6-14-06 (Wednesday): Today is Margo’s birthday (Tom and Kristin’s youngest—at least until mid-July when their third daughter is due). I’d been looking for two weeks for a present for her, but there’s just not much in the way of toy stores here. I found something today while we were in Bar Harbor (more about that later). Kristin says both girls are still playing with the little dolls I had gotten them as a little surprise when I was up there last time, so I got some similar dolls. They’re so small the girls can carry them in their pockets (they’re called “Polly Pocket Dolls”) and the clothes are made of soft plastic, so they’re easy for little fingers to put on and off.

We headed out early for Acadia National Park. It’s about a 2½ hour drive (very scenic). It was spitting rain for part of the way up, but since we were just planning to do the 20-mile drive around the park, we weren’t too concerned. We just needed to get outside after so many rainy days.

The park is the most spectacular place I’ve seen this trip. It reminded me a lot of Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains, except that the vista below was wild ocean dotted with wild islands. We bought a CD that we listened to along the way that talked about the history and geology of the areas we were driving through. It’s not a huge park (I think it was 6,000 acres), but it’s pretty unique in that it’s the only place on the East Coast where there are mountains so close to the seashore. It’s also unique in that the land was bought up by some of the fabulously wealthy people of the time (Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, etc.) specifically to give to the U.S. government for a park. Rockefeller then built a network of carriage roads throughout the parcel complete with stone bridges designed by a famous architect. The land was given with the caveat that no gasoline powered vehicles were allowed (that must not have gone over very big with Henry Ford!). People (called rusticators) used to flock to the area to ride horses, hike and ride in horse-drawn buggies on the roads. There were many mansions built in the area, too (they called them “cottages”), most of which burnt down in a tremendous forest fire in 1947. The fire also destroyed the ancient spruce forests that covered the area. The “new” forest is quite lovely, with a wide variety of deciduous and evergreen trees and a diverse wildlife population.

We got out of the car and walked around some of the best areas. There’s a wide variety of trails, ranging from paved to climbing over rocks. On one of our stops, we’d walked down to look at some tidal pools. We were probably half a mile down from the parking area when a young man in the party walking behind us started staggering around and then fell. My first thought was that he was drunk, but I quickly realized he was having a medical problem. His mother was looking for some sugar for him, so I guess he was diabetic. I jogged back up to the truck and back (yeah, I’m in pretty good shape!) and got a peach left over from our lunch. Someone else had an orange. He was doing much better by the time we left them. I wonder why he didn’t have some hard candy in a pocked! That could have been very serious!!

My favorite part of the whole day was Thunder Hole. It’s an area where there’s a cleft in the rocky cliff and the wave action has undercut the cliff. As the waves come in, the air in the chamber is compressed and makes a loud noise. It was only a gentle booming when we were there because the surf wasn’t very rough, but I guess it sounds like thunder in heavy surf. The waves also spray up quite high and there’s a walkway right down to where they’re crashing. Quite a few people in rain suits were going down to get wet. I’ll bet it’s a fun spot on a hot day!

Another fun spot was Sandy Beach (one of the few sandy beaches we’ve seen in Maine). The granite rocks in this area is pink due to its feldspar content. The cliffs seemed to be glowing on this cloudy day. Plus, Wiley found a sand dollar.

We stopped in Bar Harbor on the way back. It’s picturesque, but far more touristy than Rockport and Camden (the villages near us). We walked around through some of the shops (I found a great variety store where I got Margo’s birthday present and also picked up a sketch pad and some pencils for myself). We watched the ferry come into the harbor. We had a slice of pizza in a busy shop that also had great looking subs. Then we headed back home, tired but happy. I'm posting all the Acadia photos here at the bottom so I can caption them for you. Enjoy!

Vista from scenic drive (note the
seagull).

Wiley on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia. The granite up here is pink!

Fog on Cadillac Mountain (taken

from Sandy Beach).

Cadillac Mountain and Lupine

Pitcher Plants

Thunder Hole

6-13-06 (Tuesday): After work today we did a little yard work and housework. While I was doing laundry, I met a woman who is full timing in a 28’ trailer with 5 children that she’s home schooling! Later I met her husband and kids, too. What a nice family! They’re taking a year off and traveling around the country, using the places they go and the people they meet as the basis for their children’s lessons. They bought a FEMA trailer very inexpensively in Ft. Pierce, FL. She sure had a lot of laundry!

