Travel Day--Waterloo to Muskegon, Michigan

Today's Starting Data
Starting Mileage:  63,779
Time:  6:06 AM
Temperature:  61º
Book:  Pops--A Life of Louis Armstrong

We had a smooth start to our trip this morning.  We had everything packed into the car last night, so this morning's departure was uneventful.  As we were turning off Rainbow Drive and heading onto Hwy 218, Dave reminded me of all of the mornings as we were headed to school that we'd say, "You know-Let's just keeping going.  We could be in Maine in a couple of days."  It was a wonderful feeling this morning to "just keeping going."

There was a beautiful sunrise about 6:35.  From that time on, it was definitely sunglasses time!  We were driving east and the sun was very bright.  We stopped just east of Epworth so that I could "use the facilities" and buy another big bottle of water.  It felt good to get out and stretch.  We crossed the Mississippi River at 7:53 and entered into Wisconsin--state number 2 of 3 for the day.

We saw a great sign for "The Mustard Museum--Poupon U" just outside of Blue Mounds, WI.  It was way too early to even think about trying to stop.  But what a great name for museum, huh?  I was curious and looked it up when we got to our motel this afternoon.  The Mustard Museum is located in Middleton, WI.  It is much like the University of Okoboji.  I came across one of Poupon U's fight songs, and thought I'd share it with all of you.

POUPON U Fight Song

(Wisconsin Version)

On our hot dogs, on our bratwurst,
Mustard is so cool.

Never mayo, never ketchup
They’re against the rules.

Gleaming gold and mellow yellow,
Smooth, rough, sweet and hot,

Fight, POUPON U, we’ll fight
and eat some lunch.

We drove through Mount Horeb.  Time to stop again.  Dave filled the car with gas and we both took advantage of clean bathrooms.  I got another big bottle of water and we were off!  The sky began to cloud over and the wind became quite gusty.  We stopped at a Subway in Lake Mills.  Dave had a great looking breakfast sandwich with hash browns and coffee.  I had already eaten, so I had another bottle of water.  (Yes, I did use the facilities--twice before we left!  This is a recurring theme, in case you hadn't noticed.)

As we neared Milwaukee on I-94 the wildflowers reappeared.  We saw lots of blooming chicory, Queen Anne's lace and lots of daisies.  This was also the first time that the traffic had started to pick-up.  We had timed our arrival at the Lake Express High Speed Ferry exactly as we had hoped.  Our reservations were waiting for us when we pulled up.  We went inside to use the facilities (!) and to listen to the announcements.  The announcement was made that there were "increasing seas" and to expect 4-6' waves during the crossing.  It was also recommended that you take medication for motion sickness.  Our friend, Kay, had already briefed us on this, and we had our Dramamine all ready to go.

Dave returned to the car to drive it onto the ferry and I took pictures.  (Time out:  We did not bring the right cords or card reader for our little camera.  Soooo, that means that tonight's pictures are limited to what was taken with Dave's Nikon.  We are going to remedy this situation tomorrow and will have better pictures to share with you then.  We both wish we'd known this before we took the vast majority of the pictures today with the little camera!)

We had great seats and an unobstructed view out the back of the boat.  It was quite overcast when we left Milwaukee about 12:30, but by 1:20 the sky had cleared and the water got much rougher.  We both snoozed off and on, thanks in large part to the Dramamine, and watched the lake go by.  Shortly before we got to Muskegon, we headed outside and then down to the lower level to our car.  It took some maneuvering to get into the car on my side.  I had to get in on the driver's side and then crawl over the center console to get to my side.  (Thank goodness I remembered to put down the emergency brake!)  We got off the ferry without any problems and headed to our motel.  Our journey across the lake took two hours and thirty minutes.  We also crossed into the Eastern Time Zone along the way.

This is the first time that we have booked motels through Travelocity.  We are staying tonight at the Shoreline Inn and Suites.  We have a lovely room on the 5th floor overlooking Lake Michigan.  There are huge sliding glass doors giving us a beautiful view.  We have a full-sized fridge, microwave and coffee pot.  The bed appears to be very comfortable.  There is a place to go down for their complementary breakfast in the morning.

We brought nearly all of our "stuff" into the room.  We just didn't want to have to worry about leaving things in the car.  A convertible can be easy to break into.  After a brief stretch, we headed out to Grand Haven, a community about 15 miles south of Muskegon for supper.  We ate at a great restaurant called Snug Harbor.  Their outdoor seating overlooked the harbor.  We waited about 15 minutes for a table, but the food was worth it.  It was quite breezy and I was glad that I had my jacket with me.  (Can you believe that?!?)

After supper we walked along the harbor and got to see a bit of the sunset before the clouds thickened.  It has gotten completely overcast now around 9 pm and the wind is very gusty.  There were even some raindrops tonight, but they passed quickly.