Category Archives: Maine

Breadcrumb Trail

The Fourth of July was our last full day in Little Deer Isle, Maine. It was a mostly relaxing day after the parade in the morning. I loaded the Traeger in the trailer and straightened things out a bit. We never got a chance to go out on Roger’s little sailboat – it’s called a Bullseye. Maybe next time – Roger just got it in the water the day before.

Roger’s sailboats in the foreground – Bullseye on the left and sloop Tarpon on the right

Roger’s neighbor Russ took the grandkids out tubing behind his 21-foot Boston Whaler in the afternoon and Donna went along for a joyride.

Tubing behind the Whaler

Everyone went out to watch fireworks after dinner, but Donna and I hung back and watched the Buck Harbor fireworks from camp chairs by our coach.

Thursday morning I had to do a bit of jockeying to get us out. First, I took the ball and mount out of our receiver hitch and put into the receiver on Roger’s truck. I used his truck to position our trailer – it was much easier than trying to hitch up to our coach in the tight space. Then I put our hitch back together and hitched up our coach, loaded the Spyder and we were ready for the road. It was 10:45 by the time we pulled out – a little later than I wanted.

We left the island and followed route 15 up to Orland. I crossed the bridge to Verona Island, then crossed the beautiful Penobscot Narrows suspension bridge. We followed Route 1 to Belfast where we picked up Route 3 all the way to Augusta and I-95. We were backtracking across the same route we came up on – basically following our breadcrumb trail.

We went back to Cabela’s in Scarborough just south of Portland to spend the night again. I dumped and flushed our holding tanks as soon as we got there. There were more RVs in the lot this time – the season is in full swing. By morning, I counted 15 RVs on our side of the lot. We walked to Famous Dave’s for a beer and dinner. They have live music on Thursdays and we enjoyed the performance.

I was a little concerned about Friday’s weather. The forecast showed thunderstorms and a cold front advancing across our path of travel. There were heavy rain and wind warnings. At 9am, all looked good so we pulled out. For some reason, our tolls on the way back were higher than on the way up. I paid $3.50 on I-95 and another $3.50 a couple of miles before we exited at Scarborough. When we got back on I-95, I hit another toll booth within a couple of miles and paid $3.50 again. Then I paid a toll on I-93 of $10.50 bringing the total for Maine up to $21.00.

We hit a few rain showers and visibility was poor at times, but we skirted the brunt of the storms which stayed mostly north of us. We made a stop in New Hampshire at the Hooksett Toll rest area. We stopped for lunch and Donna met up with her college friend, Paula Violo.  She lives and works nearby and they had not seen each other in 37 years. They spent an hour catching up over lunch while I hit the New Hampshire liquor outlet at the rest area – probably the best prices in New England.

It was an uneventful drive from there. I paid two tolls of $2.50 each to get across New Hampshire. We made good time until we got stuck behind a motorhome on Route 9 for the last 20 miles or so before Bennington. The driver seemed scared and unaware of how to use his engine brake. I could hear it activate, but it wasn’t as effective as our Jake and he would ride the brake pedal and go very slowly on each descent and slow excessively for curves. I had one chance to overtake on a passing lane on an uphill grade. Of course he hit the pedal to the metal there and drag raced me up the hill. I slowed and pulled back in behind him to allow cars behind to overtake us.

We parked in nearly the same spot we were in two weeks ago at Donna’s parents’ place. We quickly settled in. Saturday morning Donna and went to the Bennington farmers’ market. Donna picked up some cheeses and a lemon pound cake.

Bennington farmers’ market

As we often find at farmers’ markets, they had small stage and a guy playing for tips.

We also bought a steelhead trout filet at the store that I grilled for dinner.

Once again we’re boondocking without any hook-ups. Our new Lifeline AGM batteries are performing great. Saturday I had the TV and Dish receiver running on the inverter watching Wimbledon coverage all afternoon. The batteries held at 12.7 volts!

Our Xantrex Freedom 458 inverter is a modified sine wave unit. Modified sine wave produces alternating current, however it doesn’t work the same as a true sine wave like you would find from a typical wall outlet. A true sinusoidal wave rises above the zero line in a smooth arc, then drops in the same arc to the zero line and continues below before rising back to the zero line. In our 120-volt alternating current system used in the USA, the voltage rises above the zero line to +170-volts, then goes below the zero line to -170-volts and swings back again. It does this 60 times per second. The 170-volt peak results in a root mean square (RMS) voltage of 120-volts.