We had linguica (Portuguese sausage) for dinner again—we’ve gotten quite fond of it. We also finished up the corn on the cob—I think it must have been Zellwood corn. It was really sweet. After dinner, I took Monkey for a stroll (I go where she decides to go. My only job is to keep her out of the woods (ticks) and not tangled in anything). I ran into Kip, one of the home schooled children I was talking about earlier. What a delightful young man. He appeared to be around 10 years old, but we had quite an interesting conversation. He spoke about the cat they’d had to leave behind and how he was handling those feelings. I asked him what he’d liked best so far in their travels, and he said “all the people I’ve met!” That seemed like an unusual answer from such a young boy.

Wiley and I both had an ice cream attack, so we went into Camden and window shopped and ate ice cream at a neat little outside shop right on the river. On the way to Camden, we stopped to take pictures of the Belted Galloway cows, which are quite a tourist attraction in this area.

Not only are many of the stores and homes in Camden very picturesque, but they also have a lot of charming gardens. I particularly liked this one, which had granite steps and this cute gate, and then a flower-bordered path up the hill to the house. It was kind of dark when I took this picture, but you get the idea.

6-12-06 (Tuesday): Today was a much better work day than yesterday. The boss lady didn’t come in until late, and I had time to make the coffee, put out the signs, read all the notes from the previous day, listen to the phone messages and make a couple of reservations before she came in. I felt more relaxed because I wasn’t being watched, and I didn’t make any mistakes! I even got a “well done” from the boss. When Jean (the second shift workamper) came on, we went over some things together, which also helped. She’s made some of the same mistakes as me and had some of the same questions. We also realized that some of the instructions in the various sources are contradictory and/or confusing. We’re not going to point this out to anyone, but we feel better knowing that we’re not stupid—parts of the job are confusing for newcomers! It's kind of funny, I was unsure how I felt about Jean when we first started. Now I like her a lot.

Wiley and I got off work at 2:00, and Wiley really wanted to go fishing. It was a beautiful day—warm and sunny—and I just wanted to sit and read a book and relax. So he headed off to wet a line and I headed for the bluff to read and watch the ocean. It was so-o-o relaxing! I watched a sailboat head from the far left of my view around Indian Island Lighthouse all the way off to the furthest right I could see. The lobster pots were bobbing gently in the swells and the water made a gentle plopping sound on the rocks. The chipmunks were busy digging something up from the leaf litter and scurrying over to plant it in the rock wall at my back. I kept losing track of my book and finding myself gazing out to sea in a reverie. Delightful!

On the way back to the camper, an old black dog started following me. We don’t allow dogs loose in the campground (liability problem), so I walked around trying to find her owner. No luck. So I found her tag and called her owner. The goofball was working at a commercial facility ½ mile down the road and hadn’t realized the dog had wandered away!! Either the poor thing had walked down Rt. 1, which is extremely busy, or she’d cut through the woods, crossed the creek (which is swollen and running very fast), and wandered through the tick-infested woods. He said he’d come get her in a half hour, so I tied her up, gave her some water, and watched over her so she wouldn’t bark and disturb the other campers. Poor thing got very attached to me. Every time I got up, she got up, and she whimpered pitifully if I left her. The owner finally showed up almost an hour later. I told him that was about to call the pound because we just couldn’t have a stray dog wandering around the campsite. He was very apologetic and said he’d keep her tied up in the future if he took her to a jobsite.

Tomorrow is the last work day for this week. Next week we work the afternoon shift. I’m not only enjoying a 6-hour work day, but I’ve got no commute! You can’t beat that!

Here's a better picture of lupine than I posted the other day. It's in bloom everywhere!

6/11/06 (Sunday): Okay—so I’m not the cash register queen. And I’ll admit I’m not the credit card machine queen, either. And the one thing I thought I’d done perfectly (taking a reservation) would have been perfect if it had been on a regular weekend, but it was a special weekend (Lobster Fest), so I had to call the customer back and tell him there’s a minimum stay of 3 days and I needed the full amount in advance instead of a deposit. As first days go, this one was pretty bad. I’m just glad I wasn’t doing brain surgery or something. I think part of the problem was that I was supposedly on my own, but the boss lady was in her office where she could hear everything I was doing.

