On the Road Again

Acadia National Park, Maine (that's the goal)

We had a lovely evening at Chez VW Dealer last night despite one startling event. At about 10:30 pm, we had a tap on our window and a bright spotlight shined on me when I opened the door. Ned had just climbed on to the upper bunk and was getting settled in for the night. A policeman was inquiring as to our squatter situation. When we gave him our pitiful story and told him we had permission from the dealer, he was quite nice. He introduced himself and said he'd be coming through our area several times that night to keep a watch on things. Yep, all night he drove through, my last count was 3 am. When Coltan inquired as to how our comfort and stay was we told him about the police visit. His response, "We call that housekeeping." Funny guy.

Again we were given a loaner car for the day. (It's the Dealer shuttle van, the driver is off on Wed). Kinda fun to drive all these swanky new model cars. We went out for breakfast at a local's breakfast place, called "Lucky Logger's Landing", again recommended by Coltan. (I wish I could type out Coltan's great clipped New England accent as he talks with us. "Take the cah"). It's rainy and drizzly today so unfortunately not great biking weather. The loaner was much appreciated. Today was Coltan's day off, but he swapped days so he could continue to help us out. Guess who's getting a Bach Cello Sweet sent to him when we get home? Love the pictures we took with him.

This restaurant was great. So uniquely New England. On the menu were such things as mac-n-cheese and "American Chop Suey", a dish specific to Maine. I assumed it was some version of the Chinese chop suey we ate as a kid. Nope, it's basically ground beef, elbow macaroni and some sort of tomato sauce. I stuck with eggs.

We were finally on the road by 12:30. Unbelievable! In 26hrs. an auto part from LA was flown out and installed. I'm so grateful this happened while still in Maine and not in the backroads of French speaking Canada somewhere.

The upside of hanging out with locals for awhile is getting tips on things to see and do. Just a ways up the road we stopped at Len Libby's and saw the world's largest chocolate moose, which was indeed a life size sculpted moose, surrounded by some chocolate bears. Pretty funny actually. I seriously doubt that chocolate tasted very good tho.

A little farther north and the next stop was Cold River Vodka Distillery. They use Maine potatoes to make vodka, blueberry vodka and gin. I think they are the only potato distillery in the U.S. It's a really small operation and we got a personal tour from one of the distillers. The best part of the tour was tasting all the vodka and gin afterwards. My fave was the blueberry vodka - delish! (Yes, Ned drove).

Voted #1 lobster roll in Maine by just about everyone is a place called Red's Eats. It's a small little lobster shack in the town of Wiscasset situated on one of Maine's thousands of inlets. What makes this lobster roll so unique is that it is filled with one glorious pound of lobster meat on a roll. No fillers, no celery, no lettuce, no anything. Just lobster. You can get it with either a side of mayo or butter. We opted for the butter and watched the woman behind the counter pour the butter from the kettle heating on the stove into little cups for us. At the height of tourist season the wait can be well over an hour and the line can go around the block for these lobster rolls. The bright side of it being a rainy day today is that there was only a very short wait and that was at 3:30 in the afternoon! We took our rolls back to the van and had an indoor picnic in the rain stuffing ourselves with lobster.

The rest of the day was spent driving up the coast mostly through drizzle and rain. Not the best picture taking day, but we were glad to be on the road again! We are headed to Acadia National Park anticipating a late arrival. Sure hope the weather clears up a bit so we can bike the carriage roads (and take cool photos) first thing in the morning.

Plan B

Grassy Field Behind VW Dealer, Saco, ME

After an absolutely delightful time with Kristy and Leon, we finally rolled out the door and were on our way to explore the Maine coast. I had visions of fishing boats, lobster traps, light houses and wild waves dancing in my head. We got about 30 miles up the road when the generator light went on. (uh-oh) Fortunately we were just driving by a VW dealer and decided to pull in and have Winnie checked out. The first person we spoke with said they were booked up for 3 days and couldn't possibly fit us in. A young man, Coltan, waved us over, listened to our sob story and said he'd find someone to check it out within the next couple of hours. Coltan - our man! He also saw the bikes on the back of Winnie and suggested we might like to take a spin on the Eastern Rail Trail rather than just hang out at the dealer, AND - he even knew about a local seafood shack next to the trail. I think this is one of those situations where you can aptly say it was making lemon-aid out of lemons. Ned and I got in a beautiful 12 mile or so bike ride, had a lobster roll and headed back to our man Coltan.

The good news, yes they diagnosed the problem. The bad news, Winnie needs a new alternator, which wouldn't come in until...tomorrow. Hmmm. Coltan, once again came to the rescue. He gave us a loaner car for the day and recommended some places close by to explore. Coltan also said he could help us out by letting us "camp-out" behind the dealership, in a grassy area, where they park their overflow new cars.
SWEET! Jumping in our new swanky Passat, we used this opportunity to get some laundry done and took a drive to the nearby tourist attraction, Old Orchard Beach.

