In the spring and fall, the ship spends the night in Ludington harbor. You can stay in a stateroom aboard the S.S. Badger for $57. Movies and limited food and bar service are available, and a continental breakfast is part of the deal. If you're making the trip to Manitowoc the next morning, you can keep the stateroom at no extra charge. However, this Boatel service doesn't include the fares for passengers or vehicles.

More than 100 years of Lake Michigan ferry service almost became a thing of the past in the early 1990s, when bankruptcy shut down the company that owned the S.S. Badger.

In 1991, Ludington native Charles Conrad bought the 410-foot ship, which had ceased operations in November 1990. The new company, the Lake Michigan Carferry Service, renovated the Badger, giving the 30-year old ship the necessary facelift it needed to remain competitive in the travel industry between Wisconsin and Michigan.

According to Hawley, Conrad converted the ship exclusively to a passenger and car ferry, ending the railroad operations for which the Badger was built.

New enhancements to the service have triggered a renaissance in ferry travel, but Lake Michigan passenger traffic actually peaked in the 1950s. In 1955, 205,000 passengers made almost 7,000 trips across the Lake in a fleet of three ships.

Passengers on the Badger run the gamut, from business travelers to families. Though a flight to Michigan is much shorter -- though not much more expensive -- Hawley says he sees many return passengers, and the Badger offers "frequent trip" discounts.

For many, the journey is its own reward. For others, the Badger is just a faster way than driving around Illinois.

Norma Standley, a Michigan native, is wrapping up her family's vacation to North Dakota.

"I like it," says Standley. "The last trip out was a little rough. But it's been a lot smoother on the way back."

Standley, who drove the rest of her trip, says she took the ferry both for convenience and for pleasure.

"I don't like to drive around Chicago. We're from Lansing, and if we drove we'd have to go either way north or way south," says Standley.

For 17-year-old Jason Burns, working on the Manitowoc-Ludington ferry is a family tradition, which started with his grandfather.

"(From) my grandpa, to my mom, to all her four brothers and all their kids have worked on (the ferry). I'm just continuing the tradition," he says.

Burns, who is finishing his senior year at Ludington High School and plans on working on the Badger each summer through college, enjoys the camaraderie among the crew.

"It's a fun job with great people to work with," he says, working on the Badger for the second time this summer. Burns works about 48 hours a week, four days a week, in customer service. He makes sure the passengers are handling the travel okay, especially during choppy seas.

Burns says he sees a lot of families and kids riding the Badger, and he and his co-workers try to make the trip as fun as possible with games and entertainment.

"It's pretty affordable for families who can't take an ocean liner cruise," he says. "This is like a mini cruise, where kids can go up on the bow and have a good time."

There have been reports lately that the Milwaukee to Muskegon ferry -- a popular route for decades -- will be resurrected in the coming years. One proposal calls for a high-speed service that would cross the lake in just 2.5 hours.

"There are two proposals in right now," Hawley admits. "Our company has a proposal to offer something a little more traditional, like the S.S. Badger. There's another company that's called Lake Express that's also exploring the possibility. Both are in the exploratory stages, determining markets and feasability for those kinds of operations."

While Hawley says the threat of a fast ferry is obviously a concern to the Badger, the company is sticking to its well-proven route and just looking to expand its services.

"It certainly could (cut into the Badger's ridership)," he says, "but we have a very strong business, and we're very committed to this route: Manitowoc to Ludington. Certainly, we would like to look at other options and that's what we're doing."