Today we stepped into it big time. Four foot seas banging us all the way from Manitowoc to Port Washington around 50 miles. What was it like you say?
As we pulled out of the harbor this crazy lady was swimming right in the channel. We could have run over her if we were not paying attention.
The lighthouse going out of Manitowoc Harbor.
Here we see the sun coming up over Lake Michigan as the day’s journey begins.
Back to the question of what it was like out on Lake Michigan. In 1978 I went to Houston, TX to attend the Career Prosecutor Course at the National District Attorneys College. That is when I thought I wanted to be District Attorney one day. Who knows maybe there is still time. While there I took an opportunity to visit some of the local color. In this case it was Gilley’s in Pasadena, TX, at that time the world’s largest bar. It was featured in the John Travolta movie “Urban Cowboy” and the main attraction was the mechanical bull. Now there were beautiful young ladies there hustling tourists like me by challenging us to ride the bull. They would bet $10 that you could not stay on for 10 seconds and your male ego would not let you back down. Once aboard you had to hold up one hand and signal you were ready. And then the world exploded and that thing turned you every which way but loose and within 2 seconds you were flying through the air and hopefully landed on one of the mattresses on the floor. Then the same girl would bet you double or nothing she could do it and naturally you could not resist. She would then mount up and ride that bull like she was glued to it. So then you paid up and got a beer and licked your wounds while watching the next sucker get taken.
The point is this, if you have never ridden that mechanical bull then I will never be able to explain to you how it felt to ride that boat today. It was the roughest ride we have had in 5000 miles! But we survived and are in Port Washington all pumped out and filled up.
Now let me go back to yesterday as we took a layover day in Manitowoc. It was a packed day from dawn to dusk.
First we visited the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and it was nothing short of spectacular. They have a WWII submarine there, tied up to the dock and you get to go through every inch of it. What a life those guys had and they were all volunteers. There were more casualties percentage wise in the silent service that in any other branch if the military. This is because usually if a sub gets hit the entire crew is lost. They built 28 subs here in Manitowoc and four were lost in the war with all hands aboard. These subs were launched sideways because the river was too narrow to slip them in lengthwise. This is shown in the pictures. They then went under their own power to Chicago where they were placed in special barge cradles and towed down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Then they took off for the Panama Canal and on to the Pacific Theater to fight the Japanese. By the way, any family members reading this will notice a character in picture #3 that they will recognize. We have not seen him since the wooden boat show way back in Tavares, FL. How he turned up here I do not know.
A model of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald which went down on Lake Superior and was immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot.
How they load iron ore.
A fantastic ship model collection.
The original of this barge was built in 21 days so Napoleon III could review harbor fortifications in Belgium. The actual boat was used only twice and is now on display in Paris.
This is not John Kerry, thank goodness.
A restored ballroom in Two Rivers, WS. We rode bikes there from Racine.
A cat we met at the RV store.
A typical neighborhood bar up north.
Two Rivers claim to fame is the creation of the Ice Cream Sundae. We had one in the famous Washington House. It was delicious.
Oh and we saw a dead man on the beach. Here is his picture. Well actually he wasn’t dead dead. It turns out he was only dead drunk. I did not even bother to call the police figuring they had better things to do. But you have to admit it made for an exciting day.
I tell you a few more days this excitment and we will need a rest cure in a SPA.