Our modified sine wave interverter does something similar. The difference is in the wave shape. Instead of a smooth arc as the voltage increases and decreases, the wave form is square. It goes from the zero line nearly straight up, then flattens before falling nearly straight down past the zero line before flattening again and then rising. Modified sine wave inverters use simpler, less expensive circuitry than a true sine wave inverter. Most of the time, there no difference. However, some sensitive electronics – especially those with marginal circuitry, might not get on well with the square wave.

We found that to be the case with our Mr. Coffee thermal coffee maker a few months ago. Well, yesterday after I made coffee while the generator was running and recharging our batteries, I forgot to unplug the coffee maker. While I was enjoying TV all afternoon, the modified sine wave destroyed the weak electronics in the coffee maker again! So, I’m happy with the performance of our battery bank and the inverter is useful for most things, but I have to buy another coffee maker.

We’ve had nice weather since we arrived in Bennington. Last night was cool, but I found it to be comfortable especially after the high humidity in Maine. The forecast calls for a high of 82 degrees today with the relative humidity at 42%. Nice. The next few days should be similar.

Wooden Boats and the Fourth of July

Monday afternoon Donna and I rode the Spyder to Brooklin (not to be confused with Brooklyn), about 14 miles from Little Deer Isle. We went to have a look around and visit the WoodenBoat School. The school was established 38 years ago by the publisher of WoodenBoat magazine. It’s located on a 64-acre waterfront campus. They have a variety of courses for beginner, intermediate and advanced woodworkers and boat builders.

WoodenBoat School – Brooklin, Maine

At the WoodenBoat Store, we were told we were free to wander around the campus as long as we didn’t enter or disrupt any active classes. We saw a couple of finished boats and several works in progress.

Finished small boats

Beautiful workmanship

This little sailboat was offered for $900

Some of the courses are all about woodworking and the tools used. Other classes teach marine diesel mechanics and then there are seamanship courses.

Bending wood to make a rib

Putting it all together

Another finished hull

Brooklin is a small village with a general store, a couple of boutique-type shops, a public library and a small cafe. It was an interesting way to spend a nice, sunny afternoon. Of course, I couldn’t leave the WoodenBoat store without a T-shirt to go along with the Tarpon Crew T-shirt Roger gave me.

Finished row boat near the water

Fog was rolling into the reach and I thought we might be in for a cold ride home. As we rode west through Sedgewick though, all was clear and there wasn’t any fog on Little Deer Isle.

While we were out, Sandra and Roger picked up more lobster. We just can’t get enough.

Another pile of lobster

I learned a little more about Maine lobstah. We’ve been getting soft shell lobster. The adult male lobsters shed their shell annually – it’s called molting – and females molt every other year. A new, larger shell is formed and it takes time to fully harden. The soft shell lobsters are easily cracked – I’ve been shelling them with my fingers – and the meat is not as firm or full as a fully hardened shell lobster – a soft shell lobster contains a higher percentage of water. Hard shell lobsters need tools to crack the shell and the meat fills the shell.

I also learned about the lobster pound on Conary Cove I wrote about in my last post. They aren’t actually raising lobsters there. Lobsters are held in the pound for a couple of reasons. For one thing, there’s been a glut of lobster on the market. At this time of year, supply exceeds demand. Also, a large percentage of the catch at this time of year is soft shell which has a lower market price. To counter this, lobsters are held in the pound and grow into their new shells which are hard by the fall. The market price for lobster generally goes up later in the year. The lobster pound is a way to hold lobsters to keep prices stable and generate income year-round.

While Donna and I are getting our fill of lobster, Roger and Russ wanted me to smoke more babyback ribs. Tuesday I rode to Blue Hill to buy ribs, but the store there only had one small rack and it was frozen hard as a rock. So I headed on to Ellsworth – about a 30-mile ride from Little Deer Isle. I found a couple of large racks of ribs at the Walmart store there.

We had a large dinner party – Roger and Georgia, their son Jeff and his two young daughters, Roger’s sister Sandra, neighbor Russ, his dad George and his son Zach plus Donna and I. Georgia put out sloppy joes for the kids and I cut up the ribs into portions of two bones – they were meaty and it worked out fine – most of us got two servings.  Russ also brought – wait for it – lobsters! We had quite a feast.

