And we're back!

[AquaMan]

Well, it was a fun and LONG drive, but after 3000 miles I have the following revelations.

*Gas on the East Coast is $1.49/gal.
*Gas on the Mass Turnpike (Toll Road) is $1.64/gal.
*We touched the water in every Great Lake and I still like Superior the best.
*Deer are prone to wander the highways in search of bumper iron.
*Moose also wander the highways , but in search of eyes the size of pie plates. I think mine might have been bigger, but I was too shaken to look.
*The human body can withstand a tremendous amount of sleep depravation, but lack of quiet is another story.
*The walleye are very big and easy to catch in Erie.
*Erie has changed dramatically since I lived in Ohio 25 years ago. Much cleaner.
*The White bass in Maine look alot like walleye and are a blast to catch on light gear or fly rods.
*No matter how much the wife says we can't afford anything, she still manages to walk down main street in Freeport, ME and end the day with 5 large bags of un-necessary stuff that was on "SALE." I bought one T-shirt and 12 flies that we could not afford, Jeeezz!
*L.L. Beans is a landmark but I like Cabala's better.
*There are no walleye in Maine.
*Maine Lobster is still great (Soft shells this time of year were a little bummer, but still good)
*I now have a good bead on tires (Pun intended) YeeHa Firestone Wilderness AT! Boo Goodyear.
*17 Year old boys have three things on their mind: Sleep, Chow & "Hotties!" In that order.
*The Canadian side of Niagara Falls is spectacular.
*The US side of Niagara is a pit.
*Wal-Mart Boat tarps don't hold up well over the Presidential, Green, White and Appalachian Mountains.
*The original Chevy 350 beat the pants off the newer Vortec for towing power and fuel economy.???
*Coffee cups don't ride well on a bumper.
*There is a limit to how many time one can listen to Brittany Spears.
*Lund is very popular out east, but hard to find.
*The back roads in Maine are terrible.
*Fishermen/women are the same in every state: Most are great, but there are a few dinks that spoil the fun.
*Montreal ranks as one of the worst cites to drive through with a boat in tow. Average speed around the belt is Mach 1, maybe Mach 2.
*East Coast drives are more adept then Midwesterners when it comes to MOVING OVER TO THE SLOW LANE. ZZZZZZZ
*There is Nothing, and I mean nothing, like sleeping in your own bed!

The trip was fun, without incident and beautiful, but I am glad to be back

:-)

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Juls_WI]

Sounds like a wonderful trip AquaMan! Glad you had a good time...;-)

Juls

[Frank in Pa.]

Enjoyable reading Aquaman. Sounds like a trip we all can appreciate.

[Ness]

Welcome back, Aquaman, and thanks for the really
nice Post on the trip. I really enjoyed reading it.

[Dave in Mpls]

Welcome Back! You missed a little bit of rain this past weekend, but not much (only 10" or so in Eagan!)

Sounds like the trip went off without much of a hitch. Hope you didn't get busted checking out those Hotties....17 year olds my foot!!!

Regards

[AquaMan]

Dave, we apperantly had water lapping at my garage door. To give the rest of you and idea how bad that is, I live at the top of Pilot Knob (One of the highest points in Eagan) I missed it all and we were dry as a bone in the basement.

As far as checking out the "Hotties," I had to drive so it left little opportunity to gaulk, but the younguns did, especially going through Niagara at 10PM and the WI Dells at 6:30PM the next night. We had a young gal provide the boys with their first "shot" while on Hwy 94 between Wisconsin Dells and Menomenie. Needless to say they were shocked and I was doubtfull at first. But, at the urging of the boys, I sped up for a second look and they were telling the truth. Zoowie!

Judging by the trail of cars following them, we were not the only audiance. But with the rig in tow we quickly faded to the back while the boys rested their arms against the window openings on the truck doors making their bicepts's look bigger and continued to listen to Brittney or Slim Shady or other assorted thump music...AGAIN!

