OT: I drove across Lake Superior on the ICE! Options

[rick 918-S]

Really strange feeling. I had a claim to inspect yesterday on Madeline Island, WI. I had to drive my car over the lake 2 miles! An inland lake is one thing but Lake Superior freaks me out!

[rick 918-S]

I was listening to a captain of an ocean going ship that was in port in Duluth. He described crossing Lake Superior like crossing the ocean only the wave rythms are more abrupt and the pattern is closer. The lake is so big it's rare for it to freeze over completely.

[ottox914]

I was listening to a captain of an ocean going ship that was in port in Duluth. He described crossing Lake Superior like crossing the ocean only the wave rythms are more abrupt and the pattern is closer. The lake is so big it's rare for it to freeze over completely.

I doubt the entire lake was frozen over, but the 2 miles to the island sure were! In the Admin building for the ferry boats they have some old black and white pics of the old boats used, the old trucks hauling 100's of pounds of lumber to the island, and some really trippy old air boats. These were scow hulled contraptions with airplane props on the back that would slid over the ice, but still float over any open water, used for emergency travel to the island when boats/cars would not be able to travel. The had to use the trucks to haul lumber because the boats at that time couldn't handle the wt of the truck and the cargo, so most all summer building had to be planned such that the majority of materials had to come over in the winter.

We had our honeymoon up at Lutzen, my skiing wife and I, and took a couple pics of us on the shore of the lake, with ice as far as you could see. Shortly after that, I was sent to AL for a month and 1/2, and I brought that pic w/me. The folks down there couldn't believe that was a lake, let alone one of the great lakes, with no water in sight. Sure, they all had ice cubes in their freezer, but to comprehend a lake frozen out that far, some had a hard time believing that.