I had so many butterflies in my tummy that I couldn’t eat the lunch Wiley fixed and brought to me! (Isn’t he a sweetie?!) Fortunately, even a bad day is not unbearable when it’s only 6 hours long. Wiley and I drove over the breakwater and hiked out to the lighthouse (7/8 mile each way). The rain finally broke this afternoon and the sun felt so great! Just as we reached the end of the breakwater we saw the ferry go by. The captain tooted his horn and the passengers waved. The sea gulls were out snacking on sea urchins, and the water was so clear we could see the starfish on the rocks below.

When we got home, Wiley made crab cakes from the meat he picked yesterday from the crabs he caught. I’m not a big crab fan, so I had the pierogies we bought ready-made at the grocery store.

Tomorrow is going to be a better day. I think I’ve made my mistakes and am ready to wow them. Send me some good vibes!

6/9/06 (Friday): Yesterday was so rainy and nasty that I didn’t even want to get out of bed! I feel like I’m getting moldy! Our little yard is a swamp, there’s mud all over our patio carpet, and even the chipmunks haven’t come out from under our rock wall. We had to do laundry because so many of our clothes were wet and muddy, but the laundry room is about a city block away. So we took plastic bags to put everything in so that it wouldn’t get wet coming back. I went into the office for a while and practiced on the spare cash register. I feel pretty confident now. I’ve got the basics down, it’s just that when I make a mistake, I'm still just learning how to void it, and doing unusual stuff like making refunds or giving discounts. I guess people are just going to have to be patient!

In the afternoon we went down to Thomaston and saw the movie “RV.” It was absolutely hilarious! Robin Williams used to be my favorite comedian, but then he did a couple of shows that I didn’t like at all. This movie was the old Robin back again. It’s about a guy who fears he’s losing his high pressure job to a younger guy and that he's growing apart from his kids. He decides to rent an RV and take his two teenagers and his wife on a trip to Colorado. Everything that could possibly go wrong does. Parts of it are kind of slapstick, which I don’t usually care for, but overall it’s pretty funny.

Today is not sunny, but at least there’s none of that “Maine Sunshine” hanging around. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a scenic drive. We made two big loops, one north of Rockport (where the campground is) and one south. On the northern loop we drove through deeply wooded hills with some gorgeous lakes and rushing creeks. There were some farms (it’s blueberry country there) and isolated homes, but no development at all. I love that about this area—I haven’t seen a single subdivision and planned community. There’s only one Walmart for a huge area, and no big cities. The major industries are lobstering, fishing and logging. The northern loop villages are quaint—many houses have lobster traps stacked neatly in the front yard and boats parked beside the trucks. (These traps are on a dock right behind a house, but many times they're stacked right in the front yard! They're all different pastel colors, too--very pretty!)

I’ve been a fan of the famous American artist, Andrew Wyeth, since I was in high school. He lived in Pennsylvania and summered in Maine. His father (J.C. Wyeth) and son (Jamie Wyeth) were also artists. Many of Andrew Wyeth’s paintings were done right in the area of Maine where we’re staying. He was particularly fond of painting an old farm house owned by a family named Olson, and used many locals as subjects. That house is now a museum, and we visited it today. It was quite thrilling for me to see the places Wyeth immortalized in his paintings. If you’d like to see some of his paintings, here’s a good link: http://www.birdsnest.com/awyeth.htm

We were walking back to the car when a very different looking bird landed in a shrub right next to us. He was smaller than a robin, all black except for a yellow crest on his head and a white stripe on his wings. I’d never seen anything like him. I was pointing him out to Wiley when the bird started singing a very sweet song. Out of nowhere, I said to Wiley “I don’t know where this came from, but I think it’s a Bobolink.” When we got home, I looked it up, and it was a Bobolink. I think my mother, the inveterate bird watcher, must have been helping me out from the Great Beyond! I have no other explanation for that name popping into my head!

