5/30/06 (Tuesday): Today was mostly errand day. We had to get library cards, get the tires rotated and find a doctor to be our temporary family physician while we’re in Maine. I don’t know how we ever got any of our day-to-day activities done and worked full time, too. It’s just amazing how the days speed by when you’re not working! I just love being able to decide how to spend my time, though. So far I haven’t taken the time to just sit down and read for an hour or two in the middle of the day if I want to, but I have dropped everything to take a walk.

We got a tourist’s library card at the Rockland Library. It’s a beautiful old building, built in the early 1900’s. The inside is full of carved plaster and has arched ceilings. There’s even a fireplace in the reading room. Even on a weekday, there were quite a few people there, reading newspapers and magazines and sitting at beautiful old oak tables doing research. The back wall is all glass with a view of the water and the blooming yard. I found a Nevada Barr book I haven’t read yet. I love her novels—they all take place in national parks and involve solving a murder. Nevada Barr was formerly a National Park Service officer, so they seem pretty authentic.

We had noticed that one of the truck tires was wearing in an odd pattern. We were due to have them rotated anyhow, so we asked the guy in the tire place to check them out. He says they’re all wearing oddly, and GM is replacing Bridgestone tires for a similar problem, but he wasn’t aware that there was any problem with Ford’s. They’re a brand I’ve never heard of. We’re going to get an appointment at the Ford dealer and have them looked at. It’s always something, isn’t it!

We found a family doctor who’ll take our insurance. It turns out we’re less than a mile from a hospital with a huge physician’s center attached. We had lunch in their cafeteria--$3 apiece for baked ziti, steamed zucchini and a couple of soft drinks.

Wiley worked in our little garden when we got home and I potted around the RV, cleaning, organizing and starting dinner. I’ve found a radio station that plays classic rock and has very few commercials. The RV has speakers in all the rooms, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to some Beatles, Chicago, and REM. We did hamburgers on the grill for dinner. I missed having corn on the cob, though—it’s not going to be in season here for quite a while!

Tomorrow I’m going to weed the campground beds and Wiley’s going to mow. We’ll put in six hours each tomorrow and Thursday, and then next week we’ll be officially on the payroll.

Here are some random pictures that I haven't posted yet.

This is my son, Mark, and his family (left to right) Austin, Heather, Mark, and Hudson at Wekiwa Springs State Park in April of this year.









This is me and Margo on my Spring visit this year.

















This is me and Anna on the same visit.








I just realized I don't have a recent picture of Tom and Kristin with the girls. Think you could rememdy that for me, son?

5/29/06 (Monday): Today did not begin propitiously. When I made the bed, I discovered that Wiley had gotten paint on my brand new duvet cover that I searched for weeks to find in the right color. I spent a couple of hours trying to get it out but was unsuccessful. I even drove up to the store to get a spot remover that said it removed latex paint, but that didn’t work either. I was not a happy camper. I know he didn’t do it on purpose—he’d worked so hard getting our picnic table painted, and he’d gotten it on his favorite black shorts and it rubbed off onto the duvet cover when he walked in the narrow space beside the bed. It took us all morning to clean the camper inside and out and do laundry, and we had wanted to spend our day off at a nearby park.

We finally took off after lunch, and things got a little better. We were trying to find the other campground owned by our campground's owners. We took a wrong turn, but it turned into an adventure when a wild turkey ran right in front of the truck. I almost hit it! We finally found the campground, and it was okay, but we’ve been spoiled by this place. Our sites are prettier, the office is more picturesque, the pool is bigger, and we’re right on the ocean. It’s going to be hard for us to find an assignment that’s as nice as this place. We’ve gotten spoiled!

After our visit to the RV park, we drove to Camden Hills State Park. It’s located on Mt. Battie (780’), which overlooks Camden Harbor. In 1897, a guy who lived in Camden built a carriage road to the top of the mountain. Later, he built a turreted hotel. Eventually, when carriages became obsolete, the road deteriorated until it was just a trail. In 1918, a fire burnt the whole top of the mountain, destroying the beauty of the region. In 1921, a stone tower was erected that still stands. A nearby plaque says that Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote her poem “Renascence” while enjoying the view from the summit of Mt. Battie. Many famous people, including Theodore Roosevelt have climbed Mt. Battie. The view over Camden Harbor is pretty spectacular.

After soaking up the view for a while, we hiked the trail to
Mt. Megunticook. There were a lot of wildflowers, including the biggest lady slippers I’ve ever seen! It was just gorgeous, with lots of big rocks, views out over the harbor, and a great mixture of evergreens, birches and hardwoods. I fear our flatlander legs are going to feel it tomorrow, though. Mt. Megunticook is 1385’.

We weren’t in the mood to come back and cook, so we stopped at the Taco Bell and enjoyed a
little fast food. I went up to the bath house to take a shower and bumped into Fran and Richard
on the way back. They’d been for a walk to the bluff. We wound up building a fire and sharing a drink. What a great day to end the day that didn’t start so well! Now we’re enjoying a show on HGTV called RV 2006 that’s showing all the new RV’s and RV toys. This is living!

5-28-06 (Sunday): I'm sitting on my patio in shorts and a tee shirt (after having the heat on for the past 3 weeks). There's a lovely glass of homemade green tea with honey (iced) in my cup holder, the smell of lilacs is wafting my way from the bush in the corner of my yard, and the sun is shining sweetly through the tender green leaves of the forest behind me. A curious chipmunk just ran directly under my legs--I don't know who was more surprised, me or him (her?)! In other words, life is good!

I just finished my first full day (6 hours) working in the campground store/office. Technically, I don't have to start until June 5, but since we're occupying a campsite, I feel obligated to work at least two days each week to cover the cost of the site. Yesterday I pulled weeds out of the garden all around the camp store and around the rental house. That won't normally be one of my jobs, but they're short-handed, so I volunteered. It was fun--a beautiful day and very attractive gardens.

