I'm now in a cabin in rural Michigan. I got here by taking the S.S. Badger, the last coal powered steamboat still operating in North America. It takes people (and their cars) across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan, all while "rolling coal" and spewing forth great black clouds. The crossing takes four hours, and we had beautiful weather for it, mid-70's and sunny.
Manitowoc is of course famous for season 1 of Making a Murderer. The town has the least COVID-19 of anywhere I've been, with fewer than 100 cases and only 1 death. To their credit, the people of Manitowoc seemed to universally be wearing masks and social distancing, a first for small city Wisconsin that I've seen.
The people of Ludington lined the harbor this evening to wave to us as the ship steamed into port. Not a single one of them was wearing a mask, despite Michigan technically being under an order to do so even outdoors.