George has a 1919 Ford Model T – we’ll it’s really Russ’ car now as George gifted it to him. George bought it the same year Russ was born from the original owner! Donna went for ride in the old car Tuesday afternoon.

1919 Model T

George planned to drive the car in the Fourth of July Independence Day Parade in the village of Deer Isle. This morning, Donna and I rode the Spyder over to the village to watch the parade. By chance, we ran into Kate, the person we met Sunday at Conary Cove. She was there with her partner Tom. We stood with them in the shade of a tree and watched the parade. They have a different theme every year for the parade and this year’s theme was children’s books.

Start of the parade

Grand marshalls

The grand marshalls were Sally and Jane McCloskey – daughters of Robert McCloskey, a famous author and illustrator of children’s books. Robert was a resident of Deer Isle until he passed in 2003.

After I shot the picture above, the cars in the background caught my eye. I crossed the street during a break in the parade and shot a photo of them.

French vehicles

On the right is a Citroen 2CV (deux chevaux-vapeur) . These were popular for decades due to their low cost. They were built in France from 1948 to 1988. On the left is a Citroen H van. These were front wheel-drive commercial vehicles built from 1947 to 1981 in France and Belgium. The body panels are corrugated steel. The owner of the vehicles is in the photo with the wide brim hat. He told me, “The French copied no one and no one copies the French!”

The parade was definitely old-time small-town America. They had the community band set up on the grass to play music as the parade came by.

Community band

We enjoyed the parade for about half an hour and also enjoyed talking with Tom and Kate. We saw Russ’ Vespa parked near the village, but didn’t run into him. Roger and Sandra drove to Portland to pick up Sandra’s grandsons and will be back later this afternoon. Georgia took advantage of an empty house for a little quiet time.

It’s already over 80 degrees out at noon and the temperature will probably reach 90 degrees this afternoon. Donna’s hoping to take a boat ride on Russ’ 21-foot Whaler. I might go along too – but I also have to start packing and organizing the trailer. We plan to leave Little Deer Isle tomorrow and head down to Scarborough where we’ll spend the night before going back to Bennington, Vermont.

 

 

Sailing the Reach

We had a busy weekend in Maine and lots of fun. After spending most of Thursday indoors, while half an inch of rain fell in numerous squalls, we went to the Stonington Farmers’ Market Friday morning with Georgia. Later, Donna and I rode the Spyder to Blue Hill and bought some groceries at Tradewinds Market. While we were out, Roger made it back from his business trip to Albuquerque.

On Saturday morning, Roger rowed Donna and I out in his dingy to Tarpon, his 30-foot sloop. We rigged the jib and also tried to assemble the lazy jack but ran into a few problems – no big thing. We fired up the harbor motor and I putted toward the bridge over the Eggemoggin Reach. Heading into the wind toward Billings Cove, we put up the jib. I came about and we hoisted the mainsail. Roger had to undo the lazy jacks. The way we rigged it interfered with the mainsail. We’ll have to redo it another time. By the time we unfurled the mainsail, the wind died.

As we drifted back toward the bridge, the wind suddenly picked up. We were sailing!

Sailing under the bridge (Roger Eaton photo)

Heading northeast through the reach (Roger Eaton photo)

I had the helm and had us on a heading of 328 degrees as we sailed through the reach toward Condon Point. When we were near the Pumpkin Island lighthouse, Donna took the helm.

Sailing is such fun (Roger Eaton photo)

Donna takes over (Roger Eaton photo)

Donna made the turnaround  at the bell buoy southwest of Buck’s Harbor. The wind was coming from the south-southwest. Heading back down the reach we had more speed. The thing about Eggemoggin Reach is the prevailing wind lets you sail in either direction without having to tack.

We furled the jib and lowered the mainsail as we got close to Roger’s place. We ran the harbor motor while Donna steered us to Roger’s anchor buoy. I adjusted our speed by taking us out of gear as we approached the buoy. We hit it perfectly with the boat nearly stopped and the buoy stick on the starboard bow. Roger was able to reach down and pick it up on the first try! We had been out for few hours and it was great.

Later in the evening, we went to an old house called Edge Hill. It was once a restaurant and inn and now is owned by Roger’s relatives. They had a party for one of Roger’s second cousins, Morgan. Roger has so many relatives and history in the area that it can be a little confusing at times. Morgan and her husband were celebrating their wedding anniversary and they had friends from as far away as Austin, Texas there. We stayed for a little over an hour and had cocktails and appetizers.

