Affixation

 

Leaving Saint Paul parked on a high cut bank overlooking the Mississippi river was the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile. I never saw it, but my traveling compadre did, and after doing a google search we discovered that the Wiener mobile and the hot doggers that drive it would be at the wall mart in portage.

After visiting the cranes we made a bee line there, knowing that they would be handing out hot dogs. I could almost taste that hot dog as we rode into the massive wal mart car park, and there it was the in all its glory the modern version of the Wiener Mobile.

One Of The Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobiles

Much to my astonishment  there were no hot dogs to be had. Apparently you need a food service license to hand out hot dogs and the hot doggers who looked barely old enough to have a license to drive the wiener mobile lacked those credentials.  I did manage to get another wiener whistle to add to my collection.

The Whistle

After Portage we faced a major obstacle to our eastward travel, in the form of Lake Michigan. Our best option was to ride to Manitowoc and board the car and passenger ferry SS Badger.

Embarking on The Badger

We rode through a light rain all the way to Manitowoc, and by the time we reached the lake the clouds were down to the ground. Our instruments led us right to the ferry dock, which I rode past, as I did not see the sign, but by the time we reached the sewage treatment plant I knew it was time to turn back, and once we did it was easy to see where the boat would dock.

On our way to the dock we passed a farmers’ market and what looked like a restaurant. I was hoping for some espresso, but the espresso truck was displaying the Christian sign for  ignorance, so I declined. At the restaurant bar, they had no coffee either, but the tacos were good.

Sitting in the wharf restaurant we heard the ferry blowing its whistle, so we knew it had arrived. Heading back to the dock we passed through a thick noxious cloud of exhaust from the ship that I first though was smoke from the bunker oil most ships burn, but not the Badger, as the badger is the last ship in revenue service that still burns coal, and I could have seen the huge pile of coal sitting along the road except for all the smoke from the ship.

Fuel For The Badger

Cars and trucks and one other motorbike were lined up waiting to board when we returned, and as we waited in the fog and light rain we were treated to watching the crew of the Badger drive all the vehicles onto the ship backwards. This included trucks with camper trailers, in which the skill of the crew was top of the shop.

We boarded almost last and secured our motor bikes to the deck with straps we purchased back up in portage, because making the reservations we were told that we would have to supply our own tie downs, as the ship had none. The other three riders utilized some of the straps that were just hanging from the wall right there where the crew said to tie our bikes down. 

The crew skillful pulled away from the berth and with much blowing of the ships whistle we proceeded out onto Lake Michigan, that was obscured by fog for  most of the voyage.

No Bugs Here

As we neared our final port the fog lifted, and the shore of Michigan was visible in the distance.

We shuffled down to the car deck with our shipmates who had to shuffle up the dock to wait for the crew to unload their vehicle.

All we had to do was untie our rides, stow our straps, and ride off the ship on the metal deck and into the  Michigan side of highway 10, and that is just what we did…

 

 

Thanks for reading.