The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 489: Good Bye Eden/Homeward Bound

65 years of service and counting

For our last night at Little Eden Camp, we were reminded that since we humans still carry the burden of original sin, we should not get too comfortable in paradise. To wit, last night blasted us with the heat of hades. We slept little as we tossed, turned, and sizzled like hotdogs on a state fair rotisserie. The weather lived up to everything I find distasteful: hot, (Did I say hot?), humid (Did I say sticky?), and wet (Can you feel the trickle of sweat rivers emanating from somewhere?) Nonetheless, buoyed by the pleasurable memories Camp offered us most of the week, we hit the road a little ahead of schedule, and made it to the Ludington Ferry dock just before boarding began at 7:45 A.M. Vehicle owners are not allowed to drive their own vehicles aboard the SS Badger, the venerable historically significant ferry launched in 1953. She remains the only coal fired ferry still in service. Nervously, we watched a very capable young man back Fric and Frac into the bowels of the ferry. She suffered no dings loading or unloading, and for that I'm grateful. If I were more paranoid, I would have taken pictures before she was loaded. Fortunately, that precaution was unnecessary. Though an impressive craft, crossing Lake Michigan on the SS Badger proved anticlimactic due to the pea soup fog that lasted the entire trip. Instead, we were treated to the unnerving blast of the ship's fog horn, an ear shattering blast that occurred every four or five minutes. Still, nervous as cats in a bathtub, Judy and I toured the ship. Once we had our bearings, we settled on a table in the stern cafe. We shared one plate of breakfast buffet, and I came from waaaaaaaay, waaaaay back to nip the Cager at the buzzer. I left her a peg away from victory and gloated like a Republican celebrating a Supreme Court decision. Unfazed, and ever classy, she took her second place trophy with the aplomb of a well mannered debutante. We spent most of the crossing in the comfortable seats in the movie lounge where we caught up on the sleep Little Eden's weather snatched from us the night before. Once Fric and Frac were returned to us, we made our dash into the silo filled farm lands of Eastern Wisconsin. At one point as we drove through Fox Lake, WI, we came upon a longstanding drive in that still has car hops. Ours was a very sweet local girl named Grace. She brought us our chocolate milk shake with a smile, graciously answered my Chamber of Commerce questions, and bid us a good day. She turned out to be the vehicle of real grace. Our delay stopping at the drive cost us a little over a half hour. That matters because as we neared our stopping point just West of Lacrosse, a big, wind banging, lightning bolt throwing, torrential rain pouring heat storm faced us head on. If we hadn't stopped in Fox Lake, we would have been committed to another hour driving through the pounding rain, the electric bolts, and the plus sixty mile per hour wind. Instead, we were able to make a different decision, and now we're comfortably ensconced in room 221 at the Country Inn and Suites in Sparta, WI. So, we're happy once again that life is good, especially today.

The SS Badger as she lay when we arrived.

We were loaded first, which meant this driver had to back Fric and Frac across the parking lot and then to the farthest point back into the bowels of the 416 foot ship.