Maine

Lobster, lobster, and more lobster!! I do love those little red guys. At least one day I'm determined to have lobster all three meals; lobster omelet for breakfast, lobster roll for lunch, and a lobster for dinner, yum, yum!

The ride into Maine was easy and very pretty. This is the first time I've entered Maine from any point other than the coastal roads. The cg is really nice. You drive past a well kept 18 hole golf course and come to the cg check in. Brian, the owners son, couldn't find my reservation. He gave me a great site and said his dad would figure it out when he came in over the next couple of days. The sites were gravel with a well kept grass field all around. Very pretty! I felt like an idiot when I had so much trouble backing into what should have been an easy site. With all the rain over the past several days the grass was very slick. I got the RV backed in fine but the rear wheels of the truck kept hitting the grass and spinning. This is the first time in almost a year that I was wishing I had four wheel drive! Once I got the rig in all was fine but I sort of dug some ruts in the well kept grass. I spoke with Brian to ask about receiving my mail and apologize for the ruts I made. He said lots of folks do the same and the cg would fix it up with no problem.

The owner, Rick, stopped by later in the week. I won a quarter from him when he thought I was much younger than he is. I beat him by only a year. He and his father had a sheet metal company in southern NH for many years. Neither of his sons were interested in continuing the business. When his father retired, he decided to buy these 400 acres in ME. His one son, Brian, loves the outdoors, lives nearby with his wife and baby. Brian runs and repairs all the heavy equipment, back hoes, diggers, dump trucks, etc. Between them they created the golf course and camp ground. They work real hard keeping the place immaculate. It was raining light so I tried the indoor golf simulator. It was very interesting. I hit my own clubs and a real golf ball into a giant screen. On the screen the simulator had the 18 hole Pebble Beach golf course. There are several cameras which seem to measure the stroke and the screen senses the speed, spin, and trajectory of the ball. It took a little getting used to but was fun and I even worked up a little sweat. I didn't lose even one ball (lol).

Bangor is an okay little town. Not much to do but I'll try to go to at least one play and outdoor music event. I drove around the town, parked at the water front park and walked a little. I went to the Cole Transportation Museum which is incredible! The collection of transportation related artifacts and things related to Maine is more than can be viewed in a single trip. It is amazing the quantity of things the Cole family collected. The museum is well worth a few hours of time if you ever get to Bangor, Maine. Bangor has some outdoor concerts going on Tuesdays and a farmers market, craft fair and more outdoor music on Thursdays. I'll have to get to some of them.

The first of the two Good Sam chapters began arriving on Thursday. Ralph and Marge invited me to join them for dinner. Ralph retired from the Navy as a Chief Warrant officer. It was a pleasant evening. The chapter had about 15 rigs show up. I played nine holes of golf with two couples on Friday. I joined them in a soup pot luck Friday evening. I put together two different varieties of New England clam chowder and added some hot sauce. It must have been good since it disappeared pretty fast. Saturday morning Ralph and I played 18 holes then about 20 of us went out to lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing some shuffle board, a fun little dice game, and lots of conversation. I met Ray who retired as a Command Sgt Major, very impressive. He joined us at shuffle board and showed us the dice game. With 32 years of service, he had never been in combat and seemed very interested in my stories. The group headed out early on Sunday.