Old Orchard Beach felt more like the New Jersey coast rather than the typical Maine coast. It was complete with boardwalk, roller coaster and carnival rides, ice cream shops and tattoo parlors. Believe it or not, Old Orchard Beach has been promoted as a tourist destination since 1631!! It was originally promoted as the "Garden By the Sea." The boardwalk and amusement park dates back to 1898 and is one of the last "old-timey" oceanside amusement parks in New England. Normally, we wouldn't have stopped for this type of entertainment, but I must admit it was a lot of fun to do the whole boardwalk thing. Actually, what we enjoyed the most was checking out all the tacky tourist shops and getting a laugh out of the trinkets. (Lobster snow-globes anyone?) Also, the mannequins in the store windows hawking women's bikinis are quite risqué. These are the most well-endowed mannequins I've ever seen.
The day was pleasant in the low 70's, but certainly not swimming in the ocean weather to me. I guess after the brutal winter these Maine folks had they couldn't wait to celebrate summer. There were tons of teenagers in bikinis running around and a couple of brave souls swimming in the ocean.

Upon returning to the dealership several of the mechanics working there gave us a cheer and good-naturedly teased us about camping at the dealership. "Hey, let's see if we can get a bonfire going tonight" and "Maybe we can hook up a band for you guys!". I told them that s'mores were on us tonight and come on by later. These Maine folks are just so darn nice! This is also the most fun I've ever had with a car issue.

We are "camped" right across the street from a movie theatre so we decided to take in a show. We saw, "Million Dollar Arm" and laughed and cried and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know Mom would have loved this movie and I felt her next to me watching along.
As we came out of the theatre, crossing Route 1, and walking into the car dealership parking lot, we both chuckled at our home sweet home for the night. It wasn't the day I envisioned, it's gonna cost us a pretty penny to get Winnie back in shape, but it was still a really great day. We were treated with incredible kindness by strangers, we went on a bike ride, had a good laugh at the movies and now are snuggled safely in bed for the night, right next to several dozen shiny new 2015 Passats. Plan B's can be pretty good too...

Cape Cod and Cape Neddick

Kristy and Leon's Home, Cape Neddick, ME

The day had finally come! Biking a portion of the the Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) last night was better than I had imagined and I couldn't wait to stretch my legs and really spend some time getting to know this little piece of heaven. We were on the trail by 8:30 this morning and really enjoyed riding through all different terrains. It felt soooo good to just clip along on our bike, riding through forests and alongside meadows. By the time we were done we had ridden about 25 miles.

Some of the highlights were taking a little side trip and riding to the Cape Cod National Seashore. We took a quick tour through the Visitor's Center and then decided to take another bike trail out to the ocean. Some interesting little tidbits I learned - the Pilgrims first landed at this part of Cape Cod. After being on the seas for several months, they were so excited to finally reach land that they hung out here for a good month before going on to Plymouth. And during the 1800's when Cape Cod was predominantly an agricultural community the farmers harvested their hay along the kettle ponds and then transported it by flat boat. According to oral history, many residents fondly remembered the salty taste of the cow milk from this hay.

I loved riding the CCRT. It's my all time favorite rail trail. I definitely plan on coming back again, but next time I want to stay at least 3 days and ride all the connecting trails too. Nickerson State Park and the CCRT rock.

We finally headed out of Cape Cod by early afternoon working our way through Boston and continuing our coastal drive through New Hampshire and Maine. We arrived at Kristy and Leon's house in Cape Neddick by late afternoon. They have such a beautiful home in the Maine woods not far from the coast. This evening we all walked the Marginal Trail in Ogunquit. The waves were really giving us a show, pounding and crashing into the rocks. Apparently, there was an offshore storm making them much wilder than normal. All I know is that I was loving the pounding, crashing, salty, wonderful energy of it all. The 4 of us ate dinner at a great seafood restaurant in the charming village of Ogunquit. Crab cakes and salad - mmmm. It was great spending time with Kristy and Leon and enjoying their warm hospitality. My only regret is that we didn't get a chance to see Ben. How fun to connect with family on the wild coasts of Maine.

Forget the army - Anchors Away!

Nickerson State Park, MA

We continued our drive up highway 1 on thru Connecticut and our first stop of the day was in Groton visiting the Submarine Force Library and Museum. It's a really interesting place with tons of hands-on activities and films, but the real attraction is taking a tour onboard the Nautilus SSN 571, the first operational nuclear submarine ever launched, in 1954. It was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.

What impressed me the most was how tight the quarters were and how every inch of space was maximized for efficiency. There were 10 bunks squeezed into an area the size of a small pantry. Bet that was pleasant. The control room and mechanical room looked really antiquated by our standards today. Everything was mechanical dials and buttons. What cracked me up was the galley, where there was a tape deck, a movie projector, table-top juke box. a softie ice cream machine and a "bug juice" (kool-aid) dispenser. Ahh...living the good life. I also really enjoyed seeing the very dated 1950's photos of "sweethearts" displayed in the petty officer's quarters.