It's still not full season here (that starts in July), but the campground is full because it's a holiday weekend. I enjoyed working in the store today. I learned how to operate the cash register, answer the phone and run a credit card. I sold firewood, ice, a book and lots of coffee and donuts! I made a couple of mistakes, but they were easily correctible. After I'd only been there an hour, John (who was training me) had to leave for 20 minutes (some sort of emergency), and he had enough confidence to leave me there alone! Of course, he'd no sooner left than someone came in wanting to know if there was an alpaca farm nearby (they'd heard about it from another camper). I had information about lighthouses, cruises, fishing spots and beaches. I had information about museums, doctors and dentists, hiking trails and state parks. But I had no information about alpaca farms. So I checked the list of useful phone numbers and called the Chamber of Commerce! I came out smelling like a rose--they knew of one, gave me the phone number and directions, and I actually found it on a map. One happy camper!

Wiley worked with John this morning mowing, weeding and trimming. Then he sanded and painted our picnic table and raked up the leaves in our yard. Then we took a drive down into Rockland and explored the harbor and downtown shops. There are a lot of interesting looking shops (antiques, art, gourmet food) and restaurants. We’ll have to go back when my in-laws are here. The ladies can shop and the men and kids can fish. Then we can all go have a “lobstah” (lobster) roll for lunch.

By the way, I just realized that I never posted the journal I did for 5/22 when we went to LL Bean. It's out of sequence, but I just posted it. Check it out. Time to get some dinner on the table!

5-27-06 (Saturday): Today I pulled weeds all day! John and Lori weren’t pushing for us to start work before our originally agreed to date of 6/5, but we felt bad taking up a site for almost two weeks without giving something back. Finally, John said he could use some help with the lobster boil this afternoon and Lori said that if I liked to garden, she’d love to have some gardens weeded.

I weeded all the way around the store/office and the rental house. It was a gorgeous day, and I actually enjoyed it. I think I’m going to feel it tomorrow, though—it was a lot of bending, kneeling, stooping and getting up and down. The gardens are quite lovely. The lilacs, tulips and some other flowers I didn’t recognize are in full bloom now. Lori warmed up a little (not that she was frosty before or anything, but she hadn’t engaged me in much conversation). I think she must be a gardener herself. She told me that the barn where the store and office are now was originally a barn and stable. The little house near the entrance that they rent out by the month was a tenant farmers home. They’re both over 100 years old. As I was weeding, I realized that the foundation stones and the edges around the gardens and the steps are all solid granite.

It was fun talking to all the guests who were in and out of the office all day. I even met someone who used to work for Minute Maid! Her name was Marilyn and she worked in Orlando in the 60’s for Dr. Brant (sp?). We didn’t know anyone in common. She didn’t even know Allen Clark. So I guess she was well before my time.

I quit gardening around 2 PM (that was my full 6-hour day) and sat on the patio for a while and read. A chipmunk ran right under my legs! I brought Monkey out for a while (I’ve been doing this every day), but she just wants to eat grass and then puke it up on the carpet in the camper. The other day, she’d puked on the carpet beside the bed (my side, of course!), and I didn’t know it. I stepped in it barefoot on my way to bed that night—very cold and squishy. Yuck. I’ve tried giving her catnip and cod liver oil, but she still goes for the grass whenever she can get it.

Around 5 PM, I went down to the bluff to see if I could help with the lobster boil (Wiley had been there for a while already). I was put in charge of the hot dogs for the kids. They’ve got quite a system set up. Unfortunately, this week was the other workamper couple’s turn to get the free dinner (and they’d been working for 3 weeks before we came, so we didn’t mind). So we came back and I fixed beef tips and noodles.

Tomorrow I get to work in the office. They’re so short handed that I think they’re appreciative that we’re willing to pitch in. They keep reiterating that we don’t have to.

5-26-06 Friday: I've been feeling quite creative lately. It's so liberating to be actually living the life we've dreamed of.

Wiley and I had a nice long conversation with Fran (the female half of the other workamper couple) today. We sat on her patio and chatted for quite a while. She has a 4-year-old cat who looks like a really fat version of Monkey. Fran has 4 grandchildren with one on the way in October. She's a retired bookkeeper (for a trucking company) and her husband, Richard, is retired from a paper mill. They're Maine natives, and their daughter lives nearby. We hit it off really well. She was asking if we had a schedule preference (we don't), and when I found out she wanted to work Wednesday through Saturday, we agreed to work Thursday through Sunday. It's a small thing to us, but she was so grateful. I feel like I'm beginning to make a friend there.

I just realized that the sound I'm hearing is the fog horn on the lighthouse just out from the campground! How romantic!! (It's drizzling and foggy here again, after a lovely sunny morning. Everyone says they don't usually get so much rain!)

Anyhow, one of the things Fran told me is that the campground belongs to Lori and she really runs the show. Her husband John is just a figurehead, apparently, although Fran didn't use those words. She also said Lori can be pretty grumpy on Monday mornings, but otherwise is well organized, very fair and easy to work for. They're down two workamper couples right now--the couple that was supposed to return had a medical emergency and the other new couple they hired just called and said their daughter has just been diagnosed with cancer and they won't be coming, either. Wiley and I have volunteered to start working early if they can use us (we weren’t supposed to start work until 6/5).

Lori asked if I could do a little gardening. Wiley and I will start on that tomorrow and work at it until 2 PM when he's going to help John and Richard with the lobster bake. I feel like I really want to pitch in, because we're staying at their campsite for free, using their electricity and water, etc., and not giving anything back.

This afternoon we went into Camden to the garden center to get some veggies and pots for a mini garden in our tiny side yard. On the way, we wandered into a park. There was a gorgeous little stream and waterfall, and then a climb up a hill to a picnic area with a view over Rockport Harbor. I'm amazed how many working boats and really old wooden sailing ships are docked in all the little coves up here. It's so picturesque. One of boats today was flying a skull and crossbones! Wiley found a good place to fish on the harbor master’s dock. While we were in the harbor master’s office, I found a copy of an article about Andre the Seal. I saw a documentary years ago about Andre. He was found abandoned as a pup in Rockport Harbor in 1961. A local resident raised him, and he spent the next 25 summers hanging out in the harbor. He was quite tame and even did tricks. During the winter he was cared for at the Seaquarium in Boston, then released each spring and swam back to Rockport Harbor, a distance of over 150 miles. There’s now a marble sculpture of him in the park. He died in 1986, following a fight with a rival male seal.

