days of opulent lake travel. She is well worth a visit, and to stand next to the towering quadriple expansion engine is truly a heady experience for steam freaks.
MOR's next outing is to Shakertown at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. This is our first time back in a number of years, well, because, unlike Ludington's Old Hamlin Restaurant, at Shakertown we were not particularly welcome back. Times have changed, along with the management of Shakertown and MOR, so we're headed back for what sounds to be another fantastic weekend. I hope that you can make it.
Topic starter
06/08/2009 5:32 pm
Don't blame me! M..a..l automatically became Majestic America Line, but, atleast to me, there's some irony in that while actually writing about a sickness!
08/08/2009 12:58 am
Frank, I am glad to hear your trip here in WI was a success!
I apologize from speeding away from you all, but I wanted to have lunch up @ Phil Rohrer's Lunch up in Two Rivers...a tiny little diner Grandpa Zahn would frequent on his treks between Racine & Sturgeon Bay (that was his halfway point where he'd have lunch)...and that place wouldn't hold 20 people, at least not comfortably! I was last there about 25 years ago with Grandpa Zahn, and I wanted to make that pilgrimage.
Those of you that have Facebook...the SS Badger has a fanpage...and lots of interesting pictures on it.
See: Anmelden | Facebook
Also there is some interesting youtube links:
YouTube - Kanal von SSBadgerFerry
&
YouTube - Engine Room & Bridge of the S.S. Badger Car Ferry + Authentic Wisconsin Yodeling
03/09/2009 3:10 pm
The Badger carferry folks posted a neat set of pictures online of the last drydocking of the Badger 5 years ago...she is scheduled again for drydocking next month in Sturgeon Bay, WI
S.S. Badger During Dry Dock Inspection - a set on Flickr