My wife and I went up Thursday to Indiana Dunes and paddled for 4-5 hrs. then headed N to SouthHaven Michigan to a hotel where we spent the night. Friday we put in @ a marina on the Black River and paddled as far as we could till it narrowed then turned around and paddled back beyond the marina to the mouth of Lake Michigan. Hands down the most fun I've has in years....we had a blast!!!!

HA!

Sounds like a great time Paul!

Something I've always wanted to do.

Dunes doesn't allow kayaks? Where'd you launch from?

Now I prefer to get to the fishing spot faster and with much less effort! But I applaud you, and it sounds like you and the missus had a great time. Nice.

We're planning our next excursion....hope to do an October paddle during the Fall leaf color change.

It's all that chicken phucking....YO

Yup, it's a 56 hp one horse for each year lived...lol 🙂 You coming to the MM herf?

Chris....It couldn't have been more enjoyable. I / we smoked 3-4 good cigars each outing and sipped a little bourbon from a small flask ) and took many pics. ( will try to post a couple )

Thought about you Dan as we headed up......We put in @ the Dunes Beach, parked in the lot and hauled our boats out to the lakes edge. We called ahead to see if we could put in there. When we put in on the Black river, there was a marina that had an awesome luanch that ANYONE could use to include wheelchair bound individuals. You enter and exit the water " in your boat " parked FREE, put in FREE and saved $120 in rental fees by bringing our own boats.

Macs, haven't wet a line while kayaking.....yet!!! I did comment to my wife how much fun it would be and that we should get our licenses. We only got these used boats earlier this summer but feel like we've already gotten our moneys worth as we've been on 5-6 outing already.

too funny!

A " like new " Wilderness Designs 12' Pongo w/ kayak cart and a dry bag full of goodies ( cover / skirt / bilge pump / compass / gloves n pull over and more ) and a spray skirt for my other W D Woodsman boat. I had seen this boat when he was asking $400.....but was more than I wanted / needed to spend, then I just happened to see he re-posted it @ $275 and @ that point I e-mailed him about it. After telling him I'd have to think about making that drive.....he said if you'll come get it out of my basement....you can have it ALL for $200!!!!! I then asked

When can I pick it up 🌫

Cannot wait for Spring to come back around, I think it will end up being my favorite kayak.

In all we have less than the cost of buying that ONE kayak new .....into ALL FOUR and all are 12' in length or longer and all in Good to Very good condition.

Great deal Paul! Sounds like life is good!!

Last year my wife and I got a couple Old Town Camden 10.6 for my birthday. Great fun. We've done a lot of flat water paddling here in the Laurel Highlands, but i'm itching to float some moving water. You and the missus should come join us for a weekend!

Scot, that too is on my radar....we've floated a couple nice creeks here when the water level was up and small rapids here n there that really made it fun. We're looking into joining a kayak club, there are groups out there who get together fairly often to paddle together. Would love to join you and Mrs SRH1 sometime, we even picked up a two jetski trailer to haul them on ( anyone with a hitch can take them out then )

Life is okay, with my Mom recently passing in Nov. I'm still struggling a little with it. Mostly just how quickly she was taken from us....it was but a matter of weeks from diagnosis to her death.

Paul

Sounds like you've got quite the set-up. I went with a low cost option 'bed extender' for my truck and that works out pretty well so far. We'd love to have you and your lovely bride join us for some paddling. Probably could sneak in a cigar or two as well.

Most of the clubs in my neck of the woods focus on the great white water opportunities here in the 'mountains'.. Unfortunately, that ship sailed for me a while back.... now I'm quite content with a leisurely float with occasional bumpy water to keep it interesting.

Now we just need to survive another winter......

The older I get.......

It's funny Scot, by buying used....we only have $1,300-$1,400 total into our whole setup( 4 boats / trailer / accessories ) . I've just been patiently watching C-List for what we were after and eventually found them and @ a good price and in great condition.

Happy to hear your Mom is still with you and that your close by for her.

Speaking of Winter.....it's snowing pretty good here right now 😠

Julian, I'm not @ all opposed to driving a little to float / paddle some great waterways and DO intend on doing some Winter floats ( prolly alone lol ) but this trip was earlier in the year. It IS a blast, and this is coming from a guy who's owned a few pleasure boats over the years...I think I enjoy the peacefulness of kayaking more.

You my friend made out like a bandit!!

We're bracing for bitter cold later this week....single digit highs. The ski resorts will be happy tho, making snow for the Christmas break crowd which has a huge impact on their bottom line.

The older I get, the more snowboarding makes sense to me,😎

Already counting the days till spring.....