We kept looking at the white cliffs over the stream, wondering whether they were sand or lime rock. When we got down to the harbor at the base of the hills, there was a huge lime kiln that was being restored. That explains the white cliffs--lime rock! Apparently Rockport was a major supplier of lime to the whole East Coast in the 19th century. The kilns converted the lime rock to lime, which was used in mortar and plaster until cement was invented. There were wooden ramps, train tracks and buildings over the kilns which were destroyed in a fire. Trains hauled the lime rock from local quarries, drove over top of the kilns and dumped the lime rock into the kilns. Since the kilns were right at the edge of the harbor, the finished lime was loaded directly onto ships for delivery up and down the coast. Fascinating!

It started sprinkling when we returned to camp, and the fog that had been predicted by the fog horn I heard rolled ashore. Undaunted, Wiley planted his garden. It turned out quite beautiful. We bought a half whiskey barrel and two pots, each a size smaller than the whiskey barrel. He planted squash and zucchini alternating with red and gold celosia in the whiskey barrel; in the next level he put hosta alternating with more red and gold celosia; on top he put a patio tomato in the middle surrounded by dark red verbena, lavender and little blue daisies. It’s gorgeous! He put some leftover squash plants and a beefmaster tomato plant beside the fence. He’s so talented!

We sat on the couch and watched campers check in for the remainder of the afternoon. The campground now looks quite full for the holiday weekend. There are even a few campers back here in the workamper area. It was fun to watch people back in huge rigs with varying degrees of skill. Everyone seems pretty quiet, maybe because it’s cold and very foggy, so no one wants to sit outside.

Wiley made pancakes and reheated leftover scrapple from a breakfast last week. We really enjoy having breakfast for dinner occasionally, and I really enjoyed a break from cooking. It’s amazing how much time I spend in meal preparation now that we’re both home all day every day. I’m running out of breakfast and lunch ideas (and I’m really bored with sandwiches). If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

5-25-06 Thursday: Yesterday we made it to our new home in Maine. We absolutely love it. It exceeds our expectations in every way. The scenery is just breathtaking. Every time you round a curve in the road, you see a cove with sailboats, islands, rocky cliffs and pounding surf. Our campsite has a small side yard with a lilac tree and it backs up to a stone wall (complete with resident chipmunks) and a forest. The camp office and store (where I'll work) looks like an old barn (green shingled) with a cupola and weather vane, and a porch with white rocking chairs. There are 85 wooded campsites, some charming one-room log cabins, and a path beside a stream that tumbles down off a cliff into the ocean. There's a seating area on the cliff overlooking the sea with rustic chairs, benches and a porch swing. All the shopping you could want is about a mile away (grocery, drugstore, Walmart, Home Depot, fast food, etc.).

We've met the owners who hired us (John and Lori) and the other workamper couple (Robert and Fran). One more workamper couple has been hired and is due next week, but the other workamper couple who were returning had a family emergency, so they're having to hire a second couple (for a total of 4 couples). The two couples we've met are great. We offered to get right to work this week, since we're a little early arriving, but they told us to get settled. We are going to help this Saturday with the lobster bake (free dinner!).

Today we worked most of the day. We washed the camper, organized the basement storage area and pantry, and I installed a way to manage our shoes that I dreamed up. I’m pretty proud of the shoe thing. Space is so limited, and shoes have been a problem—they take up so much room. Our bed has a boxed in space underneath where we store blankets, pillows and other bulky items (the mattress platform lifts up on hydraulic supports). I was napping one day on the way up here when the thought occurred to me that with an eyebolt on each end, we could stretch a bungee cord the length of the side of the box and stand the shoes up along the box. I refined the idea a little today by cutting the hooks off the bungee cords, putting them through the eye bolts and then wrapping a thin wire to hold the ends closed. It works great!

Late in the afternoon, we went exploring again. We went down into Rockport and walked out on a jetty that has a lighthouse on the end. Wiley tried to fish, but it was really cold and windy. There were crab claws and broken sea urchins all along the top of the jetty, which really puzzled me because the jetty is high above the surface of the water. I finally figured it out, though. These great big seagulls were getting the sea urchins and crabs from the shallow water and then breaking the shells on the hard top of the jetty! I challenged one great big seagull who’d just brought up a big sea urchin, and he gave it up to me (it was touch and go there for a while; he really didn’t want to leave his dinner). Wiley admired my trophy, but he didn’t want to keep it.

Back in camp, we enjoyed the scallops and flounder I bought yesterday with homemade tartar sauce, french fries, salad.The pictures below are a walk through our campground. Enjoy your stroll!

This is "Casa de Dykes" in its summer home.

This is "Workamper Row"--all the workampers will be parked in this area behind the office.

This is the back side of the office/store. Workamper row is on this side of the office and all the other campsites and the ocean are on the front side.

This is the front side of the office. I cut off the end--there are nice rocking chairs and a porch.

Here's the pool--no jacuzzi, though. Darn! The bath houses are really nice (that's the green building in the background). They have individual shower rooms--quite private, all ceramic tile. The toilets are in a room on the other side.

The cabins are cute, very clean and private, and they have BBQ grills and electricity, but they're just one room with a double bed and a bunk bed. There's a picnic table on the porch and a water faucet outside. It's a long walk to the bath house and there's no kitchen.

The creek starts out small, but it descends pretty rapidly in a series of small waterfalls until it reaches the bluff. There, it cascades over the edge and falls 50-80 feet to the sea below.











Now we reach the top of the rise and my little piece of heaven spreads below.










Have a seat here, or on one of the benches or the porch swing. Enjoy the garden and, of course, the view!

This is the lighthouse that you can see from our bluff. It sits on one of the many islands in Penobscot Bay. We're not sure what it's called yet.



Come and see us--you know you're dying to see it all for yourself!

5/24/06 (Wednesday): We've arrived! We're in love with Maine and the campground and the nearby towns and the grocery store (and WalMart and Home Depot)!! We've met the male half of the couple that owns it (John), and one workamper couple (Richard and Fran). Very nice. The workamper couple sounds German or Scandanavian and John has a British (Australian?) accent. We had our choice of a couple of sites, and picked one that has a little bit of a side yard. It backs up to an old rock wall that has chipmunks living in it. We walked around the campground (85 sites). There's a rocky, fast-moving stream running through it, which tumbles down into Penobscot Bay as a waterfall right beside the common area. There are rustic seats and porch swing on the rocky cliff overlooking the Bay. There's a lighthouse almost close enough to swim to. I have to recharge my camera so that I can get some pictures.