The museum was really fun too. We got to look through periscopes and try out driving a submarine. One of the films we watched talked about the historic "Operation Sunshine" of the Nautilus which was attempting a submarine transit of the North Pole. This was the first successful attempt of a watercraft to reach the geographic North Pole. Politically, it was our answer to the USSR which had recently launched Sputnik. Eisenhower was President and he mentioned that one day "nuclear cargo submarines might use that route for trade." How'd that work out Ike?

After this little jaunt we continued driving through Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, finally reaching our destination of Nickerson State Park in Cape Cod. At one point we stopped at a fish place along the coast for lunch - lobster roll for me, a lobster BLT for Ned. Several years ago when we last visited the Cape I swore we'd come back, camp at this State Park and ride the incredible Cape Cod Rail Trails. Today was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I've been so looking forward to doing this!!

We reached the State Park at about 4ish and within minutes we were on our bike riding the trail. This State Park is situated almost half way in the middle of the trail so it's perfect to break it up into two days. Tonight we tackled the Southern end of the trail and rode about 14 miles. SWEET. Our hobby is riding Rail for Trails and this is for sure my favorite one yet. We rode past ponds, through a small tunnel, and alongside really quaint shingled little seaside cottages. I can't wait for tomorrow when we ride the longest part of the trail and perhaps even take a jog onto another trail to check out the National Seashore Visitor Center.

Our campsite tonight is awesome! We are on a rise overlooking a small lake. We have the place almost to ourselves and it's great having a glass of wine watching canoers below. I could stay here a week.

The day Ned joined the Army

Hammonasset State Park, CT

Blue skies and warm weather sure seemed like a perfect combo for a bike ride. Allaire State Park not only has a nicely wooded campground, but it's also an historic village circa 1830's, has a working railroad, and bike baths galore. We road for about 10 miles on the Capital to Coast bike trail and then decided to take in the Civil War re-enactment that was happening in the village.

Ned and I have seen LOTS of Civil War re-enactments by mostly Confederate camps. Today was a Union Camp and while mildly interested I didn't have great hopes. (One can only see so many of these re-enactments). However, today was quite different and way more interesting than we expected.

What first caught my attention was how elaborate the entire set up was. Most of the Union Soldiers had spent the night in their tents. There was also the women's camp, those who "followed" the soldiers, artillery units, officers riding around on horses, musicians, soldiers marching and several other period costumed actors strolling about. We struck up a conversation with the artillery captain and before you knew it, he "enlisted" Ned into part of his unit.

For the next 15 or 20 minutes Ned was given a very thorough instruction on how to fire a cannon. And let me tell ya, these New Jersey artillery men take their job seriously. "Soldier, only use your left hand to cover the pressure hole, you want to save your good hand if it should get blown off", he'd bark. "Soldier, stand with a manly pose and put your right arm behind your back", he'd say while Ned was cleaning out the muzzle. "We'll keep those Johnny Rebs on the run."

It took many steps to prepare a cannon to fire and a soldier would have to go back and forth behind the cannon since one was never supposed to go in front of the muzzle - for obvious reasons. Hard to believe that soldiers could do all these elaborate steps in 2.5 minutes during battle. Finally, the big moment came and "kaboom" the cannon was fired! Ned my hero.

We then watched the band play while the solider's marched. Ned was really interested in the instruments they were playing. One soldier was playing a 1860's euphonium, which looked like a trumpet but with levered keys and a cool bell shape. When Ned asked him about his instrument the musician said that it had never been worked on. Amazing!

Fortunately, this gal caught her soldier's eye and Ned decided to journey into Connecticut rather than continuing his adventure as a Union soldier. And traveling into Connecticut was no easy feat I might add! We were waging our own battle on the Jersey Parkway/Turnpike. Such obvious novices we were!! I'm sure we paid way too many tolls because we didn't figure out the express lane vs. local for quite awhile. We felt like cannon fodder dodging incoming cars and zig-zagging through the NY freeways until finally reaching the promise land of Connecticut.

We drove Highway 1 up the coast of Connecticut, driving past gigantic mansions until we finally reached Hammonassett State Park. This place is hilarious. It is touted as being Connecticut's largest beach, all 2 miles of it. It has close to 400 campsites, mostly all arranged in various circles in a large, grassy several hundred acre area. We are fortunately off the beaten path a little near a wooded grove. This isn't so much camping as people getting together in someone's backyard. The grills are going, kids are riding bikes, there are several baseball, volleyball, bocce ball games going and the campground host just now drove his ATV by...hooked up to an ice cream trailer complete with the bells ringing. There's even a wedding party with a DJ blasting it out at the beach pavilion. We've also had a couple of friendly folks stop by to check out Winnie. Fun group of people, Americana at its finest.