THE SS BADGER AND CROSSING THE LAKE

DAY 4

After a lovely evening and good nights sleep, I was up bright and early and ready to make my way down to the ferry staging area. They recommended arriving an hour early, but not knowing exactly what to expect, I was there 2 hours early. After surveying the situation I found a nice local coffee shop and treated myself to a coffee and muffin.

I was back in line for the ferry by 7:30, and after passing through the security check and bomb sniffing dog, I was inline and ready to board.

Knowing I was going to be using the crossing to work, I took a quick tour of the ship, found what I thought would be a nice quite place to work, and got to it.

I was quickly disillusioned with my choice, because as soon as we pushed off, the Legendary SS Badger Bingo fired up! It was a little like living the movie Fargo – Oh boooy was it a hoot!

Between the bad jokes and running commentary, I had to dig out my AirPods so I could remain focused and use my time wisely. Time, as it turns out, was the one luxury I had. Noting the departure time of 9AM and the arrival time of 12PM, I did some quick mental math and came up with a three hour crossing. What I didn’t account for was the time change that happened somewhere on Lake Michigan. Bonus for me, extra bingo and trivia!

The crossing was very smooth, and with good WiFi on board, I was able to get through a few Zoom calls and get most of my work done during the 5 hours I was on the boat (1 hour on the dock before leaving).

I met some fellow overlanders during the crossing. One of them had taken notice in a water bottle I carry covered in stickers of places I have been or vendors I use. We struck up a nice conversation, compared routes, and exchanged pleasantries. Unfortunately I forgot to pass along any contact info, so while we may be in similar areas over the next few weeks, I have no way of knowing where they are going to be. Oh well, lesson learned.

I disembarked the Badger and was once again moving west under my own power. After a quick stop for fuel and beverage, I was back on the road. For nearly half the day I stuck to rural Wisconsin farm roads, making good progress, but staying away from the interstate. The plan was scrapped by mid-afternoon after determining my next big port of call – Jackson, WY. My goal is to roll into Jackson by Saturday, so that means I need to cover ~1100 miles in two days. In a normal vehicle, no problem, but like I said in an earlier post, Jeep miles are like dog years, so this is going to be a haul!

I crossed over the ‘Ole Miss and started working my way through Minnesota late in the day Thursday, making it as far west a Rochester. I ended up taking a hotel for the night, but will be back out roughing it soon enough.

So, now it’s time to grab a bite to eat and hit the road. I will post my next update as soon as I can.

Cheers-

Matt