Mileage: 9.97 miles Average Speed: 9.8 mph
Vertical: minimal Depart: 9:13 AM Central Time Arrive: 7:43 PM Eastern
Calories: 713
Link to Garmin ROUTE DATA
Today was effectively billed as a day off, and it really was, although much longer and more interesting. We were on our own for breakfast, but Tom Zack and I met John and Teresa at 6 at Perkins for a nice breakfast. We loaded the luggage at 9:00, and were told to meet at the boat dock at noon. We rode down there, and then decided to look around. A number of us visited the maritime museum on the waterfront. Manitowoc has quite a history in shipbuilding and fishing. They built a total of 28 WW II subs there. A highlight of our museum visit was a tour of the Cobia, one of these WW II subs. It had a crew of 82, which believe me, made for tight quarters.
We then made our way back to the departure area, where Mike told us that departure was an hour later than in previous years, and they had not adjusted for it. At this point, we all just hung around waiting for the ferry to arrive, and in due time, it did, as this picture will attest. It took a while to unload all the cars, trucks, and foot passengers and get us on board, but we left roughly on schedule around 2 Central time.
People used the roughly 4 hour crossing for a variety of activities, but my favorite was my friend Don Yost enjoying the sunshine on the forward deck. Others watched a slide show of Mike's pictures, read, played cards, and just generally killed time.
At the forecast arrival time, we approached the harbor in Ludington, MI. Once we were at the dock, we gathered our bikes and headed out.
Of course, the first order of business was to stop at the "Welcome to Michigan" sign, where I captured Tom on arrival. Since we all got there roughly together, I could have captured many others, but we moved on quickly. After a quick stop at KFC, we arrived at the motel, to ready for our longest remaining ride, 113 miles tomorrow.
I usually feature some of the riders on off days, but since we got in late, I will just show a photo of 3 of our 4 youngest riders, Katie Spears (30, an executive assistant at a media magazine in NYC), Alex Steussy-Williams (college student just back from Argentina), and Matt Louis (a high school senior). They were heading down the pier to greet the Badger, our ride across the Lake.
See how the ride goes tomorrow.
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