The lilacs are fading here now, but the daisies, wild roses and lupines are coming into bloom. The hills are just covered with colorful bloom. Everything looks so different here. We still feel like we’re on vacation, even when we’re working, because the scenery is just so breathtaking. Even the barns look different. They’re bigger, mostly two stories, and usually covered with cedar shingles. They’re often painted dark red or green, or left to weather a dark gray. The houses are very plain and boxy. It’s hard to tell the really old homes (many dating from the 1700’s) from the newer ones, because they still use the same style. There’s an old verse about New Englander’s that goes: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” With our new, simplified lifestyle, we feel like we fit right in here, where the houses and towns all seem simple and practical.

Does anyone know what people who live in Maine call themselves (like people who live in Florida are Floridians)? That’s been bugging me ever since we were in Massachusetts and someone referred to Maine natives as “Maine-iacs.”

But I digress. We wound up in Thomaston, just south of home, at lunchtime, and we stopped at the public landing for our picnic. Then Wiley needed to wet a line (again unsuccessfully), and I was sitting on a bench admiring the view. This poor guy and his wife were trying to back up their pick-up and boat trailer. He tried. Then she tried. There was no one else around. I felt sorry for them after about 10 minutes (really!), so I asked them if they’d like some help from an old lady who’d never backed up a boat trailer, but knew a little about backing up a travel trailer. They eagerly agreed, and I got him most of the way back to the boat launch before an old fisherman came over and helped them finish up. They were so grateful! Turns out it was a brand new boat and the friends who were supposed to meet them at the boat launch to help never showed up. Lord knows Wiley and I have gotten enough help from complete strangers on our travels! I felt like it was pay back time.

We got back home about 2 PM and Wiley immediately went out to the picnic table to pick his crabs that he caught two days ago. I think he’s going to freeze the meat, so I’d better get busy and prepare some dinner. That’s all for now folks. Stay tuned for the next installment of Joyce and Wiley’s Great Adventure!

6-7-06 (Wednesday): We had our last day of training today. It’s been quite an experience learning something entirely new. I enjoy most of it. The cash register is kind of intimidating to me. I don’t have any problem with ringing up normal sales, but making refunds and correcting mistakes is confusing. I’m going in tomorrow (my day off) to practice. They have a spare cash register set up that we can practice on without messing up the real one. I think I’ll do much better when I’m not performing in front of all the other workampers (most of whom have worked on cash registers before).

Wiley had the day off today (I’m off on Saturday, but he has to work) because during training week we don’t have the same schedule. Starting next week, we’ll be on the same schedule for the rest of our stay. Wiley went fishing in Lincolnville. He didn’t catch any fish, but he caught 5 rock crabs and a lobster with hand lines. He was quite excited! I’m glad he finally caught something. He’s been trying just about every day, and it’s been cold and rainy up here.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that our workamper neighbors, Fran and Richard, mentioned that they’d bought an electric space heater because the central heat burns up your propane pretty fast. We buy our own propane, but the campground pays our electric bill. So we went up to Walmart and picked one up for less than $20. We like it a lot—it’s quieter than the central heat and seems to provide more uniform heat. What a great idea! So far, Fran and Richard are our favorite of all the workampers we’ve met. We have a lot in common. It’s a really friendly bunch. Even the other campers are fun to talk to. Everyone has a story (or two!), and all kinds of people like to camp.

We’ve begun compiling a list of what we want to do with friends and family who want to come visit. It’s getting long quite quickly! Some of the possibilities are:

• Go on a lobster boat with a real lobsterman and watch while he brings in his lobster traps. Apparently you also see seals and all kinds of birds and you travel past islands with lighthouses and interesting histories. That’s $20 for adults and $5 for kids under 14. If I agree to distribute brochures to campers, they get a discount and Wiley and I get a free trip! (The boss lady told us about this, and said it was fine for us to do this.)
• Fishing (for the guys) and shopping in Camden and Rockport’s antique and gift shops.
• Have a lobster boil and/or eat at a lobster shack.
• Drive up Mt. Battie on the old carriage road and admire the view of Camden Harbor from 1300 feet up. Then take a nature hike on Mt. Megunticook.
• Visit the Farnsworth Museum where many Wyeth paintings are hung. Wyeth painted in this area.
• Take a ferry over to one of the 15 Maine islands that have a year-round population.
• Go on a tour with one of the kayaking companies in the area.
• Walk the breakwater out to the Rockport Light and go in the lighthouse and museum at the end (7/8 mile one way).
• Go to the Maritime Museum in Rockport.
• Go to Birch Point Beach State Park and sit on the rocks and have a picnic.
• Take a scenic drive to Owl’s Head lighthouse and Port Clyde lighthouse.
• Go to Rockport Harbor and see the lime kilns and the Andre statue and see the tall ships in the harbor.