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Eyesore]

Aqua Man, heck of a nice report. 10-4! Now some further revelations; ALL males have those same three things on their mind, in that order. Anything GM made years ago beats any thing made by them now. There is a limit on listening to Brittany Spears, but NO limit on looking. 10-4 on draging a boat through Montreal, but try it with a 48 foot reefer. As far as east coast drivers staying in the left lane, thats because the right lane is only use for exiting!

[cisco]

What did you think of the State of Maine's practice of using almost no road signs? Did you do any back road stuff to the north? Gorgeous state, but what a state of confusion.

[AquaMan]

Actually the East coast drivers were very good at moving over and in fact never traveled in the left lane except to pass and move back over. After re-reading my post, it was misleading. It is the Midwesterners that will not move over. The drivers we encountered on the trip that abused the passing lane were from mainly from MN, WI, IA, KS & MO. The FL drivers were in there, too. The best were PA, NY, CT, MI, ME(on the toll roads) Sask, Ont, Queb and even Washington. The NY and PA drivers would realy let you know if you took too long to pass and move over.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AquaMan]

We went to "The County" one day and fished for salmon in a remote lake near the Penobscot river chain. The back roads are very dangerous and I would bet the accident/death rate is very high due to head ons. We had several near hits from oncoming speeding cars topping a hill in my lane. All the secondary roads are narrow, no sholders to speak of and the tar is badly broken up and very rutted. Yet the lumber trucks drive like the Indy boys. Very hairy!

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Chet in Pa]

Pa. just passed a law which states you can only travel in the left lane to pass, the law specifies 2 miles. This almost makes it hazardous as the people will cut you off to get back in the right lane, one extreme to another!

[MR.Pike]

Welcome back. One of the best posts ever written. I've got a 6 yr old son and look forward to the times ahead! Not to say that right now isn't priceless but!!! Best of luck to you and the family from Mr.Pikes family

[Tommy Mac]

AquaMan,

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you had a very educational vacation. Ahhhh only to be 17 again, I have to admit the hotties don't flip the minnow the way they used to but it is still nice looking! Sounds like you were lucky there wasn't a pile-up on I-94.

How about more info on the 350 vs. the new 5.3. What type of vehicle's? What was in tow and what kind of overall millage did they get? I am real curious becouse I am shopping for either a new or slightly used Chevy, GMC. Thanks.

Catch A Big "SHOT".

[fishin_fool]

Tom, you all ready have the ultimate tow rig! Maybe I should buy it from you!

[cisco]

If you go back, head over to the ski country around Bethel (Sunday River), then north to the Rangeley area. You'll drive "major" roads with few signs that are little better than county roads in Wis-Minn. But, there's great landlocked salmon fishing in Lake Mooselookmeguntik. Resorts up there are all called "camps," but there's a great one (old, rustic) on Rangeley Lake called North Camp. As quiet and peaceful a place in late June as you'd ever hope to find in the lower 48.

[AquaMan]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-13-00 AT 02:26PM (CST)[p]Lemme set the stage, so you have clear picture for comparison.

We went out there in tandom with my Mom and Dad in their '97 Suburban with the Vortec. We were both loaded inside. His back seats were folded down to accomodate a water trampoline they bought and assorted camping gear, clothes, etc for their extended outing. They had an Old Town Wood canoe on top, nothing behind.

I have a '94 Suburban with the 350 V8. We had my boat, a tarped Lund 1600 Scout with a 40HP (2800# with all the junk that was added by the wife - her 2 extra bags, 2 coolers of pop, 3 bags of food, 3 - 6gal tanks of gas[full], folding chairs, 4 large tackle boxes, 3 batteries, battery charger, trolling motor, etc...OK so most of it was my stuff..hehehe). In the truck we had the dog kennel and dog, one cooler with road pop and munchies, 4 passangers and all of our bags (The wife and daughter were smart and flew out and back). Nothing on top of my rig.

