“Crossing Lake Michigan in a Bathtub” – The Book is Out

It was 50 years ago this month that Vic Jackson crossed Lake Michigan in a bathtub. It had never happened before and may never happen again. Vic's book, "Crossing Lake Michigan In A Bathtub," about the adventure, is now available at Amazon.

According to the Detroit News, Vic was living in East Lansing at the time and working as an electrical engineer after graduating from Michigan State (Spartans will). There was a discussion in a coffee shop about the smallest boat you could take across the lake. Vic bet $5 he could make it in a bathtub. One thing led to another, and after an aborted attempt due to bad weather, Vic was in Lake Michigan where he "crossed the 60 miles from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on Aug. 24, 1969, in a 250-pound cast iron tub fitted with a 20 horsepower outboard motor and buoyed by empty oil drums." It took him 14 hours. He got off course, almost ran out of gas and his radio batteries were dying by the time he made it to Wisconsin. But, Vic made it. He's 81 now and lives in Okemos. Just proves—wherever you live—all sorts of interesting people with great stories might be living right next door to you.

I'd like to ask him what he did with the $5.

Here's the story.