We had a quick lunch in the camper, and then went exploring. We needed a grocery store and a hardware store. We're in between the towns of Camden and Rockland, and Rockport is just south of Rockland. We went into Rockland and found a Home Depot, Walmart, Shaw's Grocery Store and Osco pharmacy all right there. The Shaw's grocery is one of the nicest groceries I've ever been in. They had a huge natural foods section, and a large section of pre-prepared food. I picked up some breaded bay scallops (enough for me and Wiley) for $3.68 and two nice sized pieces of breaded flounder for $5.98. Good eating for very little. We have a couple of projects in mind to make the camper more liveable, and found everything we needed at Home Depot. There were also a Taco Bell, Wendy's, McDonalds, and the ubiquitous Dunkin' Donuts. I swear, I've never seen so many Dunkin' Donuts in my life as I have in New England! They're in every little town!! And yet, I haven't seen as many overweight people as I did in the South.

We're just so thrilled that it's everything we'd hoped it would be. Now we have a week to get our bearings before we start work. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

5/23/06 (Tuesday): Today we took a scenic drive and visited a couple of lighthouses in Cape Porpoise and Biddeford Pool. This is such a scenic area. I can’t wait to get to Megunticook, though. We’re heading out tomorrow morning.

I haven't downloaded today's pics from my camera yet, so I'll post them tomorrow.

5/22/06 (Monday): What an idyllic day we had! It’s cool, but very sunny here in southern Maine. We started the day with some great French toast—Wiley put a little nutmeg and cinnamon in the coating, and it was very good. I cleaned house while Wiley did a little map work. Then we packed a lunch and headed for LL Bean, about 25-30 miles north of here.

LL Bean was pretty neat. There were 3 separate stores (with another one under construction and due to open next weekend). We went in the hunting and fishing store first. Wiley needed some fishing line and bait. There was a trout pond with live trout right in the store. Then we headed over to the main store, where Wiley wanted to get some shorts and some hiking boots, and I needed a rain jacket and some tennis shoes. The shorts were on sale for $15, so we bought two pairs, but we couldn’t find hiking boots in his size. I found a jacket I liked for $55. Then I had the bright idea of checking out the children’s department. Don’t laugh, but Wiley and I both have small feet, and I can sometimes wear children’s clothing, and it’s often less expensive. We lucked out and found some great hiking boots for Wiley which were $30 cheaper than the adult ones (and there were no adult ones in his size). I found almost the same jacket as the ladies size I’d picked out, and it was $20 less. I also found some lightweight shoes (they’re called summer sneakers) that I really like. They’re not only light weight, but they breathe, so they feel nice and cool. We also looked at the LL Bean outlet, but it was all winter stuff. They did have some neat kayaks at greatly reduced prices because they were “blems.” We’re seriously considering buying a couple of kayaks when we get up there, but we’ve decided we’ll rent first to make sure we like kayaking, and then we’ll look for used kayaks. We can always come back to LL Bean if we can’t find a good used one. It’s only about 85 miles from Camden.

After we ate our picnic lunch, we headed down the coast on a couple of back roads to get some lighthouse pictures. Hunting for lighthouses is a great way to explore the coast, which is just breathtaking here. We went to Portland light first. It’s in a county park that also has the remains of Fort Williams, a WWI and WWII fort. We were surprised that we could see three lighthouses and another, older looking, fort (which we later learned was Ft. Georges). We walked the beach and looked at some tidal pools. The beach looked like huge slabs of petrified wood. It’s actually ancient sand from the bottom of the sea that was compressed as the continents collided and then shifted and heaved up and cracked as the continents drifted apart again. The tidal pools looked like little aquariums, with a variety of green plants and small fish and shellfish.

Next we went to a lobster shack near a lighthouse that’s on private land. We had coffee and dessert sitting on the patio on a cliff about 85 feet above the sea. We walked down this rocky beach, too, and looked at some more tidal pools. I’ll bet our flatlander legs are going to be feeling this tomorrow!

We headed back to camp, but couldn’t resist stopping to walk on the beach near the campground—what a contrast! It’s 7 miles of flat, sandy beach. Everywhere we’ve been, though, there are rocky islands right off shore. It looks like it would be really fun to kayak out to them.

It’s 6:30 now, and Wiley’s gone fishing. I have some potatoes and eggs cooking to make potato salad with. We bought some Portuguese sausage at the grocery a few days ago, and I’ll grill them to go with the potato salad for dinner. Life is good!

Here’s the next to the last update on our expenses:

Total spent to date - $2,194.15

Gas - $708.61

Groceries - $212.97

Tolls, Parking, Public Transportation - $66.40

Snacks - $19.29

Camping Fees - $546.41

Admission Fees - $182.89

Camper/Vehicle Repairs/Improvements - $274.09

Laundry - $12.75

Entertainment/Gifts - $40.87

Restaurant Meals - $129.87

We’ve been averaging 10.5 mpg, which is pretty good. Of course, that’s some driving without the camper. Our best mpg was 16.4, and our worst was 8.79.

We’re $94.15 over our budgeted amount of $2100, and we have 3 days to go. But that’s not too bad, considering that we bought a number of items for the camper (like a battery operated tire pump—which came in really handy!), and that gasoline and campground fees (unavoidable) were higher than we anticipated. We wanted to make sure that we saw and did everything that we wanted to do, and we have. It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We’re also saving money for a trip to Norway in 2008, so we’ll just dip into that to make up the difference. I think we did a pretty good job of estimating (and controlling) our expenses. It’s been very enlightening to keep track of everything we spend. I recommend it to everyone (for at least a month). We didn’t really try to control our spending (we’re naturally pretty frugal), but we were conscious of it because we were recording it. Our big weakness is eating out—especially when we’re traveling and see all these great places with food we don’t normally get to eat and neat atmosphere. We indulged ourselves a couple of times, but not nearly as much as we’d have liked.

Well, that’s it for another blog. We miss you all, but we’re sure having fun! Hope you’re enjoying it vicariously.