Monday I met my friends Stephen and Anne near Bar Harbor. I had my lobster omelet for breakfast, lobster bisque for lunch, and a whole red guy for dinner. The three of us walked around Cadillac Mountain, the town of Bar Harbor, and one of the Mount Desert Isle ponds. The weather was great. It was a perfect day! A few days later I drove to Bucksport to go up the bridge observatory and check out Fort Knox. It is an interesting, peaceful day. Another day I drove to Charleston, more of a rural area then a town and went horseback riding most of an afternoon through some wooded trails. Afterward I went into Bangor to hear one of the outdoor concerts. This one was on the lawn of the library with a full orchestra playing show tunes. A very enjoyable day. On another occasion I drove down the Maine shore from Belfast to Camden, Rockland, Owls Head, Spruce Head, and as far south as Wiscasset. I wanted to have breakfast in Belfast but it was early when I got there and nothing was open. I walked around the harbor and the town. There were lots of strange, interesting carved wooden benches around town. All different animal shapes; bear, moose, an elephant, even a surf board. Camden had me reminiscing about times past, many years ago. Neighbors I met when I first moved to NJ about 1973 would rent a cabin in Camden, ME to do antique shopping during the summer. They would then sell their finds during the rest of the year. I came up here several years in the early and mid-1970's and have lots of fond memories. I walked the town and harbor and had breakfast overlooking the lobster boats and windjammers. Another great lobster omelet! The Owls Head Transportation Museum was a real find. Not as much "stuff" as the Cole Museum in Bangor but an incredible collection of MG's. More reminiscing, this time about my 1978 British Green MGB. It was a cute little car I bought as a replacement for my 1978 white Triumph Spitefire. Both cars would probably fit in my truck, at the same time! I must have asked a half dozen people where an old book store was. I stopped in a combination general store and coffee shop and was asking the cashier when an older couple having breakfast said they knew where it was. We got to talking and they asked me to have breakfast with them. I joined them with a cup of coffee and we chatted for awhile. They used to full time RV but felt they were getting to old to handle the rig (they're in their mid-80's). We shared a few stories and exchanged emails. The Lobster Lane Book Store was exactly how I remembered it from near 40 years ago. It looked like it would fall down any minute when I strolled around it around 1973, yet it was still standing. What a great place if you love books. The rooms seem to go on and on piled high in what seems like total randomness. What a great place! After exploring the Owls Head lighthouse I continued driving south to Wiscasset. Several people told me about a lobster place called Reds, said to be one of the best in Maine. It was easy to find since it was the only one with a long line of people waiting to be served. I waited by the little shack for about an hour and a half for an absolutely incredible lobster roll. The roll had near a pound and a half of lobster on it. Sitting at a picnic table, looking at the bay, enjoying the lobster, seemed the definition of a sticker on my truck "Life is Good, Simple as That."!!!

It hit the mid-90's today and I'm playing 18 holes! I was dripping wet when I finished and jumped into the swimming pool. I think Webster has a picture of this pool under the definition of "delicious"! It was too hot to cook dinner so I went to Anglers Restaurant in Newport, all of five minutes down the road. What a great little local restaurant. I was facing another guy eating alone a few booths down. We got to talking, more like shouting so I joined him. Maurice is from the area, having lived here his whole life. He's gone through a few marriages. He grows raspberries and tends his garden. One of his sons had some drinking problems and disappeared about 20 years ago. His other son lives in the Seattle area but calls almost every day "checking on his dad". Maurice let slip that his 76th birthday is next week. I told the waitress and she brought him a cupcake with a candle. She and I sang "happy birthday". It looked like Maurice was going to cry. It was a great evening!

The first couple of the second Good Sam group arrived. Paul and Janet appear to be in their mid-80's. Paul retired after 20 years in the Air Force. He's having a tough time physically. He has a defibrillator and is on oxygen. Still, they try to get out and camp once or twice a week. I offered to drive them to Bangor for the Rock 'n Roll show this evening but they declined. Bangor had a combination Farmers Market / Craft Fair along with a five piece band. They had two electric guitars, a bass, keyboard, and a great drummer. The music was really nice. It was a great evening sitting and sipping a strange beer; Old Railroad Oil. I asked for a thick, dark brew in a pub that claimed to have 150 different beers. What a name, but it was pretty good.

The Good Sam group wasn't as inviting as the others. They seemed to know each other for many years and would talk on topics that myself and a new couple wanting to join couldn't participate. Ron & Snooky (yes, that's her name) were considering joining the group, unlike me who is just passing through. I doubt they'll join since they didn't even participate after a few trys. I hung in with the group and kept attempting conversation but it just wasn't working. I was actually glad when the rain came. When the group was leaving I asked a few of the guys to help me put the picnic tables back on the sites where they belonged. I finally got one guy to reluctantly help. The others said the campground would take care of it. In the afternoon, after the sun dried the canopy Rick had put up, I took it down and brought it back to the office. I guess it was okay to hear some of the other RV'ers stories. Some gtg's are more fun and more interesting than others.

