The Adventures of Myron and Dorcas: Paddle Tahquamenon River

After a very enjoyable rally at Sault Ste. Marie we ultimately had to leave. In past years we haven't often made reservations for campsites and have had good luck winging it as we go. This year is somewhat different. The past year has seen record sales of recreational vehicles, and those people have hit the road in epic numbers to escape, all as a consequence of the COVID epidemic. We now find ourselves with no camping reservations for the next 6 nights as we drive across the UP before arriving in Duluth. We wanted to spend a night or two near Newberry MI, because there is some good paddling in the area. After many frantic internet searches, phone calls and disappointments we finally scored 3 nights at the Newberry Campground, a former KOA.

We didn't see any moose. I think they all got their COVID vaccines and moved to Canada

At first glance it seemed like a really nice site. We had 30A service and water. The site was HUGE; I think it may have originally been 2 smaller sites which were later consolidated. The whole campground was heavily wooded and the prospect of satellite TV service did not look promising. However, when we got parked we had a clear hole through the trees through which our rooftop satellite dish could see the birds. COOL!

Site 27 at Newberry Campground

The problems started when we plugged into the electric pedestal. Remember earlier this month when I wrote about installing the Progressive Industries EMS device? Well, it was very fortunate decision. When we plugged in the EMS immediately shut off the power to the coach and displayed we were getting 142 volts. HOLY SHIT! Nominally AC voltage in the US is 120V. The EMS will shut us off when it sees voltage 10% greater or lower than that value, specifically over 132V or below 104V. There happened to be two service boxes on the pedestal, so I plugged into the other box. The device cut us off again, this time displaying 94V. WHAT??? How can two receptacles on the same pole provide such a wide range of voltage??? I'm not an electrician, but it was obvious there were electrical problems here. Ultimately we plugged into the low voltage receptacle, and the voltage stabilized somewhat. At particular times during the day we saw voltage drops, presumably as we and other campers ran coffee makers, water heaters and air conditioners. Consequently, we were not able to take advantage of our full 30A capability. Often the voltage would drop to below specifications before we approached our 30A capacity. That was very frustrating, but not harmful because the EMS protected us from any damage resulting from low voltage.

Note the dual service panels

The other problem was the internet service. The campground advertised WiFi, and that is an amenity I really appreciate. I'm a news junkie, and I can't keep up with what's going on in the world and can't produce this journal without reliable internet service. We were able to see and connect to several network transmitters at the campground with a moderately strong signal, but we were not able to connect to the internet. Furthermore, we were far enough from the highway that our cellular data service was spotty. However, we have a cellular booster on board with a 3-foot external antenna mounted on the roof, and that made the cellular data signal tolerable. I did not bother to report these issues to the campground management at the time. My experience is they usually don't care and/or claim they can't do anything about it. All those selfish RVers streaming TV shows, you know. We will endure for the next three nights. I do plan to post these issues on at least one RV campground review site.

As I said earlier, we wanted to do some paddling in the area. On Tuesday we paddled the Tahquamenon River, just north of Newberry. The river flows about 90 miles and eventually empties into Lake Superior near Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We put in at the Tahquamenon Logging Museum and paddled a little over 7 miles to McPhees Landing. After dropping Dorcas and Matilda and our gear at the put-in I drove to the take-out, parked the car and biked about 6 miles back to the put-in.

A bit of fall color

Suitable lunch spots were few and far between. We were able to find this spot. where we could step out of the boat and scramble up a short but steep bank to find a dry spot. As usual the quarter-mile rule was in affect, namely, any time you stop for lunch there will be a better spot a quarter mile on down the river.

A beaver condominium complex

The river courses mainly through open plains and meadows through Michigan State Forest land.

We saw a bit of wildlife. In addition to turtles, we saw a beaver, a bald eagle, a barred owl, a number of great blue herons, numerous ducks and an otter.