Malone System

Where does one begin raving about a product that makes their life much easier?  Since we’ve been living in our RV full-time, one issue we’ve had is how to transport our kayaks on the roof of the truck, while still making sure there’s adequate room over the bed of the truck for the RV to be connected and to pivot for turns.

Originally we mounted some Thule brand bars to the roof and would carry the kayaks flat, using kayak padding and swim noodle foam to pad the kayaks against the bars.  We then had a myriad of ratchet lines, one front and one rear on each kayak and a fifth line to pull both kayaks together. To load the kayaks we’d have to climb up and in to the bed of the pickup, lifting the kayak each step.  It was a long and tedious process and we discovered that we were warping one kayak when we’d cinch it down.

During our travels thru Maine this Spring, we thought about going to L.L. Bean to purchase some Thule J Bar carriers for the kayaks.  Because we were spending the night parked in Cabela’s parking lot, we went it to see what they carried.  They had Thule products, but they also carried a less expensive line by Malone that would fit the Thule bar.

On researching the Malone product, we found them for an even lower price at a truck accessory store in Portland we had shopped at many times during the 10 years we lived there (Yankee Custom).  They only had one set of J Bars so we decided to get them and try them on one kayak.  If we liked them they could have another set within 36 hours.

We tried the Malone rack and really liked them, so we requested the shop order another set for us.  When we went to pick them up and install them, we also looked at an accessory for loading kayaks up to the J bars.  We asked if we could try them before we bought them and got the ok.  What we didn’t know is that they needed some assembly before you could even use them.  Needless to say, once we assembled the Telos Load Assist units to try, we found they really did the job.

The reason the Portland ME truck shop was able to get us another set of J Bars is Malone is based in Westbrook ME, the next community over.  The kayak system was designed and packaged in the US (manufactured in China).

Besides the loading bars; which makes it a piece of cake to get the kayaks on and off the truck, the other nice feature of the Malone Kayak Carrying System is that the J Bars fold down when not in use, lowering our vehicle's overall height.

photos show us taking a kayak off the truck.  a) kayak in J Bar cradle   b) attach Telos Load Assist
c) lift kayak from J Bar into load assist brackets    d) bring load assist brackets down alternating lowering ends     e) remove kayak, then remove load assist bars      f) fold down J Bars

Should we bring them or not

Well it’s about time.  When we left Florida this past March, we decided we would carry the kayaks and bikes with us instead of storing them in the utility trailer with the motorcycles.  That: the trailer and motorcycles, would stay in our friends’ backyard awaiting our return.  The bicycles were mounted on the 5th wheel’s ladder and we rigged some bars on the truck and figured out how to transport the kayaks there, while still having room over the bed of the truck for the 5er.

We’ve not had much opportunity to use the kayaks or bikes yet and had been questioning whether our decision to bring them with us this year was prudent or not.  While passing through Maine in late May we purchased a rack system to transport the kayaks in a better manner than what we had been doing. (read my Malone System Blog). Even with a better transporting system, we still weren't using the kayaks as we had hoped.

In April, we spent a month at a campground in MA that had mostly hard packed dirt roads, but they were always filling in holes, leading to soft patches. Chuck and I would ride our bikes, but I didn’t use the pet jogger we picked up in FL with Rugby too much. No place to kayak there.  May was spent traveling up and down the I-95 corridor.  Between the birth of our first grandchild, location and or weather, we didn’t get in any biking or kayaking.

Now we’re in Canada and have been hoping to get out on the kayaks.  Weather has been our primary deterrent; cold, wet and raw.  Today was the winner.

Our campground has access to the Baddeck River which leads into Bras d’Or Lake, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.  The sun was out, the temps were about 20 C (aboot 70 F to us Yanks).  There wasn’t much wind.  So off we went.

The portion of the lake we paddled was enchanting.  Off in the distance, the highlands region; forest covered, with some farm land clearings was spectacular.  Along the shoreline of the lake, several camps or clearings for future cottages.  Above us, blue skies and white clouds.

We had to deal with some winds while paddling, thus our intentional direction of going in to the wind, allowing us to take it easy on the paddle back.  Shore birds of various sizes flew by, some even squawking at us as we came closer to the marsh they were in.  And above us glided a spectacular bald eagle.  Because of the wind and the waves, my photos of the eagle did not come out as well as I wanted.  My boat was rocking and the wind kept driving me in a different direction, but I still got some images.

Hope you enjoy our day.

The Backside of Beyond

Go To The Backside of Beyond.  That’s how one local gave me directions to a local attraction.  Took me a moment to realize what this woman was saying. Thought it was a really cute way of saying it was off the beaten track.

We’re currently camping on Cape Breton Island, the easternmost part of Nova Scotia.  While here we plan to drive the Cabot Trail and kayak in Bras d’Or Lake (pronounced BeDoor).  Perhaps we’ll do a Puffin boat ride or tour a distillery.  Maybe Chuck will see a moose in the wild.