Rick and his wife Linda took me out to dinner on Monday. I have taken a real liking to these people. They really want all campers to enjoy themselves. I've watched Rick go around almost every day to almost every camper and simply chat for a few minutes. Owning a campground is not easy. There is always more work to do. The Cayers are hard working, happy people. I will definitely return to this cg.

I wanted to go to Moosehead Lake on Tuesday when the SS Katadin began its cruises for the season. At first I was going to go even with the rain. Driving back to the cg after dinner last night, Rick gave me a little tour of the area. Linda pointed out a haze to the right which would be a lake without the mist. They then pointed out a haze on the left which would be a great view of the golf course with no mist. I realized that all I'd see on the cruise would be lots of haze. It's supposed to rain again on Wednesday so I guess I'll take the cruise on Thursday.

I've got to schedule more time in the Moosehead Lake area next year. It's beautiful here! The town of Greenville is small with only a few little shops, but it has three museums. All the museums were free only asking for donations. Lots of exhibits about the development of the area, including Indian and animal dig "stuff". There is a pretty extensive exhibit about Charles Lindbergh. The cruise was delightful. We sailed out about 90 minutes towards Mt. Kineo, then turned back. The pilot gave some tourist info about several specific houses on the lake, families and folk lore, and info about the four largest islands. There was a wedding on our cruise. An older couple who went all over the ship taking pictures. I drove up some logging roads to the site of a B-52 crash back in January of 1963. They think it was caused by some structural problem and the remains of the plane are scattered throughout the woods. In fact they just found some additional debris about a month ago. This was about the third time I'd wished I'd gotten four-wheel drive. These logging roads are not for the faint of heart. When construction trucks barrel down the road in the opposite direction they don't move, you need to. I almost ended up in a ditch a couple of times. Dinner was at the "Black Frog" overlooking the lake. I did my usual joking with the waitress, mainly about accent. She picked up on my New York accent and asked where I was from. My now standard response of ".. I'm from where ever I'm parked..", and the follow up of being a full time RV'er got a big smile and a great response. She dropped her order pad, sat down and put here legs up on a chair. Apparently she and her boyfriend had been talking about going RV'ing. We chatted for some time until her boss came by and asked her to get back to work. Before leaving the area I drove to all the moose hot spots and several miles down the logging roads but never saw a single moose.

Leaving the Palmyra Golf & RV Resort I felt a little sad. I'm going to miss my almost daily chats with Rick. I've stayed here longer than any other cg except for NJ. I'll definitely come back here next year.

The ride to Eliot, ME was pretty easy with almost the entire trip on I-95. I stopped at a Cabelas after about two hours of driving. It's a very hot day! I walked around the store, bought some heavy tent stakes to hold my awning down. Cooled off, had some water and a free hot dog they were giving to all customers. It was a good break. The cg road is very rough. I sure hope the Alaskan rodes are better than this. Gravel & dirt full of pot holes. Rick told me this was an older cg and not well kept, he's right. Diane and her husband Don are nice enough. I ended up with a full hook up site instead of the electric & water I thought I was getting and for only $19.26 a night. Camp ground fees are running way less than the $30 I had estimated. Cousin Rick wasn't going to get to ME from RI until around 8pm so I went to dinner alone. My mouth has been watering just thinking of Warren's Restaurant. First time I came here was on the recommendation of some neighbors around 1973. Warren's is a great family restaurant right on the water in Kittery, ME. Great lobster plus a soup, salad, and desert bar.

Rick came by a little before 8pm with his son Joseph and a friend of Joe's, Ian. We all got reacquainted walking around the cg. The kids were happy to sit in the RV and watch a movie. Rick and I drove out and picked up some pizza and stuff. It was a pleasant evening. Sunday morning I got acquainted with some of my RV neighbors. John, directly across from me, is a local real estate developer. We chatted about real estate projects a little. Greg stays in this park for the summer with his wife and two cute little girls about ages three and five. The girls were picking wild blueberry's by the side of my rig. The little one is going to sell a container full for $1 million!! At even a fraction of that I better start picking also (lol). Carlo is parked in front of me with his daughter, her husband, and their two girls ages about 5 and 7. Nice friendly people even if Carlo is a bit nutty. He's a copper believer! What's that you ask? He wears copper mesh inside his baseball cap and breaths through a home made mask he lined with copper. He believes in the healing and restorative properties of copper. Who knows, he's in pretty good shape for his 76 years! Rick came by around noon. We walked around the Kittery Trading post and a few other outlet stores and stopped for some ice cream. Around 6pm we picked up Joe and his friend Ian at another friends house, dropped Ian off at his house and met Joe's mom Nancy at Warrens, that's two days in a row for me and I love it!

