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KayakkrazyUP View Drop Down
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Joined: 01 May 2012
Location: Upper Peninsula
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Posts: 37 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Maiden Voyage
    Posted: 11 Jun 2012 at 10:00pm
We bought a slightly used 2011 Rpod 177 last month and with considerable advice and much info from this forum we were ready for our maiden voyage to Grand Marais, MI on the south shore of Lake Superior. It was a great trip. Everything worked. We got 15.7 mpg with the tail wind going 250 miles east, and 13.5 mpg into a strong headwind coming home today. Our TV is a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee V-6. Now looking forward to a few more such short trips this summer in the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior, and then off to the races next summer. Thanks again everyone who raises questions, and provides responses, on this forum. You're good people to know!

Roy & Deb (and Coco the Small Munsterlander Pointer)
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Goose View Drop Down
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Posts: 672 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jun 2012 at 11:24pm
   Nice set up. Glade that all went well for your first trip out, it really makes you look forword to the next adventure.    Goose
Mother Goose's Caboose..2011 RP171..07 Grand Cherokee
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 7:27am
Thanks for the post & picture....looks great.  I keep threatening to head up to Michigan and U.P., but have yet to do so.  I've heard many speak highly of it.  I was looking at the "Porkies" but, the web site indicated they were doing construction/road work in the area, this year.  So, I booked a week in the Rockies.  Now, just North of there - in the Fort Collins area- the place is on fire. Cry
I'm beginning to feel unlucky. 
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KayakkrazyUP View Drop Down
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Posts: 37 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 8:15am
Hey. The Porkies State Park is open. No road construction this summer to the east end of the park, from hwy M-64 from Ontonagon along Lake Superior. That is the customary way to get to the park anyway. The County Road 519 north of Wakefield, to the west end campground, is under construction this summer, but the west end trails are also accessible by driving the pretty paved road, South Boundary Road, from the east end.

Most folks find the whole area beautiful and well worth the drive to see. I'm a cheerleader for Lake Superior. It has dozens of beautiful parks along its south shore from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Duluth Minnesota, but you do not want to be here during a south wind in high heat...the biting flies are unbearable.
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techntrek View Drop Down
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Posts: 9062 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 12:58pm
Looks good.  Great mpg numbers in both directions - did you not have any hills, and maybe used pure gasoline (not the stuff cut with 10% ethanol)?
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 4:57pm
Originally posted by KayakkrazyUP

Hey. The Porkies State Park is open. No road construction this summer to the east end of the park, from hwy M-64 from Ontonagon along Lake Superior. That is the customary way to get to the park anyway. The County Road 519 north of Wakefield, to the west end campground, is under construction this summer, but the west end trails are also accessible by driving the pretty paved road, South Boundary Road, from the east end.

Most folks find the whole area beautiful and well worth the drive to see. I'm a cheerleader for Lake Superior. It has dozens of beautiful parks along its south shore from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Duluth Minnesota, but you do not want to be here during a south wind in high heat...the biting flies are unbearable.
 
Thanks for the info!  The web site indicated there might be several hours detour.
 
Have you been to Presque Isle in the Porkies?  If so, will the sites accomodate something the size of a Pod?  I've been warned about the flies.  Do they have a "season" - certain months better than others?
 
Now you have me thinking......Rocky's or Porkies???Ying YangI may have to see what Keith&Dar can tell me about Northern WI.  I think a "lake loop" trip - up MI, across the UP and down WI might be interesting. 
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Posts: 335 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 7:35pm
We got our little 152 in WI and promptly did a cross country trip via the UP, Canada, and the Fingerlakes back home to SW CT over a three week period back in 2010.

The MI state parks, specifically Tahquamenon Falls is gorgeous and has some of the cleanest, best maintained and organized facilities we've seen to date. 

If it wasn't such a long drive there and back towing, we'd be there already.
ChaiPod
2009 RP152
2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5L V6
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DocTom View Drop Down
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Posts: 190 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2012 at 8:13pm
Love the picture, that a Kayak up there?
Brush and Floss, It is the Secret of Life!
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Posts: 21 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Jun 2012 at 10:49am
Beautiful setup and love this picture!  Thanks for posting it and the information. 
'12 r-pod 177
2008 Toyota 4Runner 4x4 V6
Father of 3 Boy Scouts and yes, we cram 5 family members in our 177!
When is the next camping trip? Because I'm ready for a vacation!
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KayakkrazyUP View Drop Down
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Posts: 37 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Jun 2012 at 9:42pm
Yes, Techntrek, we used regular 87 octane gas without ethanol added....mostly. It's rolling land, on state highways with no expressways, and certainly some hills (no mountains), but the wind was fairly strong both directions. I never filled fuel over 3/4 tank, and the Pod had no fluids. I had one kayak on the car. Remember the thread referring to that as disrupting the airflow. Could it be? I'll load both kayaks next time.
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