5/21/06 (Sunday): We’re in Maine! We left Scusset, MA about 10 AM this morning, and traffic was light. We had originally planned to stop in NH for the night, but the roads were good and we had no trouble getting around Boston, so we decided to push on. It’s 4 PM now, and we’re in a very nice (luxurious actually) campground in Old Orchard Beach. We’ll probabaly stay a couple of nights and then head for Megunticook Campground (our final destination) on Thursday.

We want to go to LL Bean and explore a little of the southern coast. First impressions: very rocky, cold, spitting rain, very dark forests with good sized white birch trees on the edge. Can’t wait to start exploring!

5/20/06 (Sunday): Today we went to Plymouth. We took the scenic route (3A) through a number of scenic towns, mostly on little coves or bays. We took a walking tour through the historic part of the town. We saw Plymouth Rock, which may or may not be where the Pilgrims first set foot on our shores in 1620. It now has a granite portico over it that was designed by some famous architect in the 1920’s.

The walking tour takes you up the banks of a creek that was the water source for the original settlement. Very pretty. There was a reconstructed grist mill, a cemetery with some really old grave markers, and everywhere you looked, peeks at the Atlantic. A reproduction of the Mayflower docked in the harbor really adds to the feeling that you’ve fallen back in time.

After our walking tour, we went to Plimouth Plantation, which is a living history museum. There’s a reconstruction of the Pilgrim settlement, the Wampanoag Native Americans and a craft demonstration area. Wiley and I were amazed that the homes in the settlement were so tiny, dark and primitive. We feel like our camper is a mansion in comparison. There was no glass in the tiny windows, no fireplaces (just fires built in a corner of the room), very little furniture, no cabinets. In fact, I think the Native American homes looked much more comfortable. I especially enjoyed the blacksmith demonstration. He was making nails. Everyone in the village stayed in character and in the 1600’s, including their language. It was pretty amazing how well they managed that with all the stupid questions people were throwing their way. There was a pair of obviously gay guys asking leading questions about homosexuality and religion in the early days, and that was pretty interesting. I thought the reenactors handled it very well.

We added two more lighthouses to our life list—Bug Light and Guinett. Very picturesque.

Wiley went fishing again when we got back to camp (hooked a few little ones, but no keepers). I lazed around and read my book. We ate up some leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow it’s off to Salisbury Beach State Park on the New Hampshire border. Guess it’s going to be a while before we get WiFi hookup again, so you’ll be reading these posts after the fact. We’re on the final leg of our adventure now.

5/19/06 (Friday): Another sunny morning. The sun comes up so early here in New England—it starts to get daylight around 4:30 in the morning! And Maine is even further east!! I’m an early riser anyhow, and light is one of the things that wakes me up. Oh, well, it’s a small price to pay for being so close to the coast. It’s so cool to be on an ordinary errand (grocery shopping or going to the Laundromat), round a curve and see a spectacular view. The views are especially fantastic because most of the coastline is high above the level of the sea.

But I digress. Wiley got up early this morning and went fishing in the Cape Cod canal. I took advantage of the quiet and had a lazy morning. I slept in until 7:30 and then lounged around in my robe until almost 9:30. I read my book, drank my coffee and watched a little TV. Wiley didn’t have any luck (it’s still early in the season here), and it was drizzling rain again, so we decided to go do laundry.

It’s amazing how much fun ordinary things like doing laundry can be when you’re doing something that’s such a great conversation starter as our adventure. We wiled away a couple of hours while the clothes were washing having interesting conversations with the other patrons. Everyone has a story, don’t they!

We were too hungry to wait for lunch back in the camper, so we had our first fast food of the trip—cheeseburgers and fries from Burger King across the street from the Laundromat. It didn’t taste nearly as good as I’d been remembering. I think I’m actually getting hooked on home cooked food again. It’s been fun planning and fixing meals now that I don’t have the time constraints of an office job. Of course, eating meals in gorgeous surroundings helps, too.

The weather cleared after lunch, so we drove to Woods Hole. We took a little side trip hoping to see a lighthouse on the way, but we couldn’t get to it. We did see a red fox crossing the road on our side trip, so it wasn’t entirely wasted gas. Woods Hole wasn’t all that interesting because you can’t get into any of the research facilities. We did enjoy the aquarium.

After dinner we took a walk along Cape Cod Canal. There’s a nice bike path, and even though it was windy and cold, there were quite a few people out fishing, walking and biking. The canal is very interesting. It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers as a shortcut around the Cape for mariners. It saves an average of 135 miles of coastline travel around the tip of Cape Cod. There’s a 13.5 mile paved trail on the shore. It can handle some pretty large vessels.

5/18/06 (Thurs.): Believe it or not, today started the same as yesterday with a flat tire on the camper (different tire). We were still camped close to Sullivan’s Tires, so we pumped it up with our new battery operated pump and limped back. The manager was a little surprised to see us! He had just found out that Hudson Tires in FL was going to pay the whole tab for the defective tire. I worried the whole time they were working on the tire that we had another defective tire and Firestone wasn’t going to swallow it. But it turned out we’d picked up a nail. What are the odds?! Eric, the manager at Sullivan’s, refused to take anything for fixing it, so other than the wasted time, we are not out of pocket.

So we got a late start, but we decided to make the trip we’d been planning for today anyhow. But first, we wanted to leave the expensive (and not worth it) private campground where we’d stayed because it was close to the tire place. We drove to Scusset Beach State Recreation area and got a very nice campsite for half the price of the private campground. The park is between the Cape Cod Canal and the ocean. More about this park later.

We headed for Provincetown on the very tip of Cape Cod right after lunch in the camper. We started by eating breakfast at a local hangout called “The Eatery.” It featured some Portuguese and typical New England items on the menu. I had a Portuguese omelet with linguica (a kind of sausage). Very good. Wiley considered the codfish cakes, baked beans and eggs entree, but he finally wimped out and ordered French toast. We’re watching the budget pretty carefully, and we’re not eating out much, but we want to take advantage of regional specialties. This is the first long vacation either of us has ever had, so we’re going to make the most of it. I think we kind of expected that it was going to cost more than we expected (if that makes any sense).