They were grilling chicken dinner for 55 people and had dining tables set up in the barn. But, we had other plans for dinner back on Little Deer Isle.

Porch and barn at Edge Hill

Roger’s neighbors Russ and Katie invited us to join them along with some extended family and other neighbors for dinner. Russ boiled lobster while Katie grilled flank steak. So it was surf and turf for dinner at Roger’s boat house. He has two houses on his property – one is more of a party house down by the water and they call it the boathouse.

Russ’ boathouse

Russ’ pier in front of the boathouse

We had good food and great fun. After dinner, a couple of people played guitars on the porch and sang.

Sunset at Russ’ place

On Sunday morning, I downloaded the Assen Moto GP race and it was a real thriller. Later we drove with Roger and Georgia out to Conary Cove on Stimson Neck east of Deer Isle. The property there once belonged to Roger’s family and his childhood home was there. It was built around 1905.

Conary Cove

We met the current tenant of the house and took a short tour.

Inside the cove, there’s a lobster pound where Maine lobsters are being farmed. I didn’t know Maine lobsters were farmed. I’ve heard of farmed raised spiny (rock) lobster. It seems like quite an endeavor. They have pumps to keep the sea water in the pound from stagnating. It takes five years or more for a lobster to reach a size of one pound. I don’t know if they trap lobsters and introduce them into the pound to put on size or if they are raised from larvae.

Lobster pound in the cove

On the way back, we made a stop at a place called Nervous Nellie’s Jams and Jellies.  It was an interesting stop with a bunch of old outbuildings on the property and a variety of sculptures by a local artist.

Donna and friends at Nervous Nellie’s

Last evening, Roger’s sister Sandra arrived. She had been vacationing in the Adirondacks in New York and will stay here for about a month or so. We met Sandy in Albuquerque at the Balloon Fiesta last year.

The forecast calls for cooler weather today, but it’s supposed to be near 90 degrees on Wednesday, the fourth of July. We plan to move on down the road on Thursday. We’ll make another stop in Bennington, Vermont for a visit with Donna’s parents before we start heading west.

A Thousand People in the Street

I hit a milestone this week – I’ve written more than 1,000 posts on this blog. Today’s post will be number 1,003. Little Deer Isle, where we’re currently based, is in a region of Maine known as Downeast. This name originated long ago – when ships sailed to Maine from the south they were sailing downwind and eastward. Sailors called this course Downeast.

Downeast Maine has numerous islands – some large, others small and uninhabited. It also has an extreme tidal swing. The difference between low tide and high tide is usually nine or 10 feet of water. I took the photo below in the morning at high tide in front of Roger’ and Georgia’s place on Little Deer Isle.

High tide

The next photo was shot from the same spot about six hours later at low tide.

Low tide

That’s a pretty big change. In Maine, the shoreline between the high and low tide levels are considered public land. Waterfront landowners cannot legally keep you out as long as you stay below the high tide mark.

The other thing that shifts drastically around here is the weather – more about that later. Yesterday, we borrowed Roger’s car and headed out to Mt. Desert Island (MDI). Due to all of the inlets, coves and whatnot, the route was circuitous. We first headed northeast through Blue Hill and Surry to Ellsworth. The traffic steadily built up as neared Ellsworth. From Ellsworth, we followed a caravan of cars south down route 3 to MDI and on to Bar Harbor.

Along the way, we passed several cafes and I was getting hungry. Donna and I decided we would wait until we reached the town of Bar Harbor to eat since we planned to take a walk through town anyway. It was sunny with mostly clear skies – a bit of haze over the ocean.

Traffic was a bumper-to-bumper in Bar Harbor.  Parking near the waterfront was impossible. The streets and sidewalks were filled with people – thousands of people. I found a place to park uptown a bit. We sat in the car for a few minutes watching people walking shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidewalk. We thought out loud, “What are we doing here? Why would we want to join that throng of people?”

It turned out that the cruise ship Norwegian Gem from the Norwegian Cruise Line was in the harbor. This ship is 965 feet long and has the capacity to carry 2,394 passengers along with 1,070 crew. That explained the thousands of people on the streets. It didn’t explain the number of cars filling all of the available parking though.

