Where Does the Time Go?

Seriously, where does time fly off to? It seems like only a few days ago that I wrote our last blog post, but in reality, it’s been more than a month since we last posted. We’ve been pretty active since we left Intercourse, PA, having traveled through six states and staying at least of one night in three of those states. So let’s start catching this blog up, shall we?

Now we’ve been over some pretty bad roads in our time – rutted gravel farm roads, rough dirt tote roads out in the Maine woods, washboard-like frost heaves, etc., but the interstates in New Jersey and New York have to be among the top five worst ones we’ve ever been on with their terrible, several-inches-deep potholes and decaying bridge abutments. It was so bad that the steering wheel of our truck bucked itself out of Lewis’ hands on a couple occasions and we were absolutely shocked to not find anything broken when we were finally able to stop overnight at our very first Harvest Hosts location: March Farm in Bethlehem, Connecticut. It felt a little odd to be the only RV in a location, and even more odd to not be paying anything for it other than a bit of shopping in their cute little farm store, but we appreciated the peace and quiet immensely and enjoyed meeting the farm’s owners when they stopped by our RV that evening. The next morning, we continued our trek into the northeast, thankful that we’d had a good night’s rest after the horrendous jostling we’d experienced the day before.

Glad that the highways in Massachusetts and Maine were vastly more vehicle-friendly than what we’d experienced in New Jersey and New York, we ventured into what was truly our old stomping grounds when we lived in Maine over a dozen years before. Staying at Walnut Grove Campground in Alfred, ME for two weeks and visiting with our friends just up the road in Shapleigh was like traveling back in time. It seriously felt like we’d never moved away and several times we caught ourselves wanting to turn the wrong way out of a business or down a street because that was the direction we would have taken to go home when we lived in the area. It was an awesome fourteen days, but it felt like we were moving away to Florida all over again when it came time for us to continue our journey. I can promise it won’t be twelve years before we return for another visit!

From Alfred, we proceeded northeast to the town of Trenton, Maine and a weeklong stay at Timberland Acres RV Park. This was to be our homebase while we visited Acadia National Park and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t really cooperate too much and most of the week it was pretty drizzly and cold, keeping us from getting out into the park as much as we would have liked. But I did get to make (and keep!) a vow to eat lobster every day we were there, thanks in part to a wonderful special we happened to run across at a nearby restaurant chain named Governors. The anniversary of their opening occurs in the month of June and in honor of that, every year on one day, they offer lobster rolls for $5 plus a penny for each year they’ve been in business. 2016 is their 57^th anniversary, so lobster rolls were priced at $5.57 on June 21, the day after we arrived. I picked up four of them and ate one each day for the next four consecutive days – a borderline-horrible food storage practice, but I didn’t get sick from that one extra day of refrigeration and I had sworn to eat lobster each day we were there, dagburnit! So between that, one night’s dinner out at Testa’s Restaurant in Bar Harbor, where I had their early bird special “Taste of Maine” dinner (featuring a cup of clam chowder, a whole boiled lobster, and a piece of blueberry pie) and the couple lobsters I picked up at one of the local lobster pounds, I managed to keep my vow of one week of eating lobster for less than $70 total. How’s that for living large on a cheap budget!

The view from the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

The rugged Maine coastline of Mount Desert Island.

Watching the tide roll in on a rocky beach in Acadia National Park.

Ginger checking out the first live lobster she’s ever seen. No animals were harmed during this photo, but the lobster did meet his demise later in a pot of boiling water.

From Trenton, ME, we headed over to Timberland Campground (no affiliation with the last campground) in Shelburne, New Hampshire, a small town about 30 minutes north of the much more touristy location of Conway, NH. It has been a pleasant location to celebrate the Fourth of July as well as my 43^rd birthday two days later, and it is nice to be able to take an occasional walk down along the banks of the Androscoggin River around sunset, a very pretty sight here in the center of the White Mountains. From here, we’ll be travelling on to Danville, Vermont and then to the 56^th Escapade, a huge national rally for Escapees members occurring in Essex Junction, VT at the end of July. Until next blog post…