Provincetown is a long trip, but really beautiful. It’s a big island! I’d been to Cape Cod four years ago, but I’d never been out to Provincetown. The beaches on the west end of the island look much like all the Atlantic beaches in the Southeast—wide and flat and sandy. On the east end there are high sand cliffs. Trees grow right up to the edge, but there are no beaches to walk on. As you get closer to the tip, there’s water on both sides. There was much less traffic this visit than on my August visit, but it’s still a busy place.

We visited several lighthouses and took a 2 mile hike on a bike path through the high, wooded dunes. It was a lovely day—temperature in the low 70’s, a little breeze and lots of blue skies. I feel like I’m starting to dry out a little after our solid week of rain. Because we started so late, it was going on 6 PM by the time we were ready to head back to camp, so we went for broke again and stopped at a little dive by the side of the road that advertised really inexpensive seafood (Clams - $1). Turns out those were the happy hour prices, and we’d missed them. But we enjoyed a great meal and felt fortified for the 2-hour drive back to camp.

We were tired after the stressful start to the day and the long drive and hike. We were looking forward to coming back to camp. The season is not quite opened up here in the Northeast. The state park we’d wanted to stay at won’t open until next weekend. We’d heard that Scusset Beach was open, and we’d called several times, but we could never reach anyone. We took a chance and came anyhow, and it was open, with a sign saying to set up camp and check back the next morning to register. We took one of the sites that was marked as being available on the map at the ranger station and set up so we’d be all ready to crash when we got back at the end of the day.

So we got back at 8:30, it’s already dark, and lo and behold, the ranger station is open, and there’s a lot full of campers trying to register! We waited our turn, not nervous at all because we already had our campsite, but when our turn came, the ranger said someone had registered online for our site and we’d have to move to another site tomorrow! Plus, is we stayed in our site tonight, we couldn’t register for another site until tomorrow morning, and the campground was filling up fast. We reluctantly (and I’ll admit, somewhat verbally) decided to register for all three nights and move to another campsite tonight to assure that we got to keep the same site for the whole time we’ll be here.

Now the fun began. I’ve gotten pretty good at backing up the camper. But it was dark. REALLY dark. I couldn’t see Wiley, let alone his hand signals. Somehow or other, with a lot of great teamwork and a pretty good flashlight, I got it parked. Our new $5,000 roof is only six inches from a tree limb that we never saw, and it’s not as nice a site, but we’re parked. Happy ending, right? Not quite. It wasn’t over yet.

I went in to open the slide and couldn’t find Monkey. I always like to know where Monkey is before I open the slide, because I’ve read about pets hiding between the walls of the slide and the camper and getting crushed. (As an aside, Monkey loves to ride the slide. She sits on the floor or the couch like a queen and looks from side-to-side as it moves in and out.) We checked everywhere in the camper, calling and putting out food and catnip, but no Monkey. We’d been in and out of the camper several times while we were trying to park it and get it set up. She must have escaped through the door.

Now I’m really panicked—we get the headlamps on and walk through the campground calling her. My flashlight picked up glowing eyes, and a cat came up to me, but it wasn’t Monkey. By now I’m in tears and almost hysterical. I’ve had great anxiety that Monkey was not going to like traveling or that this trip was somehow going to be bad for her, and now I’ve lost her 1500 miles from home. Wiley set off to search the last unsearched quadrant of the campground, and I set off to re-search the area by the campsite we’d just vacated. As I turned on my flashlight, I spotted her under the camper! Happy reunion, treats all around, and we’re off to bed. Never a dull moment!

Oh, speaking of never a dull moment reminds me—we talked to Wiley’s mother last night, and we had a letter from Nationwide saying they were canceling

Scattered showers are forecast for tomorrow, so we’re thinking about going to Woods Hole, which will be inside exhibits. We also need to do some laundry and go grocery shopping.

5/17/06 (Wednesday): Wow—what a day! It was supposed to be a short (85 miles) hop from Mystic, CT to East Falmouth, MA. Following our usual routine getting the camper ready for the road, we noticed one of our brand new tires was very low—40 psi instead of 65 psi. We’d just bought and charged up an inflator pump, so we pumped it up and planned to keep an eye on it. We couldn’t see any nails or screws in it, but it was awfully muddy.

At our first rest stop on the RI border, we checked the tire again, and it was back down to 40. Trouble. We pumped it up again and got directions to the nearest tire store, which happened to be at the next exit. It was just your typical Firestone Tire store in a strip mall. Kind of a tight squeeze for a 28-foot trailer behind a super cab F150, but we managed. The kid running the shop was just this side of rude. He obviously didn’t want to have anything to do with even looking at the tire to see what might be wrong. He gave me a song and dance about how they didn’t have the right torque wrenches to put the wheel back on safely! What a crock! I may be an old lady, but I know you don’t need a special wrench just because it’s a 15” trailer tire!

Anyhow, he sent us across the street to a trailer shop, which didn’t have anything to do with tires. At least the guy there was nice enough to direct us to another tire shop (Rolands Tires in Swansea, MA). They couldn’t have been nicer. They took the wheel off and saw a bulge in the sidewall. They thought there was a separation, which is really not a good thing. They also noticed that all the valve stems leaked if you moved them. They speculated that maybe we’d hit a big pothole or run into something. We didn’t remember doing anything like that, but some of the campgrounds had some potholes from all the rain, so it was possible. They didn’t carry Goodyear tires, but they were kind enough to call ahead to a tire store in Cape Cod, which is where we were headed anyhow. They pumped everything up and put the tires back on and gave us some new caps for the valve stems (which we’d managed to lose somewhere in the process of all the checking of tire pressure). They didn’t charge us a penny, and they even called ahead to the new place to get them to hold the tires for us! If you’re ever in Swansea and need tires, I recommend them!

So we headed off on I-195 to the Cape. There was another tense moment when, with the turn to the Cape in sight, we saw a sign that said “Tunnel—No Combustibles.” As directed, we got off on Exit 5, but there wasn’t a sign in sight to tell us how to get back on the highway! Fortunately, I had my master navigator with me, and he wound us through the city streets and got us back on the highway, tire and driver’s nerves intact (more or less).