We decided to get out of town, but as we did, I missed the turn to route 233. I wanted to cut across 233 to Acadia National Park then on to Southwest Harbor. Our friends, Clarke and Elaine are work camping there. I say our friends, but I’ve actually only met them in person once – a few years ago in northern California. But I feel like I know them because I’ve been following Clarke’s blog for nearly six years.

We found ourselves on route 3 heading to the south east side of MDI. I was really wanting to stop for lunch and we finally made a stop at Northeast Harbor. Parking was easy and it was fairly quiet there. We had lunch at a cafe called Colonel’s. I had to have a lobster roll – it’s a Maine thing and I’ve never had one. It’s a toasted hot dog roll filled with chunks of lobster meat and mayonnaise. Good eats – but a lobster roll with fries set me back $19.

Donna and I talked about what to do for the rest of the afternoon. To get to Southwest Harbor from where we were would entail a drive north the length of Somes Sound, then back south on the west side of the sound. I knew Clarke and Elaine were off from their duties at Smuggler’s Den Campground on Tuesday and Wednesday and I figured they were probably out and about on such a fine day. As much as I would have liked to meet up with them, I really hadn’t made any arrangement to do so.

We decided to head back into Acadia National Park and go up Cadillac Mountain. First we made a stop near Thunder Hole where the ocean waves erupt like a geyser through a blowhole. I took about 20 steps from the car when I felt like lightning had struck my lower back and went to my right hip. I nearly fell over. Somehow I’d pinched a nerve and could barely walk back to the car. We didn’t make it to Thunder Hole but later we were told we didn’t miss much. With the calm seas, it wasn’t spouting much.

We continued on to Cadillac Mountain.The peak at Cadillac Mountain is 1,530 feet above sea level. It’s the highest point in Hancock County and offers spectacular views. I walked around the top of the mountain gingerly. The pain in my back and hip was sporadic. Nearly paralyzing with one step, then easily bearable a few steps later.

View of islands and ocean south of Cadillac Mountain

More islands and ocean to the south east

View of Bar Harbor to the northeast of Cadillac Mountain. The Cruise ship Norwegian Gem is in the harbor, center right

We made the 50-mile drive back and stopped first at Blue Hill to gas up the car, then at Strong Brewery for a cold one. It was a warm day – in the upper 70s all afternoon.

We had dinner with Georgia back on Little Deer Isle – she made a chicken dish and Donna made pecan rice – we bought that at Konriko in Louisiana. The temperature dropped quickly before sunset. I took it easy and had a cigar while I watched the sun go down. Donna and Georgia hung out inside chatting.

Rain moved in during the night. It’s been raining off and on all morning with some heavy squalls. This is forecast to continue all day and into the night. I don’t think the thermometer will reach 60 today. They say we’ll have sunny skies again tomorrow afternoon and a high in the upper 70s – I hope they’re right.

 

Buck’s Harbor and Castine

I smoked babyback ribs on Sunday and Roger’s neighbor Russ and his son Zack joined the four of us for dinner. Over dinner, Russ invited Donna and I to go out on his boat for a tour out to Buck’s Harbor on Monday. We enthusiastically accepted the invitation.

The weather here can be fickle. It rained Sunday night and we woke up to a cold, cloudy morning with a few rain drops and sustained 20mph winds with higher gusts. It felt like a wintry day in San Diego with a high temperature of about 60 degrees. The wind whipped the water and it was very choppy. This ruled out the boat tour for the day. Instead we had a low-key day hanging out – I mostly read my Kindle. Roger had to fly out of Portland early Tuesday morning to handle some business back in Albuquerque and he left around midnight to make the drive to the Portland airport. He drove his pickup truck and left us the keys to his Subaru Forrester – thanks, Roger! Georgia stayed here in their house, but she said she would not be going anywhere.

Sunset Monday evening

The sun sets slowly this far north. I can sit and watch the sky slowly turn to different shades of pastel colors for about an hour.

We had blue skies and warmer weather on Tuesday. Around 10:30am, Russ stopped by and asked if we were up for the boat ride. He had his little Boston Whaler docked at the float on the end of his pier. The little Whaler is a flat bottom 13-foot boat with a 40hp outboard motor. He has a larger Boston Whaler, a 21-foot V-hull, but he hasn’t put it in the water yet this year.