Monday I drove to Dover, NH, a cute town about 10 minutes away. There were a few little shops but after about an hour of walking around I was dripping in the 90 degree heat. On my way back to the cg I spotted a turn off for Vaughan Woods State Park. It was a little over a mile off the road to the RV cg. I sat in a shady spot and read for about an hour or so. Tuesday I drove up the coast road almost to Kennebunkport. The little towns along the coast are quaint and I past some beautiful homes. Most of the road had a 25 mph speed limit and was jammed with tourists. I stopped in a few towns and walked around. Lots of little beach resort areas. The Nubble Lighthouse was cute and the park beside it made for a great walking break. I took country roads back and got to see some of the beautiful back areas of southern Maine.

Greg invited me to his fireworks show on Wednesday but I had already booked a fireworks cruise. I spent the early afternoon walking around Portsmouth, NH. I remembered a bit of a dilapidated town. I saw a quaint town with lots of shops, museums, parks, flower gardens everywhere, a really nice place. I stopped for dinner down the road from the cruise ship. An ice cold beer, some calamari, and lobster stew, yum! I sat on the beach across from the restaurant for about an hour and a half, reading, people watching, and listening to the waves. Life is good, simple as that! The cruise ship was a whole lot smaller than I thought it would be and they packed aboard around 100 people. I managed to get a great seat on the open top deck. Sitting next to me on one side was Phil and Carol. Phil is a few years older than me and was a marine from about 1962 to 1966. He served in VietNam but not in combat. He volunteers to assist two mentally handicapped people, Carol being one of them. On my other side was a family with four little kids. The youngest, a cute little 18 month old boy was a hand full for his mom. He made me nervous with all his jumping around. I thought he was going to end up in the water. The ship cruised out past the rocky islands known as the Shoals. We saw lots of cormorants diving into and under the water. We saw some seals swimming around our ship. The highlight was a hump back whale that seemed to be bigger than our ship. I'd never seem such a huge animal, incredible! The sky got dark real fast and the captain announced that the town fireworks were being moved up and hour due to the pending lightening storm. He put the ship in overdrive and we really moved back to the main land fast. The light show was great! From the water we could see the fireworks of about a dozen towns plus the lightening on the water.

Thursday morning I strolled around the cg a little. Chatting with Diane and Greg. I cleaned up a little, did a wash load, and started planning when to empty my tanks. Around 1pm I left for the Hackmatack Playhouse and their production of Oklahoma. I love these little country playhouses, they're all different, quaint, and always great performances. The Hack, as they call it, is a half barn with a cape cod house added on, parking in a grassy field across from a buffalo farm, on a little back country road. It was a perfect setting! I have vague memories of my parents taking me to see the show on Broadway about 1955. I got tears in my eyes watching and listening to the great Rogers & Hammerstein songs.

Friday is my last Maine trip for this year. LL Bean is having their 100 year celebration. Lots of events, demonstrations, music. It was a long drive, over an hour. Wow, has Freeport, ME changed. This is a shoppers paradise! All the major outlet stores are here but LL Bean dominates the town. The store was interesting to walk through but I didn't buy anything. The prices are crazy, especially for a supposed outlet store. The music must have been meant for teenagers, loud with unrecognizable lyrics. I went to the LL Bean restaurant for lunch. The food was good but the service was not, way to many tourists. All in all the trip was a bummer.

Saturday morning while I was cleaning and packing up a girl strolls up and asks where the office is. I pointed to it but couldn't resist chatting and walking her over. If I had to guess I would have said she was in her late twenties to early thirties. As we chatted she referred to her kids in her RV. Turns out she's in her mid forties, divorced, and home schooling seven kids!!! She and the four kids I met are all so calm and well behaved it was incredible. I was wishing she had come by a few days earlier or I was leaving a few days later. Oh well, such is life!