Maine & Canada 2013

Crossing over the Piscataquis River bridge and entering Kittery Maine I could almost taste the lobster. The Indian River cg is old and a half mile down a heavily rutted dirt road. Still, it's on the river with some nice views, real quiet, and a short ride from route 95. Also, at $17.50 a night for a full hook up the price is sure right. I met Rick, Nancy, and Joe at one of my favorite restaurants, Warrens in Kittery. My first lobster of the year, yum!! Rick called in the morning. We hung out at his place for a little while. We went to a place Nancy had recommended called "When Pigs Fly". Strange name for an incredible bakery and sort of bar restaurant. The homemade breads are incredible! I only hope I have room in my freezer for all the loafs I bought. Rick and I shared a homemade pizza and a beer sampler of seven varieties. A friendly waitress helped make it a very pleasant afternoon. Nancy cooked a great chicken dish for dinner and we enjoyed chatting, watching a porcupine waddle around from the back porch. Sunday, Rick, Joe, his friend Ian, and I hung out at a driving range for a while before Rick had to head back to Rhode Island. I strolled around the Kittery Trading Post and confirmed that they do allow RV'ers to park for free. In fact, they even allow RV'ers to stay multiple nights for free which is very unusual.

The ride from Kittery to Palmyra is a very easy one, a couple of hours almost entirely on route 95. The owner, Rick (not to be confused with my cousin Rick above), had told me he wouldn't be at the cg until later in the week and I should just take any site I liked in the "B" row other than B1. Roland & Sharon are work campers who stay at B1. They live in Greenville, about 1 1/2 hours away, but stay the whole summer at this cg. Roland & Sharon had arrived earlier in the day. We remembered each other from last year and chatted awhile. Getting set up was a whole lot easier than last year. I pulled a little past the site, backed in most of the way, straighten out a bit, pulled in and dropped the rig perfectly level. Last year it had rained a lot and the grass was wet. Every time the trucks rear wheels hit the grass I sat and spun them, digging holes in the grass. It must have taken me 20 minutes to pull into a beautiful, open site. This is definitely one of the prettiest cg's I've been to in over two years. Rick, Linda, and their son Brian keep the golf course and camp ground immaculate!

With it being early in the season and not much going on in the area, I offered to help out at the cg. There had been a couple of storms over the winter so I cleaned up the debris on the 100 sites. Rick gave me a gizmo that checked the power on the 120, 30amp, and 50amp outlets which gave me yet another excuse to walk around a little. While checking the sites I noticed that many of the light detectors were broken so I got some electric tape and repaired them. Finally, I went around the cg after dark and made a list of all the site lights that were out. Rick didn't want to charge me for my site in exchange for the work. It didn't seem fair for only taking a few strolls around the pretty park and I wouldn't hear of a free site. We settled on my paying the discounted Passport America rate for a month, splitting the month into a few weeks in May and a few more weeks in July, and Rick treating me to dinner. These are very nice people and a very comfortable cg to stay at. Over the two weeks at Palmyra Golf & RV cg I: helped a little getting the park ready for their season, saw "Around the World in 80 Days" at the Penobscot Theater in Bangor, enjoyed another lobster dinner, enjoyed an evening at the Bangor Discovery Museum (more below), finally finished one of my RV projects (more below), had dinner with Rick & Linda, and even hit a bucket of golf balls. The evening at the Discovery Museum was a serendipitous event. The tickets I got to the play were apparently for supporters of the Penobscot Theater. As a supporter I was invited to a special event at the museum across the street. They had several presentations on art related topics along with lots of free food & wine, an interesting evening. As for my RV projects, I had two. One was to create storage space under my bed and the other was to attach doors to the front of the cabinet holding my washer/dryer. The bed project ended quickly when I discovered that the slide mechanism takes up almost all the space under the bed. That was an easy project. The second project sort of escalated a little on me. When I had the washer/dryer installed the mechanics took two doors off a cabinet, along with some shelving, in order to fit the washer/dryer in. Once in, the washer/dryer stuck out about an inch so the doors wouldn't close. They left the doors with me and I'd been wanting to figure out a way to put them back on. It seemed easy enough, just put some furring stripes around the edge and attach the doors to them. Well, I measured the sizes of furring, had them cut at Home Depot, sanded them a little and stained them to match. They looked great and fit fine. My first problem came when I went to take some left over screws out of the doors. They required some kind of square screw driver which I don't have. Rick laughed and shared with me that the square screw is apparently fairly common on RV's. He lent me the correct tool. My second problem came when I went to attach the doors and discovered a four inch gap between them. I realized that before the washer/dryer there must have been a center strip on the prior wardrobe cabinet. I couldn't put a center strip on since I wouldn't be able to open the wash/dryer. I went back to Home Depot and got a strip of wood I could attach to the inside of one of the cabinet doors. This way it would open with the door and not block the washer/dryer. Of course now this strip had to be stained and attached. My next problem came when my shortest screw driver wouldn't fit in the small opening between the door and the water pipes. Anyhow, after borrowing a short screw driver my project was finally completed. It really does look good.