With freshly full tanks, the trip route began in Eagan, MN up 35 to Hwy 8 through WI to Saulte St. Marie across to Montreal and then over to Waterville, ME. A very wide mix of road conditions, elevations, traffic, etc. But we were both traveling in tandom, so what one did the other did as well, passing, speed, side trips, etc.

Total door to door miles = 1404.
Total gallons used in my rig = 105 (13.3 MPG)
Total Gallons used in Dad's rig = 124 (11.3 MPG)

Now, I pumped 87 octane all the time and he pumped 89 once, otherwise he, too pumped 87. Tires are identical size with 50PSI. There have been no modifications to either rig like performance chips or dual exhaust, etc. Both are equiped with factory tow packages and I assume that the axle ratios and transmissions are the same. My rig is throttle body aspiration and his is fuel injected.

We noticed the most dramtic difference while crossing the mountains. His milage was very poor at the higher elevations which could have more to do with the injectors then anything. Not sure.

I did change my oil the day before with synthetic, but I can't imagine that it would make that much difference. It is my understanding that the Synthetics merely last better.

This milage difference did not surprise my brother-in-laws who are both mechanics (Chevy boys through and through). Both agreed the the new Vortec leaves a lot to be desired from the tried and true 350 in terms of the torque to HP ratio. My father-in-law aslo is disapointed with his 2000 C/K 1500 pickup for towing his 25' camper. "Too gutless" he says. He is the one that is eagerly awaiting the Isuzu Diesel for his next rig.

Now, I am not either a Ford or Chevy thumper since I own one of each and like each for their own features. But, I though this large variance in milage was very odd considering the load I had compared to his.

We had similar milage returning, too.(1680 mile doing the southern route) Mom and Dad remained behind for a month...Ahhh, retirement sucks!

In anyevent, your insight would be welcome.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Eye Dog]

Thanks, I realy enjoyed the story.

[Dave in Mpls]

Good post

I have noticed the same thing, but a bit differently (does that make sence?!)

I have a '94 Suburban with TBI and my friend has a '95 Suburban EFI. I tow a 19' Alumacraft Competitor tiller w/ 90 HP, and he tows a 16' Lund Rebel w/ 40 HP. When both vehicles are loaded the same, towing the respective boats, I get slightly better mileage (about 1 MPG) and he lags a bit behind on hills or passing.

[AquaMan]

I know the area well and have been to that area several times conoeing and fishing.

Since both my parents were teachers we spent two-three months in the summer at our camp and traveled to all corners every other year till I went to college. If any of you remember or are familiar with the J.R. Tolken trilogy, Billbobagens(sp) castle is on the border of ME and NH, the enchated forest is on Hwy 2 in Maine and the dragons cave sits in the side of Surgarloaf Mountain, the ring is hiding in the blueberry patch on top of Blueberry mountian... I had fun there as a kid... :-)

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AquaMan]

One revelation I forgot...

They all eat smallmouth bass in Maine like we eat walleye here. I hooked into an 18 1/2" smallie off the dock and the neighbor came boating over to try and stop me from putting it back in the water. I grimiced when he said that those were perfect eating size...I said "they have worms this time of year" (trying to think of a good reason to get it back in the water) and he responded that the worms die when cooked....EEEWWWW!

I said "No thanks" and freed the 4lb 12oz fighter for another day or someone elses frypan much to his chagrin. I think the bass turned a winked as it swam away.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Jim K.]

I nominate Aquaman for the most entertaining and broadly informative post of the year! When I make my run to Ottertail this fall I want to hear more about those "Hotties"!

[Eyesore]

10-4! That post on the 4bbl vs the fuel injection was more infomative than any car & driver magazine I've read. Nice to see an unbiased analisas for once.

[AquaMan]

Blush....It is a story that most fathers, including me, are actually a little scared of.

See on the "O-tail" this fall.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~