We finally got onto the Cape, found the third tire dealer (Sullivans), and they were as nice as the folks at Rolands! To make a very long story a little shorter, they finally got the tire off and found that it was a manufacturing defect causing the bulge. There were two radials too close together so that in one spot the tire was triple thick. They called the shop in Orlando that sold us the tires in April, and are making arrangements to get the tire back to Goodyear. They put in all new valve stems and told us to come back tomorrow to settle up—no money has yet changed hands! He said he would work it out with the Orlando store and we probably wouldn’t owe anything except a pro rated amount for the replacement tire. Whew!

By now it was almost 5 PM, and we couldn’t reach the state park where we were planning to camp, so we made reservations at a private campground. We’ll find the state park and camp there tomorrow night.

That’s it for tonight. We’re pooped. We’re hoping to go to Wood’s Hole tomorrow.

5-16-06 (Tuesday): It rained all day again today. There’s extensive flooding all over New England. We’re staying one more night at the campground near Mystic. We’ve chosen a route to Cape Cod that looks like it will avoid the problem areas. We leave tomorrow morning, and should be at the western edge of the Cape by early afternoon. We’ll stay there for a couple of days and then head for Maine. We’d like to arrive in Maine no later than the 27^th. That will give us a week to explore the area around our home for the summer.

We had a great day today. We went to the Pemaquid Indian reservation museum. It was absolutely outstanding. I’d say it was at least equal to any of the Smithsonian museums I’ve ever been to. The attention to detail was amazing. There were lots of videos and dioramas, but my favorite was a village reconstruction that you walked through. There was an audio device that you carried with you that gave detailed information about eaach part of the scene. Everything was so realistic—the stream was real water, the figurines had dirty feet, the people all looked different. I highly recommend this museum for anyone who has any interest at all in Native Americans. There’s also a casino on the reservation, but we weren’t interested in gambling, so we skipped that.

We are finally seeing a little blue sky (6:30 pm) now, and the newscasters are saying most of the floodwaters are starting to go down. It’s going to take several days, at least, before the waters recede enough to estimate what the damages were. Apparently there’s been some damage to the superstructures of bridges and dams. I’m nervous about leaving tomorrow, but we really have to get on the road. We’re making the stop in Capae Cod partly to give the waters in Maine time to recede and partly because Wiley has always wanted to see the lighthouses there. We haven’t heard any reports of flooding there, so we’re hoping it’ll be okay.

May 15, 2006 (Monday): The rain continues—it’s gotten rather frightening. There are reports on TV that there’s serious flooding all over New England. We’re pretty high and dry at our campground near Mystic, CT, and we’ve decided to stay here for another day. There’s more heavy rain coming tomorrow morning (Tuesday). We’re hoping to head to Cape Cod on Wednesday. That will be our final stop before the push to Maine. There’s serious flooding in southern Maine as well. We’re having a hard time deciding whether to leave now and go around the flooding, or wait for it to subside and hope the new band of storms coming tonight and tomorrow and the new low coming through on Thursday and Friday won’t cause even worse flooding. Mark is following road conditions for us because we don’t have reliable internet service here.

We didn’t let the rain stop us from having a very nice day today. We went into Mystic Seaport. There was never actually a seaport at Mystic. It’s a living history museum, sort of like Greenfield Village, where they’ve recreated a New England seaport with buildings they’ve moved from other places. It was really fascinating. We toured a shipyard where they’re restoring old tall ships. We saw two tall ships which were getting ready to leave the port and travel north. We later saw them out in the ocean near the lighthouses in Stonington Borough. It was fascinating to see how these old wooden sailing ships were built. The shipbuilders didn’t start with plans. They started with small models carved from wood. Then they’d draw the layout on a large floor and cut the pieces according to that layout. A variety of kinds of wood were used, depending on their characteristics. Live oak, yellow and white pine and locust are some of the varieties I remember. The ships were launched before they were completed to make room for construction of the next ships. They were completed at the dockside. There were many shipyards in New England, and the ships they built (3-5 per year) were crucial to the economy of the country, because roads were limited and treacherous.

We boarded a ship called the L.A. Dunton, which was a fishing boat. It carried 8-10 dories from which the fishing actually took place. Two men fished with trawl lines that had lots of hooks spaced along them. The crew quarters were tiny, and they fished even in the winter, so there were wood stoves in the quarters. Imagine how hazardous that was!

Then we saw various historic homes, a school and church and some other interesting sites. (My friend, Lucie, is thinking about coming up to visit us this summer in Maine, and maybe swing by Mystic Seaport before she returns. You’ll love it, Lucie! You could easily spend 2 days here.)

There’s a restaurant on the museum grounds, but we opted to walk down into town a few blocks to a restaurant we’d seen coming in. (Lucie—skip the rest of this paragraph. You’ll be tempted to break your diet!) It was called “Kitchen Little,” and it was TINY! There were only 4-5 tables inside. We got there early, but by the time our food came, a line was forming outside (all locals as far as I could tell). I got a scallop sandwich (delicious, sweet, fried scallops on a crusty roll, served with tartar sauce and lemon). It was yummy! Wiley had a fish sandwich that also looked scrumptious. We shared a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie which was to die for. The combination of sweet and tart and the flaky crust…m-m-m!

After our tour of Mystic Seaport, we drove 4 miles north to Stonington to see the lighthouse there. It’s a tiny little thing, which was eventually closed because it couldn’t been seen very far out. There was a little museum with some interesting relics. I especially enjoyed the exhibit on an eccentric local resident, the son of a prominent family, who was spruned by the lady of his choice because he didn’t have enough money. He spent the rest of his life trying to earn enough money to win her (she, meanwhile, married, had a family and passed away before him). He did this by building rental houses, while saving money every way he could, including making his clothes and everything he needed. They had a picture of him—he looked like the worst kind of street person! We went up in the lighthouse and enjoyed a spectacular view.

We did a little grocery shopping on the way home. Wiley’s got the foccacia bread we picked up for just $2.99 in the oven right now. We got 2 of them—they’re great, homemade looking bread crusts with big chunks of grilled bell peppers and onions on top. Wiley added some pepperoni to his side. It smells wonderful in our little home right now! We also picked up a roasted chicken for tomorrow’s dinner. The leftovers will make a good lunch. We’ve only eaten out twice this whole trip, and I’d like to keep it that way. When you’ve got your home with you wherever you go, there’s no excuse for not having good, inexpensive, homemade meals. At some point, I’m going to record some of my recipes for healthy, quick, delicious meals for 2 people that can be made with minimal equipment and mess. Wiley doesn’t know it, but I think I’m going to make some dessert bars to go with the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream we bought for dessert.

