During dinner last night we decided to stay an extra day
in Sheboygen. We then hit the hot
tub. Today we explored the downtown area
in the morning before having lunch at a Mexican restaurant followed by some
additional shopping. I had the best Taco Salad that I have had in years. It was fajita chicken instead of shredded chicken, but even allowing for that, it was superb. We can walk downtown by walking along the harbor and river channel along a lovely walkway. It seems that the city has acquired almost all of the waterfront and we passed a small fishing museum with a display of several commercial fishing boats in the water (photo at right). On Lake Erie we always called these totally enclosed boats gill netters. The doors were offset so that they could pull the nets through the boat and the angle kept the boat in a more sea worthy orientation relative to the waves.
Like in most of these northern towns with long Winters, the people in Sheboygan are serious about maintaining green lawns and having lots of flowers and/or flowering shrubs. Here in the photo at the right is just one of the outdoor displays that we waked past. As you can see not all attempts are beautiful, but they really are serious about trying. That, or maybe they are just trying to keep bill collectors away...
Adjacent to the Marina is the wooden hull of a lake
freighter, the Lottie Cooper. In April
of 1896 the three-masted schooner Lottie Cooper was wrecked just off Sheboygan,
Wisconsin, in a roaring gale. The wreckage was found buried in Sheboygan Harbor
during the construction of the Harbor Marina. The wreckage was recovered and is
now on display on Sheboygan's lake front. There are literally hundreds (thousands?) of similar wrecks all over the Great Lakes. They are preserved in part by the generally cold water that slow any decay. Also, there is generally a low deposition rate for sediments, except where streams flow into the lake, that keeps them from being buried and lost.
The large planks and some of the ribs as well as the main keel are visible in the photo at the right. The preservation of the wood is remarkable. In the Gulf of Mexico when they find old wrecks of wooden vessels, the wood must be kept in water when salvaged to keep in from falling totally apart due to the rotting of the wood, but here the wood have been "perfectly" preserved. The main hold seems to be separated down the middle by a very thick wall, which must have served to strengthen the hull as well as separate cargos. This ship was carrying about 250 tons of wood and similar vessels carried part of their cargoes of wood on deck. This weight up high did not help the stability of the ship in a storm.
The last photo of the Lottie Cooper shows the exterior of the hull with the supports that were built to prop up the sides. I was really impressed by the size of the vessel, and Lucky thought that walking on the path through the hull was just a bit scary...
The Admiral suggested a nap when we got back to the boat
and we followed this with some chores and maintenance items (code words for laundry,
dishwashing, and varnishing).
Another display in the park around the marina has a prop from the car/passenger ferry Badger that runs a route from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowac, Wisconsin. We will be in Manitowac in another day as we move up (North) on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan. The propeller is 13 feet 8 inches in diameter and weighs about 7 tons. The S.S. Badger is 410' 6" long and has a cruising speed of 18 mph, but more about her later. The propellers on Lucky Us are about 18 inches in diameter so I was really impressed standing next to this big one.
Back at the dock our neighbor had a successful fishing trip this morning
and shared a salmon filet with us which became our dinner. I could tell that the Admiral was anxious to try the salmon because about 4:30 pm she started asking me if I was hungry yet. I finally gave in at about 5:30 pm. What a treat, it was
delicious!
One last (and off beat) thing that I saw during my walks with Lucky was this interesting traffic sign in the photo at the left. I must admit that the sign made no sense to me, but when I looked down at the road, the meaning was obvious. The sign refers to a speed bump, but not just an ordinary one. This speed bump was the kind where you go up about 6 inches then across a flat top for about 6 feet before going back down on the other side. When I saw the speed bump, the meaning of the name "speed table" became much more obvious. Fortunately, Lucky and I were only travelling about 3.5 mph so the speed table was not a problem.
The Admiral ended the day back in the hot tub while I
spent some time working on the blog and walking Lucky.
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