As full-time RVers, I found one question asked of us quite interesting. “Where are you going on your vacation and for how long?”  I suppose each campground could count as a vacation, with the drive between them our work. Being retired and living out of our 5th wheel camper, we have our home with us; it just doesn’t feel like we’re on a permanent vacation.

We plan to stay in the region for several days up to two weeks and then plan to head on to Prince Edward Island to continue our exploration.

We did it again

Got back to Hopewell Rocks with high tide today (3rd visit, 1st high tide). Fun to compare views of low to high in person...  tide was about 14' high (if that helps you see how tall these rock formations are)

Once, twice, three? times in our lives

Most people visit Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick once in a lifetime.  For Chuck and myself, we’ve now been twice - lucky us.

Our first trip was 5 years ago and we stayed at a campground about 2KM down the road from the rocks.  It was a really nice experience and we walked on the ocean floor as it was low tide when we arrived that day.

Yesterday we returned, again at low tide and did a much faster visit to the ocean floor, partially because it was close to closing time at the attraction, but also because we had already been driving for over 4 hours and still had to get to the campground to set up.

It was somewhat our plan to return to the rocks this morning and kayak around the rocks at high tide, but the weather is not that great (cold and windy).  We’ll go back to get some photos from land to really get the full impact of the tidal range in this area (some say upwards to 40 feet in height difference).

After the Rocks we’ll head over to Nova Scotia and take a few days break from traveling before we head up to Cape Breton Island (part of Nova Scotia) and tour the Cabot Trail.

Somewhat the same, but so different

We just crossed over from Maine to New Brunswick Canada and although so many things are similar, there are a few differences that have already arisen. We learned about much of this in school, but since we never had to use the knowledge in the States, I feel like I'm an old fogey just trying to get by.

For starters, there’s funny money.  Because we’ve crossed in to Canada many times since our Honeymoon in Nova Scotia nearly 12 years ago, we’ve acquired some Canadian currency.  Canadians use dollar coins called “loonies” because of the image of a Loon on them.  They also have “twoonies” which are two dollar coins, made with 2 different metals so you easily see the difference.  Paper bills are different colors which makes finding them a bit easier as you look thru your wallet and see blues, green and reds.  Their smaller coins are very similar in appearance to American currency, but I’m making sure I use up all my pennies as they will be phased out later this year.

Currently the currency exchange rate is almost 1 to 1, so we’re not gaining or losing when we go to the bank.

Next on the differences is temperatures.  Thanks to a high school teacher who loved to give his students various trivia facts, I know a quick way to get a close approximation of Celsius to Fahrenheit.  And even easier than that method, I realized the other day that every 5 degrees Celsius is approx 10 Fahrenheit, at least for those temps between 40 and 90 F which is the standard weather range we’ll be experiencing as we travel.

The other major difference for us is the rest of the Metric System.  Highway speeds and distances are in meters, not miles, and weights are grams and liters vs pounds and ounces.  Our pickup truck has both Miles and Kilometers displayed on the speedometer, but the numbers for the metric numbers are very small and hard to read.  Fortunately we are able to have a digital display show us our speed in KM so that hurdle is crossed. 

Buying fuel will be interesting. In Canada you buy your fuel by the Liter and it’s approximately 4 liters to an American Gallon of fuel.  So while the initial image of lower fuel prices are in you mind, the quick recalculation of the price on the marquee to a conversion of American shows that it’s pricier in Canada compared to U.S. costs (based on New England prices).

Today we went to a supermarket and I was stumped at the meat display as to how much I was buying.  I couldn’t convert grams to ounces quickly.  I’ll need to carry a quick conversion sheet on future shopping trips to make sure I get enough but not too much.

You're Ticking Me Off, Quit Bugging Me

All Spring, we’ve heard predictions that ticks and bugs would be more prominent this year as the winter was so mild along the East Coast.  

Being dog owners, I’ve always been on the look out for ticks and would use a topical product on them approximately 9 months out of the year.  Two years ago, I started applying this product on the dogs every month.  I use to skip the winter months as fleas and ticks were not a problem for us in Maine during the winter.  With our travels to mid-Atlantic States throughout the year, I decided to include treating the dogs during the winter months as a precaution.

Just in the past month I’ve personally seen the increase in ticks.  Fortunately, those on the dog have not been alive.  Twice I’ve found dead ticks on the hairs of one of my pets, and have removed 3 live ones from myself and 1 off my husband.  Two were still crawling around when we found them, but we each had one attached.  I’m optimistically hopeful that the ticks that did start to attach did not carry Lyme Disease and that we removed them before they could do damage to us.

And to add to this insect drama, we’ve returned to the woods on Northern New England and are constantly swatting at biting / stinging critters.  Most evenings we’ll spray ourselves with a bug repellant, but there’s still the bothersome mosquito or noseeum that gets you.  The other day, something stung me in the corner of my eyelid. Not fun, my lid was swollen for most of the day and my vision wasn't the greatest.  Good thing we didn't travel that day.