Getting Around The Lake

Linda Burton posting from Lansing, Michigan – Now I know why early settlers liked winter. When the lakes freeze over it’s easier to get around. And let me tell you, there are a lot of lakes, and other bodies of water, to get around. Like Lake Michigan, which I had to get around to take the Journey from Madison, Wisconsin to Lansing, Michigan, Capital City #38. Lake Express ferry runs from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan and on the map that looked like a straight shot, so that was Plan 1. Until they told me I’d have to leave The Cats locked up for almost three hours without checking on them. “Three hours locked in a car in the summertime? No way!” They told me it was for “passenger safety” that people are not allowed to walk back and forth to their cars during the trip across the lake. And that passengers cannot stay in their car; I’d have to leave my vehicle and buy a separate ticket to sit in a reserved seat upstairs. Sure, it’s my fault I made a reservation without asking questions FIRST; but after those astonishing disclosures, when I canceled the reservation I’d just made they charged me $30 to “unprocess” my credit card. That began my “around the lake” tab. Add to that at least five toll stops in Illinois, which totaled more than $10; room charges for an extra overnight stop along the way to avoid driver fatigue (mine); and gas costing $4.09 a gallon at the Des Plaines Oasis, one of the controlled stops along the toll roads (it’s averaging $3.59 elsewhere). But it wasn’t the money, it was the sheer ugliness of the trip that got me down. My advice – get around the lake some other way; avoid Lake Michigan’s tip! » read more