The drive to the Bethel cg was pretty easy, straight down route #2 from Palmyra to Bethel. The rain even cooperated. I think the time of my drive was the longest stretch in a week that it didn't rain (lol)! The only problem came when my gps thought the cg was about 1/4 mile past where the entrance is and I didn't see the entrance until it was to late to stop. I got lucky with a gas station just past the cg that had enough room for me to make a "U" turn. The Bethel Outdoor Adventure & RV Park seems mostly geared to kayak'ers and canoe'ers. There are only a few sites and the cg is right on route #2 with some truck noise even during the night. The cg gave me a pretty site backing right up on the river. Unfortunately, there were a couple of trees that blocked my sat. dish. The site I switched to was a double width site and a clear view for the sat. dish. I managed to take several walks/hikes in between lots of rain. There are two pretty little walking paths each going in a different direction along the river. My stroll to and around town was about 3+ miles. Bethel is a cute little mountain town. I found a bike shop and took mine in. The bike has been bouncing around in the bed of the truck for about two years. The chain has gotten pretty rusty and the brake & gear levers are almost frozen. The shop did a nice job cleaning it up and replacing the cables & chain. Sunday was very relaxing. Walked to town and picked up a couple of newspapers, hung out in the rain reading and watching some news shows. I really am a news junkie (lol)! Two Mainely-LoW'ers showed up Monday afternoon and stayed until Wednesday morning. The rain continued the whole time but we did manage to walk a little and go out to dinner one day.

After the LoW's left I met Ernie & Mike. They're work campers who have been coming to this cg for many years. They've known each other since grade school and both served in the Navy. Ernie's wife is still in Florida, finishing up some medical issues and Mike's wife helps out in the office. We got to know each other pretty quick on Saturday night. Mike knocked on my door a few minutes before 10pm informing me that the county sheriff called to inform the cg that a stage 1 alert had been announced. He told me this means that water will be released from the upstream dam at Shelbourne around midnight. It's been raining almost steady for 8 days and they need to release some of the water behind the dam. Mike told me the last time they did this the entire cg flooded. I needed to move my truck and rig to higher ground. In the pouring rain it took me about 20 minutes to get dressed, I was in my pj's, hook up and move near the cg entrance which is about 30 feet higher. In the time it took me to move I was soaked. Being completely wet anyway I walked back to help the others. A third work camper, Cindy was alone. Her husband was off visiting friends and wouldn't be back for a couple of days. I took down her staked RV awning, helped her move all her outdoor stuff into a shelter and drove her towed car to the higher ground. I also helped Mike load and move two trailer loads of kayaks and canoes to the higher ground. I was wet and tired and slept great from about 1am to 6am. Peeking out the window, all looked fine, no flooding. I had my usual breakfast, dressed and went to help moving everything back. Since my truck was already hooked up I took the RV with me to fill up the gas tank & get my Sunday newspapers. By 10am I was back at a camp site, all hooked up with an interesting experience behind me.

