You can lump me with corn and Earl Long, the Louisiana politician Liebling was profiling when he wrote that.

I don't travel that much anymore, but just about every August for the past 30 years I have driven from Madison to Grand Haven, Mich., to visit my sister and live like a beach bum for a week.

I am, if I may say so, a great beach bum, but the actual act of traveling -- driving for six or more hours each way, much of it creeping along in backed-up Chicago traffic -- had become so arduous that it cast a pall over the whole week.

It has seemed worse in recent years. There were longer lines at the tolls, and whether you took the bypass around downtown or decided to push right through on the Chicago Skyway, traffic would often stall for no apparent reason.

Even if you can handle it -- a risky assumption, in my case -- you must still contend with other drivers who seem ready to snap at any moment. You might be smiling and whistling a Broadway show tune, but you never know when the white-knuckled maniac in the car to your rear might go demolition derby on you.

And then, last summer, I heard about the ferry.

I don't know why I didn't hear about it before. It was June 2004 when the Lake Express ferry boat made its maiden voyage across Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Muskegon.

I knew of an older, different ferry -- the SS Badger, which runs between Manitowoc and Ludington. But the Badger wasn't practical for me, given the drive to Manitowoc and the four-hour crossing time.

When I heard about the Lake Express, however, I was intrigued. A short jaunt to Milwaukee, crossing time of two and a half hours, then just a 20-minute drive from Muskegon to Grand Haven.

Alas, when I tried to book passage on the Lake Express last summer, it was sold out for the dates I required.

This summer, I booked early. It wasn't cheap: the round-trip for myself, my son and daughter, and our car came to nearly $500. Fuel costs haven't helped. But it's not cheap to drive, either, and if I'd wavered, which I didn't, I was ready with all those memories of traffic nightmares past to draw on.

The Lake Express was the inspiration of Ken Szallai, the company president who spent nearly two decades working for the Milwaukee Port Authority, having arrived in Wisconsin from Houston in 1986.

While working for the port, Szallai would occasionally get inquiries about departure times for the ferry, even though the last Milwaukee-based ferry, the Milwaukee Clipper, left the water in 1970.

Szallai sensed a residual demand, and when he approached prominent Milwaukee-area businessmen Sheldon and David Lubar, they agreed.

The $18 million, 192-foot-long Lake Express, with a capacity for 250 passengers and 46 cars, launched in June 2004 to mostly positive reviews.

The Detroit Free Press wrote: "The Lake Express is sleek, trim and fast, flying on twin hulls between Muskegon and Milwaukee at 42 miles per hour."

On Monday, I spoke with Szallai, the president, and he said a few things have been tweaked since the first year. Early customers asked for outdoor seating, and they got it.

"We're all about customer service and no hassles," Szallai said, adding that Lake Express has now carried more than 600,000 passengers and 100,000 vehicles.

Passengers with cars drive them onto the lower car deck, and then repair to the passenger cabins, of which there are two. The Premier Cabin is a little more expensive and includes full-time stewards, cocktail service, free newspapers and more room.

My kids and I were in the regular cabin, and it was fine. We had a booth with four comfortable chairs and a table. They ate burgers. I had debated what books to bring, maybe Liebling's "Westbound Tanker" or Mark Twain's "Following the Equator." In the end, I settled for a couple of Travis McGee mysteries by the incomparable Florida author John D. MacDonald, whom I am sorry to say died in Milwaukee in 1986 following heart surgery.

McGee lived on a houseboat, "The Busted Flush," in Fort Lauderdale. Last week, I walked topside on the Lake Express, sat in a chair with the wind and sun in my face and read the novels. I felt about as far from I-90 as it is possible to feel.

The week went too fast. Some other time I will write about the whole pizza I ate by myself at Fricano's in Grand Haven, established in 1949, and the best pizza joint in all of Michigan even if they don't have onions (you can bring your own -- we did).

The ferry ride home was nice, too, but something was missing. Of course it was. Our adventure was ending. We docked in Milwaukee without incident. I wanted to stow away on the trip back.

Contact Doug Moe at 608-252-6446 or dmoe@madison.com.