After Wisconsin, we repeated the trip that we made in 1980, this time from Detroit down into Ohio. In order to get to Detroit, we could have driven back down through Chicago or up through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and back down. Instead, we took the Badger, a car ferry that, at the time, traveled back and forth between Kewaunee, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan. Nowadays, the route goes between Manitowoc and Ludington.
I’ve always had a little problem with motion sickness. It first really showed up when my folks took me deep sea fishing back in the 1970s. I was miserable. It never occurred to anyone to bring some kind of motion sickness medicine. When I got older, we went on the Wendella Boats (a future Northern Illinois Destination) and I discovered that, so long as I can get fresh air, I’ll be okay. Unfortunately, the car ferry was in 1987, long before Internet-based FAQs. I didn’t know what I was getting in for, and didn’t know if I’d have access to fresh air. As a result, I took a Dramamine before we left and spent most of the trip dozing in and out of consciousness. It was a nice convenient way to travel from one state to the other, however, even if really industrial. The Badger was originally built to carry train cars, so the Queen Mary it ain’t.
I was still a little drowsy until we got to our next stop, which was in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Frankenmuth is a nice little town full of white people, much like Door County. The difference is that where Door County was settled by Scandinavians, Frankenmuth was settled by Germans from Bavaria. And you can tell that is where they are from, because the town center has lots of kind of stereotypical looking Bavarian buildings. I suspect that Frankenmuth looks more like Bavaria than Bavaria does (and in 2019, I’ll be visiting Bavaria and will be able to put my theory to the test.
Frankenmuth was the final destination that was new to me on our 1987 trip. My next travel memory, and the final post on our 1987 trip will be a little bit about the return to cities like Detroit and Cincinnati. I should be posting that one on June 4, if I continue to keep up with my schedule.