We cruised to the northwest end of Eggemoggin Reach to Buck’s Harbor. Buck’s Harbor is a protected cove off of Penobscot Bay. A heart shaped island called Harbor Island is at the mouth of the cove, making this harbor a great shelter from stormy weather.

Entering Buck’s Harbor – Harbor Island on the left, Buck’s Harbor Marina on the right

Anchorage in Buck’s Harbor – lobsterman’s tiny shed on a float in the harbor

We docked the boat at the yacht club and went ashore. We walked up to the Buck’s Harbor Market where Russ bought a sandwich while Donna and I looked around.

Russ and Donna at Buck’s Harbor Market

There are binoculars mounted on a metal post in front of the yacht club. I scanned the bay and watched the sailboats while Russ had his sandwich on the porch and Donna kept him company.

View of Buck’s Harbor from the yacht club

Russ steered the boat past the west side of Harbor Island into bigger water. It wasn’t as smooth of a ride as we had in the reach and harbor.

Another float with lobster pots stored in the harbor

We headed out to look for seals. We found them on Thrumcap Ledge – a small rocky island. The seals here are wary of humans and become skittish if you approach too closely. We kept our distance but a few of them dove into the water as we went by.

It’s hard to see, but there are seals on the rocks

From there, we came back toward the west end of Little Deer Island and cruised past the lighthouse on Pumpkin Island. This lighthouse is no longer used for navigation and is a privately owned home now.

Pumpkin Island lighthouse from the west

Lighthouse from the back side

We made our way back through the reach on the northside of Little Deer Isle. There are some beautiful waterfront properties along the way.

Waterfront home on LDI

Our coach is nestled in some trees facing the reach.

Can you spot our coach in the lower center? Our trailer is between the coach and house,

It was fun boat tour – thanks, Russ!

We had a quick lunch, then Donna and I headed out in Roger’s car. We drove to the town of Castine. It’s about 10 miles from where we are as the crow flies, but around here none of the roads will take you straight to your destination. The jagged coastline means most roads arc in loops around inlets. Our route took us north and west to Penobscot, then we headed south to Castine – about 25 miles and a 40-minute drive.

Castine, Maine is one of the oldest communities in North America – continuously occupied since the early 1600s. It was a settlement of France, Holland and England. It’s now the home of the Maine Maritime Academy, established in 1941. The Maine Maritime Academy is a public college of engineering and one of six maritime training colleges in the USA – around 900 students are enrolled.

We walked through the waterfront and around the old downtown district. A sailing ship came into the dock while we were there. It was the Guildive – a 56-foot vintage wooden yacht that’s now an excursion boat that takes up to six passengers out for two-hour cruises .

Guildive

We drove to the southwest point of Castine where the Dyce Head Lighthouse is located. This is an active navigation point that was built in 1828. The town of Castine owns the property, but they rent the home out at the lighthouse. We aren’t sure if the tenants are lighthouse groundskeepers or not, but it is a private residence.

Dyce Head lighthouse

Last evening, we joined Georgia on the patio for hors d’oeuvres and a drink. I grilled green chile turkey burgers that Donna made up for our dinner and we all had a small bowl of fish chowder we picked up on our outing. It was a pleasant way to end a great day.

Today we expect the temperature to reach the low 70s. We plan to drive over to Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island – the locals pronounce it dessert like a post meal goody, not desert like it’s spelled. Although Bar Harbor is about 20 miles due east of us as the crow flies, we’re not crows and will have to follow another looping route to get there – about 48 miles and over an hour’s drive. The forecast calls for a 100% chance of rain tomorrow, so we haven’t made any further plans.

The Real Maine Thing

We enjoyed our week at Donna’s parents’ place in Bennington, Vermont. I was able to complete a couple of projects while we were there and also enjoy time with family. We pulled out on Thursday around 10am. We went east across the state on route 9 through Brattleboro into New Hampshire. Route 9 took us through Keene and on to Concord where we picked up US202/4. The terrain was hilly with short, steep climbs and descents.

When we crossed the southern tier of New York, it was rural with small towns – some of them thriving on tourism, especially in the Finger Lakes wine country while other small towns showed economic struggle. In between was mostly farm land. Vermont and New Hampshire were more of the same but instead of farm land, the small towns are separated by heavily forested hills. It was mostly pleasant scenery to drive through. We paid one toll in New Hampshire – I think it was three dollars. On the toll roads, the rest areas are plazas with a food court, fuel stations and some shopping. We stopped for a late lunch at a plaza before we left New Hampshire – it also had a large discount liquor store.