I’m going to go over to the rec hall and post this now. If anyone hears anything about flooding problems in the I-95 corridor between CT and ME, please give us a call on the cell!

5/14/06 (Sunday): Happy Mother’s Day to all my friends who are mothers and grandmothers! A special Mother’s Day wish to Kristin, who’s expecting my third granddaughter in July. I’m so glad you’re feeling better!

It was cold and rainy today (again). We decided to leave the campground in Madison, CT, where we were camped last night and head up to Mystic Seaport. It was a short trip, but sort of stressful in the rain. I worry about having to make an emergency stop hauling almost 9,000 pounds behind me!

We had picked out a campground just south of Mystic Seaport. We had a hard time finding it (turned the wrong way off I-95), and then were kind of dismayed at the muddy roads. But we took a chance on it anyhow. After navigating through the mud and potholes, the first site they assigned us was already occupied! So we trekked back to the office and were assigned a second site. The turn onto the road to that site was at such a sharp angle that we couldn’t make it. Back to the office we went, and this time I asked for a refund. They were very gracious about it.

We came up the road another 15 miles or so to another (much more expensive) campground in the town of Mystic. It’s very soggy, too, but at least it has paved roads! There’s a Prowler 5^th wheel a few sites down that looks almost exactly like ours—I can’t wait to see who’s in it. I’d love to talk to them about how they like theirs. We’re very happy with ours so far. I especially like the arrangement of lights—there’s one available everywhere I need it, including one each for reading in bed. There are also lots of windows, so it feels bright and airy (even on rainy days).

Tonight we did some laundry, watched news on cable TV, and heated up leftovers for dinner. Wiley spent some time planning our day in Mystic Seaport tomorrow. We’re definitely going to do the museum and shops (not to buy anything, but because the shops are in really old houses). If we have time, we’d also like to do the Pemaquid Indian museum nearby.

Tuesday we’ll head through Rhode Island and on into MA. We’ll spend several days on Cape Cod. Sure wish this rain would stop!

I spoke with both my sons today (thanks, guys), and also to my friend, Lucie. Lucie has been inspired by this blog to start one of her own. I’ve been amazed to find that journaling my experience has been one of the best parts of the trip for me. We are having an adventure, in the true sense of the word. We’re taking chances and making discoveries about ourselves and our country. It’s a real growth experience. For me, the hardest part has been overcoming my fears (some rational, some not). I’ve worried a lot about safety, money, missing my family and friends, giving up my home and possessions, starting a new job, and myriad other real and imaginary possibilities.

I feel so empowered to be not only accomplishing our goals, but for the most part enjoying it! It’s involved a lot of planning and organization, and it’s very satisfying to see our plans being implemented and our organizational efforts making our lives easier every day. I feel freed from the daily urgency of working life and more able to concentrate on what’s truly important. The journaling has been a way to track our progress geographically and record what we’ve seen and done, but it’s also been a way to capture fleeting thoughts and feelings. So I say: “Go for it, Lucie—you’re gonna love it!”

It’s also been very good for us to be recording all our expenses. I’ve always been frugal, but I’ve never kept a detailed expense report before. It’s very enlightening! We expected gasoline to be a major expense, but have been surprised that campground fees are so high (on average, $30/night—almost as much as a motel). We could stay at state parks more cheaply, but they haven’t been located on our route.

We’ve got 10 days left until we get to our campground in Maine. So far, out of our $2100 budget we’ve spent:

Gas - $523.78
Groceries - $100.12
Tolls, Parking, Public Transportation - $61.75
Snacks - $14.29
Camping Fees - $363.45
Admission Fees - $52.00
Camper/Vehicle Repairs and Improvements - $174.46
Laundry - $14.75
Entertainment/Gifts - $36.87
Restaurant Meals - $98.15
Total Expenses - $1,515.22

That leaves about $585 ($58.50/day) for the rest of our trip. We’ve come 1782 miles, at an average of 9.9 mpg gas. We estimate that we have about another 400 miles to go. If gas continues to be about $3/gallon and we continue to average about 10 mpg, gas should cost $120 (we’ll say $200 to be safe). $585 less $200 is $385, or $38.50/day for everything other than gas. With campgrounds averaging $30 a night, it’s obvious that we’re going to have to cut back somewhere. Of course, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so we may decide to break the budget, since we do have some other funds. We don’t want to miss going somewhere we might not get another chance to see.

That’s it for tonight—I’m ready to crawl into my warm, dry bed and let the sound of the rain on the roof lull me to sleep. Goodnight!

5/13/06 (Saturday): Today we took the coast road into New Haven. It was very scenic, with lots of Revolutionary War era homes, fishing villages on little coves, and Spring flowers and trees everywhere. After yesterday’s rain, all the creeks were raging and foaming. The dogwood (pink and white), lilacs, rhododendron, azaleas, and wisteria were in full bloom. We're camped near the little town of Madison, CT, and I got a kick out of this sign in front of a local travel agency:

In New Haven, we went to the Peabody Museum of Natural History on the Yale campus. We enjoyed the Machu Pichu exhibit (the ruins were originally discovered by a Yale professor). We also saw lots of fossil skeletons of dinosaurs and other extinct animals. Their display on the Native Americans was pretty good, too.

We walked around the Yale campus some. There were some really old buildings and lots of old trees.

After a picnic lunch in the parking lot, we drove to Lighthouse Point Park on Long Island Sound in East Haven, across the sound from New Haven. We saw the New Haven Harbor Lighthouse and keepers house. Out on the horizon, we could just make out the southwest ledge lighthouse. There were lots of ring necked ducks paddling near the shore. Wiley fished (unsuccessfully) for about an hour. Some of the other fishermen told him to use squid, not shrimp, next time. I guess these northern fish don’t know a good thing when they get the chance!

We took the scenic route back. The shoreline here is amazing—lots of big rocks and coves. There were a number of tiny islands with houses on them. The islands weren’t much bigger than the houses! The only way to get to them would be by boat. We’re truly not in Orlando any more!

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back. We’re going to grill some bratwurst for dinner. Tomorrow we head for Mystic Seaport.