It’s no secret that I love taking skip-gen trips with my numerous grandchildren. Most of these trips are road trips. Road trips are easily accessible and the possibilities are so varied and numerous. Whenever I can, I also try to throw a train into the mix. In addition to short train trips, I have taken grandchildren by train from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island and from Virginia to Florida. (Just completed the latter aboard Amtrak’s only AutoTrain; more on that in a later post.)
I’ve taken two trips that involved travel by plane but what I hadn’t done was travel by ship with a grandchild. That all changed last September.
There are over 2600 architectural and geographic landmarks in the US designated as National Historic Landmarks and only two of them are mobile. While one of those is clear across the country from where I live in Michigan – San Francisco’s fabled cable cars – the only other one is in my own back yard: the S.S. Badger that sails from Ludington, Michigan.
One of only two mobile National Historic Landmarks
If you’ve never grown up watching the Badger come and go, you may not appreciate what an amazing engineering marvel she is. Built in 1952 and launched in 1953, she was the last and largest coal-fired steam engine car ferry built in the United States. And when I say car ferry, I don’t just mean personal automobiles. The Badger was originally built to carry whole railcars across Lake Michigan. Kind of boggles the mind!
But the Badger could handle it, even year-round, and for this reason was built extra tough, complete with an icebreaker plow. She only sails during a six-month season now (May to mid-October) but she still retains her original strength, though she’s past 70. (Gives one hope, doesn’t it?) Her labor includes 450 crossings per season, transporting up to 600 passengers, 50+ crew members, and 180 vehicles, including semi-trucks, every trip. She’s still the only cross-lake ferry in operation anywhere in the US which can transport such oversized loads.
I don’t drive in Chicago unless I have to. For that reason, when my cousins planned a reunion in Wisconsin last fall, I knew the time had come to board the Badger. And since I always take a grandchild with me on any interesting trip (that good old skip-gen travel I love so much), I brought my seven-year-old granddaughter with me. I had so much fun watching her have so much fun! So many times my grandchildren and I have stood at the base of the North Breakwater Lighthouse to wave to the S. S. Badger departing or returning. (Usually the latter, since we’re not morning people) but being on the ship is a whole different perspective!
Although we were traveling in the third week of September, we were blessed with an Indian summer day, making it possible to spend much of the 60-mile, 4-hour trip outside. My granddaughter brought along schoolwork, which she did while soaking up sunshine on a deck chair; that is, when she wasn’t looking through binoculars. Of course, we were eager to take advantage of the many activities offered indoors as well. We watched a movie, bought lunch, played Badger Bingo, and hit the gift shop. Since it was getting near the end of the season, we got some good bargains!
Watching the Badger from shore, or even from the base of the lighthouse, you cannot truly appreciate the size of this grand lady. At more than 400 feet long and 60 feet wide, there was plenty of space to roam but it made me realize just how much work must go into maintaining and properly operating a ship of this size – plus all the intricacies of loading and unloading. It’s not just the people and their vehicles. Every crossing consists of extra cargo, everything from wind turbines to Budweiser Clydesdale horses! With every trip and every cargo being different, how do they always figure out how to fit everything in? Somehow they manage it!
One of the most interesting things we learned was that during its six-month season, the Badger never sleeps. As in NEVER. Starting up the Badger is not like sticking the key in your car’s ignition. It takes a lot of power to fire up something as massive as the Badger. For this reason, from May to October, a crew of 17 engine room crew members work shifts around the clock (four hours on, eight hours off) for 24 hours a day, every day, to keep the engines from ever cooling off.
On our return trip, it was a little cooler and windier so I made my granddaughter wear long sleeves. She was annoyed as she informed me, “Grandma, I want to feel the wind on my bare skin!” As I watched her joy as she repeatedly turned the corner of the ship and ran into the wind, hair flying and a big smile on her face, I thought, “This is so much better than trying to navigate Chicago traffic!
Hurray for our grand lady, the S.S. Badger. She is a national treasure. And hurray for all the hard-working people who keep her running!