We entered Maine at Kittery, east of Portsmouth and made our way up I-95 to Scarborough. This was another toll road and I paid $10.50 on this leg. We stopped at Cabela’s in Scarborough. I was dismayed to see signs warning that local ordinance prohibits overnight parking. We pulled to the end of the lot and parked near a Dutch Star motorhome that had the bedroom slide out.
Their door was open so I walked over to say hello and see what the deal was. The couple in the coach told me they were full-timers and had been on the road for five years – just like us. They were originally from Scarborough and returned every year. They said the city tries to make noise about overnight parking, but Cabela’s didn’t care and they had never been hassled in this parking lot.

We set up for the night. Donna had been in touch with our friend Kris Downey who was in the area visiting kids and they got together to walk a portion of the Eastern Trail. Then Donna and I walked over to Famous Dave’s for a cold one and then across the parking lot to a Thai restaurant where we got takeout. By the time we returned to the coach there were five other RVs in the lot.

We used the Cabela’s dump station before we hit the road Friday morning. There was a sign advising a $5 dump fee would be charged in the future, but for now it was free. We drove up I-295 and stopped for fuel in Gardiner. We paid another toll of $4, bringing our total toll-road fee to $17.50. Near Augusta, we left the Interstate and followed Route 3 to Belfast. The road was freshly paved and very smooth. Past Bucksport, we turned on route 175 and found the road surface to be terrible. It was bumpy and had potholes. It was slow going.

Our destination was Roger Eaton’s property on Little Deer Isle. We met Roger in Albuquerque – he owns a summer residence on the island right on the waterfront. Donna was texting back and forth with Roger while I drove. He mentioned something about crossing the bridge over Eggemoggin Reach to the island being a bit of a challenge.

Suspension bridge to Little Deer Isle

It was a steep climb up the narrow lane on the bridge, but it wasn’t too bad. The next challenge was entering the private road to Roger’s place. It had brick monuments at the sides of the entry, trees and low branches.

Narrow entry to Roger’s place

We made it in without scraping anything other than a few small tree branches. Getting the coach positioned on his property was much harder than I anticipated. I ended up
dropping the trailer in a temporary location, then struggled to get the coach in place between two stumps on the left and bushes and trees on the right. Once we had it in place, we found the 30-amp pedestal didn’t work. Roger called his cousin’s son and he came out with another guy and rewired the pedestal in a matter of minutes. We were in business! I repositioned the trailer with Roger’s pickup truck.

After settling in, we joined Roger and his wife Georgia along with their neighbor, Russ and his friend Darelynne for happy hour on the porch. We weren’t expecting dinner, but Georgia had prepared a chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, roasted carrots and cornbread!

View of bridge from Russ’ pier

Roger’s sailboat

Our windshield view of Eggemoggin Reach

Sunset over Penobscot Bay

On Saturday morning, we joined Roger and Georgia for a drive up to Blue Hill for the farmers’ market. Donna bought a few things while I enjoyed the bluegrass band. They did an excellent
rendition of the Byrds’ Mr. Spaceman.

Farmers’ market band

Later Donna and I rode the Spyder over the causeway to the next island – Deer Isle. Of course Deer Isle is larger area-wise than Little Deer Isle. We rode down to Stonington on the southern tip of the island. Stonington is the largest lobster port in Maine. The town only has about 1,100 residents, but more lobsters are landed there than anywhere else in Maine.

Lots of fishing boats and lobstermen in Stonington

On Saturday evening, we were in for a treat. Roger bought four lobsters that were about a pound and a half each. He boiled the lobsters over a wood fire in the yard while
Georgia prepared baby red potatoes and corn on the cob. It was a feast fit for a king!

Home cooked lobstah – the real Maine thing

I paired the lobstah with barrel-aged old ale I bought a few months ago in Tombstone

While we were in Blue Hill yesterday, I bought two racks of babyback ribs. I prepared them this morning and I plan to smoke them Memphis-style this afternoon on the Traeger wood pellet-fired grill.

Please excuse any formatting errors in this post. Our Internet connectivity is spotty and I’ve been working for a couple of hours to put this post up. I also had to reduce the photo quality to a smaller file size.