The drive to Greenville and Moosehead Lake was pretty. Lots of back Maine countryside, no main roads. The site at Lily Bay SP was a little tight to back into but real pretty view right on a lake cove. Over the few days I finally saw a moose, a small female. The more exciting event was the bull moose those in the campground heard on several mornings and evenings. It rained every day but I managed to hike around the park. There was one trail 1.6 miles from my end of the cg to the other, Lots of pretty views. I tried to take a float plane ride but they wouldn't go up with only one passenger. Met Dick & Ellen, owners of a bookstore. We chatted for awhile. Later, when I was getting a haircut, the barber knew Dick & Ellen and we chatted like old friends. When I was in the local outfitter store, they also knew Dick & Ellen. Small towns sure are interesting.

The drive to Freeport seemed familiar. The first part of the drive I had taken last year when I came up north from Palmyra, albeit without the RV behind me. The second part of my drive was on I-95 & I-295. You've seen one highway you've seen them all (lol). The Desert of Maine cg was easy to get to, but then the fun started. While the ride to the cg was easy and I arrived early about 12:30, it was in the 90's, I was hot and tired. They said the person who spoke with me on the phone had given the wrong info on rates. I almost lost my cool but managed to work out an okay compromise. The fun continued when the first site electric couldn't keep my a/c going. The owner seemed apologetic and had the circuit breaker changed. That didn't help. I tried another site which also had poor electric. The owner suggested a third site which my RV wouldn't fit in, too long. The fourth site finally worked but didn't have a sewer connection. It took a little over three hours to drive here and about five hours to get settled in :=(! I was totally drenched from the heat and ready to collapse. I took a quick shower and went out for dinner. The lobster pound on the South Freeport wharf was perfect. Typical Maine, place your order, take a number, and enjoy the best lobster ever. Sitting at a picnic table overlooking the marina, light breeze, wow, great evening. Over the next week I strolled around the desert, about a mile around, took the jeep/tram tour, had a great day sailing on a schooner out of Portland harbor, saw the play "Dream Girls" at the Pickard Theater on Bowdoin University campus, hiked all 7.5 miles of Wolf's Neck Park. The town of Freeport has a website of hiking trails, "Freeportconservationtrust.org". There are over 20 miles of trails with the longest only about 5 miles. I hiked all but the Florida Lake trail, not 'cause of the gators (lol), it was just way to muddy. Lots of pretty views of Casco Bay, the town and surrounding areas. The campground let me help out with their butterfly house when they received a new shipment. It's amazing the way the breeder ships these delicate creatures. They overnight about 100 of them, two to an envelope, folded in half, carefully. I sprayed some sugar water on the plants and flowers then carefully opened the envelopes. It was enjoyable to watch as the butterfly's stretched their wings and took off.

A hobby of mine for the past 15 years or so has been genealogy research. I had a quick success in locating first cousins I didn't even know I had (hi Bobbie, Betty, and Rick). The quick success has turned into a periodic diversion. If you've ever tried genealogy research it's a lot of tedious searching and record keeping. Well, this past week I had two new finds, one on my fathers side and one on my mothers. My mother had an older sister who just disappeared around 1920. I "found" her living as a patient in a Colorado hospital in 1930. Back then people went to western hospitals for emphysema and tuberculosis. Along with my Aunt Bessie, I also found an uncle, my mother's brother, living and working in the same hospital. I had met my uncle a few times before he passed away in 1977. The family story about my Uncle Abe was him getting mixed up with a group called "Murder Incorporated" and being forced to leave Brooklyn. When he passed away he was fairly well off so it's interesting to see him working as a porter/waiter in a hospital. On my father's side I finally located the 1900 census record of my great-grandparents. I knew they had a son Samuel, my grand-father, and a daughter Annie, who there is a whole story about. I'd heard a rumor from my new cousins that there was another son, Saul. On the census record I confirmed the older son Sol (corrected spelling) and "found" two more sons, Sidney and Aaron. Armed with this new info along with their dates of birth, I have lots of new "stuff" to research. The Freeport, Maine library has a subscription to genealogy software so, with all the rain, I spent a day inside doing research.