And that only covers the things we’ve already done (except for the kayak tour and shopping!). So start thinking about what you want to do when you’re here!

Since today was the last day of training, Lori and John (the owners) treated us to a lobster boil. We had to have it inside because of the rain. All the workampers (from both campgrounds) came—6 couples. Lori and John supplied the lobster, wine and beer, and each workamper couple brought a side dish. In addition to my pasta salad, there was coleslaw, Watergate salad, corn on the cob, a Mexican dip for an appetizer, and 3 kinds of dessert. We had a great time getting to know one another, trading stories about our travels and families. Since each of us only works 4 six-hour days a week, we won’t be working together, but we’ll be sharing a job. So I think it’s great that we have a chance to socialize. It’s much easier to work with people when you feel like they’re your friends.

It’s getting late—time to all it a night.

6-6-06 (Tuesday): More training today. We had practice exercises that were kind of tricky (deliberately so). Lori had listed 6 different situations that we had to make reservations for and then assign a site. Sites are assigned based on what kind of hookups are needed, the size of the camper, etc. Rates are based on the kind of site and how many people. There are also rules, like: the rate is based on 2 adults and 2 children and if there are more people, there’s an extra charge. There’s also a limit on how many people are allowed per site. Rates are also higher on holiday weekends. That sort of thing. Anyhow, I really messed up on one reservation because I didn’t realize that they were requesting two pull-through sites. But I got all the rest perfect! Everyone else got quite a few wrong! So I felt pretty good about that.

I can’t remember if I mentioned that tomorrow Lori and John are having a get together for us to celebrate the beginning of the season and the completion of our training. They’re providing the lobster and wine and each couple is bringing a side dish. I’m bringing my “famous” pasta salad. The Dykes clan always asks me to bring this to every pot luck. So I made this when I got out of training today. Here’s the recipe:

Joyce’s Pasta Salad

1 box tri-color rotini (you can use any pasta)
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped (reserve two to slice on top, if desired)
½ bell pepper, chopped finely
½ sweet onion (Vidalia), chopped finely
3-4 Italian plum tomatoes, cubed
1 small can sliced ripe olives, drained
½ cup grated parmesan cheese (fresh, not dried) (reserve a little for topping)
McCormick’s Salad Seasoning Mix (to taste)
½ bottle French’s low fat Zesty Italian dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions (al dente—don’t overcook it). Toss the pasta with the remaining ingredients. Season to taste with the Salad Seasoning. If desired, slice two hard boiled eggs to decorate top, sprinkle with more Salad Seasoning mix and grated parmesan. Chill for at least a couple of hours or overnight.

I use a mini food processor that my mother-in-law gave me to do the chopping. It really makes this go fast.

While I was making the pasta salad, I also whipped up one of my quick and easy meals for me and Wiley for dinner—chicken cous cous salad. It’s very easy and versatile because you can change the ingredients around. Here’s the recipe for it:

Joyce’s Chicken Cous Cous Salad

2 cups couscous
About 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped (or one large can of water packed chicken)
½ cup dried cranraisins (or raisins)
½ cup chopped almonds (or pecans or other nuts)
½ sweet onion, chopped
½ bell pepper, chopped
1 tart apple, coarsely chopped (not peeled)
Italian salad dressing (low fat) to taste

Cook cous cous according to package directions, but add the cranraisins to the water before bringing it to a boil. Toss the other ingredients together with enough salad dressing to make it slightly sticky (you don’t want it very wet). Chill before serving (although we ate it warm tonight and it was pretty good).

After dinner we took Monkey for a walk and chatted with the other workamper couples. Then we drove into Rockland for ice cream sundaes, which we ate in the truck parked at the waterfront at sunset. There are a lot of sailboats docked in Rockland’s harbor, and it was quite beautiful to see them silhouetted against the darkening water and sky as the lights came on in all the little houses and buildings all around the cove. (This is not my picture--I got it from the City of Rockland's site. But it's exactly the view we were looking at.) Rockland is the closest fairly big town. It has a Walmart, Home Depot and a good grocery store.

