Wisconsin via Lake Michigan

[Jeff]

For logging congress I am going to something I have wanted to do for a long time. I just got my reservation confirmation from the Lake Michigan Carferry Internet reservation system. I will be traveling to Ludington Michigan and then traveling via The S.S. Badger to Manitowok Wisconsin the tuesday following Labor Day. Ship sails at 9 AM.

From there I will be traveling to Crystal Falls MI to help the MFRA secretary get things around for Logging congress. I dont have to be there until around noon wednesday, so I have some time to see a few things if I want once I get to WI.

Wednesday night we are leaving for Madison WI. Stopping part way down and then arriving in Madison on Thursday morning. We will Leave Logging Congress Late Saturday to return to Crystal Falls, where I will pick up my truck and head for home via the U.P. this time.

Should be fun!  If any forum members have any suggestions for my route, or want to pop up along the way, I am fairly flexible except from Crystal Fall to Madison and back, as I am riding with someone else. Below is a map of my proposed route. (Might not follow it except the ferry, I dont think a wrong turn there would be advisable!  Below the picture are my driving directions created from my Wife's Streets and trips program.



Trip.txt

Link for USS Badgerhttp://www.ssbadger.com/home.asp

[Jeff]

I think my actual trip will go through Rinelander WI.

[CHARLIE]

I reckon you've been to Door County, Jeff. You're gonna be right there and could stop and attend one of their fish boil dinners. That area is also known for their cherries and you could eat a fresh cherry pie or two.

[Bro. Noble]

Jeff,

On hwy 8 about halfway between Rhindlander and Hwy 141 (right where it makes a 90 degree turn to the north), there is the town of Laona.  It was a company town started by the Connor Lumber Co.  They still have timberland there and have a narrow gage railroad that will take you (pulled by a steam locamotive) back to one of their logging camps which is now the best logging museum that I,ve seen.  All of the stuff including the locamotives were used by the company originally.

Our whole family really enjoyed the ride and museum except the train leaves right on schedule.  My oldest son and I waved at my wife and two other kids as they pulled off without us.  We enjoyed the long walk back to Laona, but would rather have gone back by choo choo.

Noble

[Ron Scott]

Jeff,

Hope for calm seas. At least no November storms as yet.

When in Crystal Falls, run over to Iron River and have a Riverside Pizza, just 16 miles west on US 2 from the MFRA office. Contact Chet there. He's on the Forum and has a Baker Mill.

Yes, if you can, visit Laona, WI and take the train ride and visit the museum Noble mentioned.

[Tom]

He's got a Lumbermate, Ron.   wo-o-ooo  don't scare me like that. :D :D

[whitepe]

Ditto on the calm seas part.

It sounds like a     8)   trip Jeff.  The National Railway
Museum is in Green Bay. They've got one of the
Big Boy Locomotives there that Union Pacific
used in the Wasatch Mts in Utah. 550 tons, 131 feet
engine and tender combined. They were last used
in the 50's and used extensively during WWII

[Saki]

There is an old logging museum in Newberry. Often difficult to catch someone there, but I enjoyed it on vacation last year. Was a great old guy there named Gus who made us feel mighty welcome. Have a large collection of yesterdays tools from broad axes to the early chainsaws. I believe it was called Taquamenon fall logging museum. May be a lttle north of your intended track, and would be a roll of the dice to catch someone there unless you could find a number to call and set up an appointment. Wish I had one for you, but I can' scare it up. Good luck and have a safe trip. Saki

[Jeff]

Been there Saki!  
Newberry is the home base for Michigan Association of Timbermen, of which I am their webmaster. www.timbermen.org
I just redesigned their website this past month.  If you go on up past Newberry on to Superior, there is a lake called Muskalunge (spelling?) that we used to stay at when I was a kid. There is just a foot path between the lake and Lake superior. This part of Lake superior is a mecca for rock hounds. The beaches are all wave rolled stones of all kinds including aggots and geos.

[L. Wakefield]

   Ooh, EXCELLENT!. Now I gotta say, Jeff, this post is in exactly the right thread but I could see if you somehow could use keywords that 'rockhounds' or 'rock collecting' would be a good secondary ID to stick on it. How could you do that? I've seen it on some journal material in medical libraries where at the bottom of the article they have keywords and those are used in a 'subject' search but are not nec in the title. I don't know if they are always in the text. My point is if you could do (or get) this type of search paradigm, it wouldn't HAVE to be in the title or text.  lw    

[Jeff]

L if you use the search function in your forum menu bar and search rock or rock hound and specify how young or old the infomation is that you are willing to look at, this thread will now come up. Any word or group of words is searchable on the forum. You just nee to specify a time. If you don't know how log ago it was, put in some rediculous number like 1000 or 2000 days.

[Don P]

Ditto on the rockhound part, you've given me somewhere else to go look for superior aggies 8)
We've about busted the axles...ok we have broken the springs and 6 of 8 lugnuts hauling rocks home :D
Got into teepee canyon agates out west just before the road buried them,my favorite nodule has no agate just chert but is a perfect red maple leaf ... A chunk of pipestone from MN, a prehistoric fish from WY, petrefied wood from all over. One day all these "treasures" will go into a stone chimney.
I tried to search for metal detector info yesterday to refer back to but failed...might have been the time

[Jeff]

When I get to logging congress I will have a pair of Motorola radios with me. If any forum members come and have a compatible radio I will be on channel 3-11. That will make it easier to find each other. Also, Lorraine at the MFRA booth will have one so if I happen to be off loafing like at the wood mizer set up or somewhere, just ask there where to find me and they can give me a holler on the radio.

MFRA stands for Michigan Forest Resource Alliance. We will have a cabin front with porch for a display, plus our usual display. We will be selling raffle tickets to give away a cabin. Drawing will be in March at Outdoorarama in Novi Michigan.

[Bro. Noble]

Jeff,

How was the ferry?  We had planned to take it onetime but the schedule didn't work out. Were you able to take in any other sites of interest in addition to the Logging Congress?

Noble

[Jeff]

Well Noble the Ferry was not the adventure that I thought it would be, but I am glad I did it. When I got to Ludington I was early so I drove down to the pier. Waves were crashing over the top of it. I thought oh great. But as it turned out, 6 foot waves dont mean much to a 400+ foot ship

The Badger is an old coal burner, so I recommend if you are above decks, stay out of the back! I innitialy thought that beach sand was blowing off the decks as we got underway, but it was coal from the stacks. If you went forward, the wind was so bad you had to hold on to your hat with both hands.
It was a beautiful sunny day, but once shore disappears there aint much to see outside.

Inside I had a buffet breakfast. Not bad. All you can eat for $7.50 they had a buffet dinner too befor we got to Wisconsin, but I was still full from breakfast. The trip lasted about 4 hours. It seemed like only 1 or 2 because it was so new to me I think.

More to come...

Ludington Port Lighthouse taken from SS Badger

[johncinquo]

In case you want to get over again, there is supposed to be a new ferry out of muskegon that pulls into milwaukee.  It was scheduled to start this fall but I heard it has been delayed.  Nice boat from what the GR Press had to say.  I go there a couple times a year on business and with gas at 1.50+ I figured it would be better, and they serve beer!  I will find out for sure if it is running and let you know.  JB