Overlake Route; Crossing Lake Michigan on the S.S. Badger.(News)

Byline: ROGER HART

Taking the long way home is not our first choice when it comes to road trips. We want to get there as quickly as possible, and have long thought that stopping to smell the roses is not only a waste of time but an opportunity to get stung by bees. But successfully suppressing our Type-A traits on a trip from Wisconsin to Michigan, we found taking extra time can be a fun, even enjoyable experience.

BMW invited us to Kohler, Wisconsin, to drive the Z4 M Coupe ("Coupe du Jour,'' June 19) and offered to let us drive one back to Michigan for the rest of the staff to enjoy. If you're up on your geography, you'll note Wisconsin and Michigan share a border. That border is in the Upper Peninsula, a long way from our Detroit offices, but Kohler and the state of Michigan are separated by just 118 miles. That's 118 miles of deep fresh water known as Lake Michigan-the largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States, and the fifth-largest lake in the world. It's a big body of water.

On our way to Kohler we drove south around the lake and through Chicago. Total distance: 377.4 miles. Total time: five hours, 57 minutes. Frustration level at the construction sites near Chicago: high.

In preparing for the trip we remembered reading about the S.S. Badger, a car ferry running between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan. As Manitowoc is just a few minutes north of Kohler, we had the beginnings of a route for our return trip. In fact Microsoft's Streets and Trips map software, which we used for our planning, actually suggested the route across the lake. That was cool. A quick check of the ferry's schedule showed the boat would be sailing the day we needed, so we booked passage.

We logged onto the ferry's website (ssbadger.com), filled out the online reservation form, charged the $146 fee ($52 for the passenger, $39 for a stateroom and $55 for the car) to our Visa card and promptly received an e-mail confirming our reservation.

After picking up our test car and having breakfast at The American Club hotel (destinationkohler.com), we had four hours to kill before catching the ferry. Since Kohler is home to one of the country's finest new golf courses, a trip to Whistling Straits seemed appropriate. We picked up some souvenirs, shot a few photos in front of the clubhouse, then headed north toward Manitowoc.