September 2007

OK, time to change months. We've been here for about six weeks now and still haven't more than scratched the surface of the region, been spending lots of time becoming familiar with the area. We went to Portland yesterday to go to Wal-Mart and Home Depot (that darned boat is becoming kind of an obsession, gotta do some fiberglass repairs now on the inner deck). We forgot the camera (Marion has gotta be disappointed in our continuity) but the port there is just as picturesque and scenic as you might expect. All of you should look up DeMillo's Restaurant (it's actually on a floating 19th-century steamer that has quite a history, and the family owns the pier, the marina and the yacht sales business there); we had lunch on the water and it was really good. We are becoming New England-style clam chowder fanatics, and we have a lot of fun comparing the various versions; everyone does it differently, and all the recipes are espionage/microfilm/cyanide, cloak-and-dagger secrets...

Allison has really settled in at the hospital, and they keep asking her what it would take to get her to stay here, but we are adamant about our travel agenda and we don't wanna be here when it gets to be full winter anyway. These people are very hardy and tough customers, and we are still shirt-sleeve-in-January Texans...

We have a date for Thanksgiving with some RVers we met at the KOA in Gardiner; they are from the D.C. area and have a favorite campground in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, so we are going there on the 17th of November for about 10 days to meet up with them. Then we are gonna leave the rig and the truck there for about a month (the lady has a storage area and is very nice) and spend the first part of December at Michelle and Chad's, see the kids, and then head to Colorado for Christmas at the Broadmoor, as has become our tradition.

About a week ago we moved to the campground in Freeport where we will be until it's time to go to Virginia. It's a small, privately-managed place with lots of tall trees and is closer to Lewiston, cuts about 10-15 minutes off the drive to work.

This ia a wide view of our site at Freeport...


...and here is Allison contemplating her S'More...


Our latest adventure: last Friday we launched from Yarmouth at the public ramp (about 10 minutes from the park) into the channel on the Royal River. That channel takes you directly into Casco Bay and the Atlantic. We motored around Cousin's Island all the way to the ocean side of Chebeague Island; from there the nearest land to the east is Newfoundland and, beyond that, Great Britain. We anchored off the island (after banging across 4-foot ocean swells for about 15 miles) and ate our lunch.

This was taken from our anchorage off Chebeague Island. The boats are lobstermen at a floating service dock, offloading their catch and taking on supplies...


This is the same trip, as I study the depth charts in a concerted effort to a) make sure we can find our way back to the Royal, and b) make it at least [somewhat] likely that we won't become another statistic in the seemingly-unending history of Maine seafaring disasters (I don't fancy the idea of swimming three miles with two dogs attached to my back)...


Side note: we celebrated our first anniversary last week; we went to a hotel called the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport and had a killer Sunday brunch. We didn't know it when we chose the place, but apparently this hotel is quite the very-very and too-too for the cream of New England society. They have a 10 X 10-foot wall completely covered with 4-Diamond awards from Mobile Travel and the place is quite attractive. See below for some photos of that day if you want.

Allison in the back garden at the Harraseeket Inn...


The tRaVelers in the garden at the Harraseeket...


And, last but most definitely not least, a closeup of the Harraseeket garden. Note the the monarch butterfly in the flowers. The day we were celebrating our anniversary, and totally unplanned because we didn't know about it, the garden there was full of THOUSANDS of monarchs. Those of you that blessed us with your presence at our wedding in California last year, as well as those who heard about it, will immediately grasp the significance (for us at least). It turns out that the monarchs show up here every year, for about three days, on their way south from where they hatch in spring in northern Canada. They are on their way to a specific forest in Mexico where they winter. Their presence in such numbers at this place, on this day, was quite magical, verging upon mystical, for us...


I will post more as soon as we have some news or more photos. Bye for now...

OK, I'm back, and it is September 22nd. Allison thinks I should post some observations about living in an RV.

As far as they go, we are fortunate regarding the setup we have. Our 5th wheel is relatively well-equipped and comfortable; we lack for very little compared to a typical sticks-and-bricks structure. In contrast, we have seen some folks taking long-term trips in vans, small campers and one older (mid-60's?) couple TENT-CAMPNG ACROSS THE UNITED STATES! In our humble and hedonistic opinion, such monkish self-denial quite obviously crosses the threshold of certifiability.

Our Living Room...


One dynamic requiring substantial adaptation is the actual lack of space, living and storage. Of necessity, we are obliged to engage in a number of quite innovative solutions to consume every cubic inch available. For instance, if your cabinets are not filled to the upper boundary vertically, you aren't doing it right! You never realize how much space you waste in a typical stationary house till you try to fit life's necessities into 300 square feet.

Our Bedroom...


I have never in my life actually wished I were shorter, and I guess I still don't; however, temporily-collapsible shins would be most welcome adaptations to mitigate the epidemic of scraped knuckles and elbows caused by drying my head in the 6'6" high, 5-foot by 3-foot coffin that comprises the shower area. Ah, well...

The Dreaded Bathroom Area...


More RV Living observations to come; they will be posted as they arrive in my limited consciousness!

Yesterday we journeyed to the only still-active Shaker village in North America (IF, that is, you consider a 'community' consisting of four elderly women and one man a viable entity). They are (were) an offshoot of the Quakers that arrived in New England shortly after the Pilgrims, leaving England and the Netherlands to escape persecution; after reading the statement that describes their creed, one is bound to consider that they may have just been tired of being made fun of (SEE BELOW).

In the museum at the site, there is a strange display comprising a) a list of approximately 30 no-longer-active Shaker communities and each one's date of abandonment, and b) the Shaker guidelines of behavior that INCLUDE CELIBACY AND A PROHIBITION OF MARRIAGE by any practicing member of the sect! One is led, inevitably, to consider the logic involved in such policy, as it would seem self-evident that the sustainability of a culture based upon the above would be in some jeopardy.

The Shaker Village in photos below.

Their Barn...


The Common Buildings...


Their School And Church...


Their Land (when they all croak the can leave it to ME!!)...


I Don't Wanna Play With The Sheep Anyway...


Yes, We Were Both There...