When leaving Freeport I had my second shortest drive to the campground on the Casco Bay, only 26 miles. The shortest drive was in November 2011 when I drove from one park in Bushnell, Florida to another in the same town, about 2 miles. This drive was easy until the last 5 or 6 miles. Even the dirt roads I've driven on had less ruts and pot holes than the roads leading to the cg. I drove well below the 25 and 30 mile limits and still thought the truck and RV would have parts falling off. I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. I didn't have high expectations for this campgrounds since both the workcamper who took my reservation and the owner who got involved were extremely rude. If I wasn't going to meet the Mainely-LoW camping group I never would have continued with my reservation. Now, upon checking in, this workcamper was very friendly. Her husband let me reach into a tank and pick my own lobster. The site was easy to get into, a full hookup, with great sat. dish reception. The lobster dinner was ready exactly when promised and really delicious, boiled lobster, baked potato, grilled corn on the cob, yum, yum!! Yet another workcamper let me pick a movie to be shown in the rec. hall this evening. I just arrived and I'm enjoying this place already. Between no hook ups at all at the State Park by Moosehead Lake and no sewer hook up for the past two weeks, I have lots of laundry loads to do. Got two loads in the first evening and a third started before I left on Saturday morning. I went to the Maine Maritime Museum only about 5 miles from the campground. It was interesting. The tour guide seemed to go on and on, repeating himself several times. It was painful to listen. He eventually shared with our group that this was his first time doing the tour on his own. Oh well! I guess if I were more into ship building the museum would have been more interesting. The lobster history exhibit was nice. I then went to the Musical Wonder House in Wiscasset, about 10 to 15 minutes from the Maritime Museum. This museum is an absolute wonder. I found it magical!! The owner and I immediately hit it off. He got no more than about three of four sentences from his mouth when I asked him what city in Brazil he came from. Paolo looked at me in amazement and asked how I knew he was from Brazil. I shared with him something of my many trips throughout Brazil before I retired. It turns out he was born in Spain, grew up in Brazil, and went to school in England. We chatted for quite a while about our various travels and the cultures around the world we've enjoyed. The tour of his music box exhibits was absolutely astounding! I highly recommend visiting this jewel of a place just off Route #1 in Wiscasset, Maine. The variety of music boxes is far beyond anything I'd ever imagined. One of the oldest boxes is from the 1600's. It has a small drum, several bells, castanets, and two dolls dancing to the wonderful music. The detail and creativity is unbelievable. I had wanted to have lunch of a lobster roll at a great place in Wiscasset. However, I spent so much time in the music box museum and it would interfere with dinner. So, on to Boothbay Harbor to stroll around and have dinner. It was about a half hour to the harbor. Finding parking in this tourist mecca was surprisingly easy. It was a nice afternoon to stroll. Boothbay Harbor is a cute village full of what I call "junk stores". While a cute town, it is totally geared for tourists. Still, it has a lovely harbor and I enjoyed a beer with some chowder on a wharf overlooking the marina.

The Mainely-LoW's should be arriving today (Monday). I walked around the cg and saw a rig from TX that looked familiar. Lo and behold, there on the dash it says Marge Smith (hi Marge). I knocked on the door, nobody home. I found Marge, Carolyn, Heidi, and two Joyce's sitting by another rig. We chatted awhile and one Joyce left. Marge and I enjoyed a lobster dinner at the cg. The other Joyce and Carolyn had some chowder. The five of us hung out, played a dice game, and chatted between the periodic rain. On Thursday I brought my truck in for a regular maintenance. Carolyn, Joyce, and Heidi left on Wednesday. Marge met me at the dealership. We strolled around the Bowdoin College campus, went to the Perry-MacMillan Arctic Museum and had a light lunch on Maine Street.