I wish all of you could see how gorgeous this place is!

6-5-06 (Monday): I started today with a real chuckle. Wiley wanted to check the camper’s tire pressure because it’s not good to let it get low. It stresses the sidewalls. Anyhow, to check the tire pressure, we have to bring in the slide. So, as usual, I made sure Monkey was out of the way (she was on the couch) and started bringing in the slide. Monkey went bananas as the size of her domain decreased! She leaped from the couch to the chair to the counters and table and back again, circling the entire trailer twice, meowing loudly! Once we put the slide back out, she returned to her usual morning spot on the back of the couch where she can look out the window. Quite a hoot!

Today was my first full day of training. Lori and John have another campground about 3 miles from here. They have three work camper couples there: Joyce (!), Carolyn and Marcia (I haven’t met their husbands yet). Those three women and the three of us here all squeezed into the camp store and Lori began the training. It was very well organized. We each got a manual with all the procedures spelled out so that we didn’t have to take notes. There was lots of hands on practice and role playing (we paired off with one of us playing the camper and the other playing the worker). I must say, it was some of the better training I’ve ever received. I feel much more confident already. In addition to the practice work, we took turns handling the real phone calls, store customers and the two couples who checked in today. It’s actually kind of fun—lots of interaction with people whose interests are similar to mine. I have two more days of this, and then I'll be on my own!

I liked the other workampers, too. Carolyn has a pronounced southern accent and a great sense of humor. She cracked us up. Joyce has spent some time in Virginia and Maryland, so we had something in common (besides our names). Marcia is the quiet one.

Wiley cleaned the swimming pool this morning and cleaned out a couple of cabins this afternoon. We both finished up at 4 PM. It's great working just 6 hours a day and not having a commute! And, of course, those 3-day weekends are going to be nice, too! Since it was still early, we went and checked out the two thrift stores nearby. We were hoping to find some Corelle and/or a small vacuum cleaner, but no luck. We had sloppy joes, homemade French “fries” (I actually bake them instead of frying them), and fresh corn on the cob. Yum!

After dinner we watched the news and potted around the camper. Then, just as the sun was starting to set, around 8 PM, we walked down to the ocean and sat on a rock and watched the sunset. Of course, we’re on the Atlantic, so the colors we were watching were all reflected ones, but it’s lovely nonetheless. The lighthouse on the island close to our bluff (which I now know is called Indian Island Light) was glowing faintly pink, and the string of islands stretching southward from it were lit one-by-one, as though the islands were spot lit for a few minutes of fame each. How long has it been since you took the time to just sit quietly and watch a sunset? Wiley and I are truly enjoying each other’s company and simple things like sunsets and observing wildlife.

I think of all of you often, but tonight my friends, Julie and John, are especially in my thoughts (that's them in the picture on the left with Wiley). They’re going through a very rough patch due to John’s eyesight. Also, my friend Kay is in the hospital and I know Troy is taking good care of her, but they’re in my heart as well. I don't have a picture of Troy and Kay--take my word for it, they're good looking folks! (By the way, all of you know that you can click on any of the pictures I post to make them bigger, right?) These friends of mine are very special people and I know they’re going to get through whatever happens to them, but I want them to know we’re thinking of them.

May peace and love flourish in your lives. Goodnight!

6/4/06 (Sunday): Yesterday was just an ordinary day—laundry, grocery shopping, housecleaning and errands. It was cold and rainy (and it is again today).

Today was the first day of training for both of us. Wiley had a whole day, I just had a half day in the afternoon. Tomorrow through Wednesday is a full day of training for both of us. Wiley learned the procedures for cleaning the bathrooms, location of circuit breakers, cleaning the swimming pool and some other outdoor routines. I learned how to take registrations over the phone, run the credit card machine and cash register, opening and closing procedures and assigning campsites and cabins. It suddenly occurred to me yesterday that I was going to be learning something entirely new and either might not like it or might not be good at it. I guess I must have been doing okay today, though, because they left me alone twice—once for lunch and once when they had to run an errand. Of course, both times when they left, something I hadn’t learned yet came up. I just wrote down all the information I thought I’d need and told the caller I’d call them back in an hour. Then I checked into how to do it when they got back. I figure there’s nothing life threatening going on here, and people aren’t going to freak out if I ask to put them on hold or tell them I’ll check on something and call them back.

One area where I think I really shone was talking to people about things to see and do in the area. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to get here earlier, so we could check things out. Campers are mighty nice people, and part of my job is to make sure they have a good time. One of the campers today was talking with me about things to do on a rainy day, and I mentioned that we’d been to the Down East store right next door to the campground. Down East is a magazine about Maine, and their offices have a little gift shop. Lori overheard and came out and was telling us that our office/store, which is in an old stable (circa 1900) was originally the stable for the polo ponies for a large estate, and the Down East offices are in the original estate house. The polo fields stretched between the two. She had some old photos and a couple of polo sticks that they found in the barn. The estate owner went bankrupt in the Depression and sold the property off.

Monkey is having a second childhood. For the past two nights, she’s hunted down pens and played with them, something she hasn’t done for years! She likes to chase them across the tiled part of the floor and then hide them under chairs and in corners. It’s especially funny when she gets on her back juggling the pen with all four paws in the air! I’m so relieved that she’s taken to this lifestyle!

I’m so sick of rain and cold—tomorrow is supposed to be nicer, but I’ll be in training all day.

Got to fix a quick dinner now and get organized for tomorrow.

6/2/06 (Friday): As they say in Maine, today was wicked good! We started off routinely enough with a trip to the Ford dealer to have the truck tires looked at (they were wearing unevenly). Dealer didn’t want to do anything about them—said it was probably from hauling the 5^th wheel, and that they weren’t badly worn. I’ll look into it a little further, but I’m inclined to believe him.

Since we were partway down the peninsula, we decided to drive the rest of the way down to Port Clyde. It’s a very scenic drive (like all of them in this part of the world). Many of the houses have stacks of lobster traps in the front yard and work boats in the back. We visited the lighthouse there and Wiley tried fishing from the rocks, but it was pretty high up and the rocks were slippery, so that didn’t work. Besides, it was drizzling and kind of chilly.

We stopped at a little shack on the pier and had a great lunch. The place had apparently been written up in Gourmet Magazine and had also been on the Food Network. After lunch, we headed back toward home, but got sidetracked by the sight of a guy fishing on a little inlet. We parked and Wiley fished while I sat on a rock and read. The rain had stopped by now, and the scenery was excellent. Wiley caught one striper, but it was undersized. Meanwhile, I was taking pictures and enjoying the view. A couple of guys came into the pier with six big crates on their boat, three of rock crabs and three of lobsters. I chatted with them a while. This was their best catch of the season so far. I asked what they’d do with it now, and they said they would load them on the truck and take them directly to a couple of restaurants.

We headed home again, and again we got sidetracked by a sign pointing the way to Birch Point State Park. This is my new favorite place in Maine (I seem to find a new one every day)! It had a rocky beach, but unlike most of the other beaches, these were big, smooth rocks. It was low tide when we arrived, and the spaces between the rocks had many tidal pools. They’re very interesting to look at. The pictures don't do them justice because the water is so clear it almost disappears. They have different kinds of seaweed in them and many small crustaceans. Again Wiley fished, and again I sat on a rock and read. Heavenly!

We finally did make it back to home. I made an omelet and fresh picked corn on the cob for dinner. Now it’s time for a shower and bed. One of the few things I miss is a bathtub! I’d love to have a nice hot soak right now!

Wiley fishing at Owl's Head Light State Park

6/1/06 (Thursday): I didn’t post anything yesterday because not much happened. We worked all morning weeding and mowing and then went down to the campground’s bluff. Wiley fished and I sat on a bench and read for a while. Not much happening today, either. I weeded gardens all morning and Wiley mowed. John and Lori (the bosses) transferred a workamper couple from their other park to here. They took the site next to us. They seem very nice. They’re from Ohio, and they’re first time workampers, too, although they’ve been full timing longer than us.

This afternoon we drove south to Owl’s Head light. Spectacular scenery, and a tiny lighthouse that can be seen a long way because it sits so high. Just about every afternoon we hear the fog horn from Owl’s Head. We were happy no fog came in while we were there. There are signs up all over the place saying that there may be intensely loud sounds with no forewarning.

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.