Another short ride, about an hour to Thomaston and the Saltwater Farm cg. The cg is right on the St. George River. It goes from a mud flat where people clam to about 13 feet deep in minutes. Thomaston is at the southern end of several pretty towns. I've been coming to this area for almost 40 years. An old neighbor who sold antiques in New Jersey would come to this area of Maine each summer on buying trips. I visited them several times in the early 1970's. After all these years I did discover something new and very unique, elephants! The Hope Elephant project in Hope, ME. Olga and Rossie (the 43 year old elephants) are sisters who were rescued from a circus and very well cared for. In the past couple of years over 4,000 children have come to see them and the conservation program their rescuers support. On one of the few days the forecast was for a sunny day I took the ferry to Islesboro to bike around the island. It was sunny all right, all the way into the mid-90's with barely a breeze! During my approximate 25 mile bike ride I went through the 16 ounces of water I brought plus 32 ounces more! I was drenched! Dang, it's tough being a fat, old, man! It was about an hours drive back to Bath, ME, the Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus, but it was well worth the trip. Les Miserables was great, I think way better than when I saw it on Broadway. There were several strong players who did great jobs with the songs. The scenery and scene changes were incredible. Spending time in the Chamberlain Museum and doing the walking tour was very timely. I had just finished reading "The Last Full Measure", a book about the end of the Civil War. General Chamberlain was a professor from Maine who played several important roles during the Civil War. Fascinating stuff!

The Saltwater Farm cg had great views but strange sites and poor electric connections. I lost power several times. The day before I left, the power went off yet again and it wouldn't reset. I left it off and the rig on the inverter. Between the raindrops I unhooked and closed up. Good thing since the day I was leaving it came down in buckets. It rained the entire ride to Palmyra. I got lucky and was able to set up in only a light drizzle, lol. I really like the Palmyra Golf & RV Resort. The owners, Rick & Linda are simply nice people who will do whatever it takes to have their "company", us RV'ers, enjoy our stay. The campground and golf course are immaculate! It's a pretty place to stay and stroll around. July 4th was very nice. The Bangor Band played great patriotic music to a nice crowd of about 100. Most of us then strolled to the riverfront where we listened to more music and watched fireworks. From the river we could see the fireworks of the towns of Hebron, Brewer, and Bangor. At times they seemed to be having a contest with each other. The most incredible sight was when a huge bald eagle swooped over the band, right on cue to their playing America the Beautiful. The entire audience let out lots of ooohs and aaahs! Magnificent!! I hung out with a group of old vets, like me. It was a great evening. Between the rain and heat spells I still enjoyed my stay. Between the Bangor Band weekly free concerts, the Bangor library weekly free music, and the weekly farmers markets, there was plenty to do. I even got in a few dips in the pool and a few rounds of golf.

While at Bar Harbor the weather finally turned great. Clear, sunny days in the low 80's. Lots of hiking, a 4 hour sea kayak tour, strolling around the Oceanerium exhibits and marsh walk. I met a lovely family camped next to me and hung out with them for a few days. Mark is a retired NH state trooper and his wife Janice is a retired school teacher. They were camped in the largest truck camper I've seen, travelling with Mark's dad and one of their grandsons. Next to them was his son Chris, his wife, Heather and their two kids Logan and Emma, camping in a pop up. We shared coffee each morning and some dinner each evening. Nice people. While at Bar Harbor I also toured the Atlantic Brewery and even bought a few of their heavy malt brews. The Southwest Harbor is a cute town on the Arcadia peninsular that many people miss. Nearby is an interesting Auto Museum that celebrates the brass era of cars. They have several autos that are absolutely works of art. The Abbe Indian Museum in Bar Harbor was okay but seemed to have lots of plaques talking about the native Indians and few actual artifacts. The trolley tour was nice with at least a breeze flowing. My short hike around the top of Cadillac Mountain had incredible views.

Not a bad ride up the coast to my friends in Whiting, just north of Machias (hi Anne & Stephen). When they first moved from New York to northern Maine I honestly thought they were nuts! This area defines why Maine is called vacationland! They live at the end of the paved road, over three miles off route #1 and over a mile from their mailbox, across from Gardner Lake which at over 3,800 acres is huge. Over the few days I parked by their beautiful home we went out fishing and did some ATV'ing. There is no way to describe AVT'ing in the Maine woods to anyone who hasn't seen these forests. Imagine a forest almost half the size of the State of New Jersey with 1/2 of 1% of the population!!! We drove the ATV's for over 20 miles and never crossed a road or saw another person.

The next couple of weeks were spent in Canada, roaming around the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick and onto Prince Edward Island. The Bay of Fundy Provincial Park is quite large. Lots of hiking trails and beautiful views. I hiked a couple of short trails in between the rain. The change in the height of the bay from high tide to low is incredible. It goes from a mud flat to about 52 feet deep in minutes and reverses back to a mud flat when the tide goes out. This is not a place you'd want to get caught walking the beach as the tide comes in! A little past the park along the shore is the Flower Pot Park. The in and out of the tide formed these giant rock columns with trees and plants on top. They really do look like flower pots, weird!

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is an absolutely enchanting place. I hadn't been here in over 30 years. Back then I took the ferry across and poked around on my motorcycle a little. This time I drove over the bridge, about 9 miles long. You wouldn't see much driving over in a car but with the height of the truck the views from the bridge are great. During the summer months there is music most everywhere you go. Travelling around the shore there are lots of quaint little fishing villages. On the north shore there were huge sand dunes, the south shore has red sand from the heavy iron content. The Islanders claim it's the iron that gives their produce its great taste. How many of you have read the story "Anne of Green Gables"? My guess is most of the women and none of the men, lol! The story and its author, Lucy Maude Montgomery, have become part of the enchantment of PEI. The Green Gable museum was interesting but the Montgomery house & museum was fascinating. Running this little known stop was Robert Montgomery, a first cousin of Lucy Maude's. He is an absolute character!! About 6'3", long grey, disheveled hair down to his shoulders, a face with tons of "character", and gnarled hands that I doubt have ever been washed (lol). I was the only one there and his stories continued almost without end. I felt obligated to pick up a copy of the book. It's definitely a little girlie story but so sweet it brings a smile and at times a tear. If you've got a soft spot it's worth the read. I went to the famous "Dinner Feast" in Charlottetown. The play was called "Good Golly Miss Molly"! The buffet dinner was excellent and the show fantastic. One LoW camper came by for a few days from her home in Nova Scotia, Penny King. We went to two other plays together, "Anne & Gilbert", and "Anne of Green Gables". Both plays were incredible. It is amazing the talent on this island, the smallest and least populated of the ten Canadian provinces. Penny and I also took what is called a Hippo Tour. This is a combination tram and boat, which drove around Charlottetown, providing a running tour, then driving into the harbor and continuing the tour from the water. We also went to the "famous" St. Anne's Church dinner. Many of the church's sell dinners as a means of raising funds for their community. St. Anne's apparently has one of the longest running dinners. The food was good and we were stuffed. Both before Penny arrived and after she had left I explored a little of the three counties; Prince in the west, Queens in the center, and Kings in the east. PEI is a beautiful place!

Back at my friends Anne & Stephen again, and some more fishing & ATV'ing for a few days. Stephen cooked some moose burgers, my first taste of moose. They were good and reminded me of bison, pretty near zero fat. Stephen also cooked some mackerel he caught, yum, yum. A friend of Stephen's had given me some moose stew but Anne didn't want to hear about it cooked in her house so I took it with me. My last stop in Maine was back in Palmyra. While in Palmyra I went to two concerts a week in Bangor; the library and Bangor Bands. One day was spent at the Skowhegan State Fair. I watched two really exciting tractor pull events (yawn, lol). The fair had a grizzly bear show which really impressed upon me that I don't want to see a grizzly to close. The bear in the show was a cub and only 7 feet tall. They said the largest have been recorded at over 12 feet and about 2,000 lbs! These are huge animals!! Carolyn Smith from Mainly-LoW same by with her daughter. We went to dinner with Vern and his wife Linda who were camped next to me. I enjoyed my last Maine lobster of this year. I finally bought a CB radio and which I'll play with a bit. I found a guy who tuned it up to about 40 watts, ten times the standard 4 watts they come with. I'll play with my new toy as I go down the roads, "breaker, breaker"  (lol). I also cooked the moose stew. It was pretty good with a strong after taste. I probably won't have any more but now I can say I have eaten moose, lol.