PORV gang does Maine

Good first day of our trip north toward Maine. Traffic was mild with the only busy places being the Welcome Centers we stopped at where we had to search for parking space. Getting reacquainted with having our big fifth wheel behind us while navigating through tight parking. It was reassuring to return to this Love's RV Stop which we'd discovered last year heading to Florida. Large, drive through sites with lots 0f amenities. After a hectic fun filled few weeks of getting ready for our summer trip to Maine both Patti & I took a nite of easy downtime here in Cordele. Let the rig connected, did a little walk around the grounds, then just relaxed in air-conditioned comfort. Nice to be quiet. Looking forward to our stay at Palmetto Cove.

Another day of good travel with minimal traffic. Stopped at an infamous Buc-ee's store where Patti found a nice sign for home. Scenic drive along Rte 11 in SC to return to Palemetto Cove. Got a nicely landscaped site with full bloom roses around our yard! Planning our road trips for this area. 5/5/24 Day trip to the Tunnel, Falls, & Falls with a biker bar stop for lunch 5/6/24 Rain Day trip to Greenville for errands, visiting historical Poinsett Bridge, Greenville State Farmers Market, excellent lunch at Farm Fresh Fast, and stop at Liability Brewing. Greenville itself is on the rough side. 5/7/24 E-biked up Ceasar's Head, good climb. After lunch got info on hiking from Table Rock SP on our way to the Sassafrass Mtn overlook, which was bit disappointing, although we met some fellow travelers to chat with. 5/8/24 Most grueling hike EVA! Ravens Cliff Falls. Exhausting! 5/9/24 Took a rain day loop ride through Saluda & Brevard. Scenic, wooded drive into North Carolina. Saluda interesting for oldest general store and grocery in NC, artifacts of an earlier train & tourism time. The shopkeepers weren't on for the season and seemed bothered to have us customers. An exception was Green River Eddy's Tap Room & Grill located within an outfitter. Wonderful young friendly waitress. Next stop, Brevard, a much larger town with excellent Main Street. Local Visitor Center steered us to Parking and walk down Main Street, where most shops also have bars for walking beverages. 5/10/24 Bike day on the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Travelers Rest along the Reedy River with many food stops along the trail, then right into Downtown Greenville. BUSY! With an Arts Show starting up for the weekend, the trail was busy with bikers, hikers, and tourists. Walking the bikes REQUIRED on the bridges in the downtown area. Stopped at two of the MANY breweries along the trail. 5/11/24 The hike up Table Rock was, in fact, a GRUELING 7 mile hike/CLIMB! Second tough hike this week. Need a day off! 5/12/24 Drove to 411' Whitwater Falls a short hike to viewing area. Later had video chat with Dan, Val. Deb, & Jim for Cadillac planning.

5/13/24 Easy drive along Rte 85. On arrival. Patti discovered fridge popped open and dropped all kinds of food all over the floor! Ugghhh! Site is great, waterfront with firepit and beach. Mike came by in the evening with wood for firepit. Nice visit, Cindy working. 5/14/24 Headed over for a quick visit with Cindy & Mike before she left for work. then hung out with Mike for Patti family time catchup. Local visit to winery where Patti discovered a "hemp" wine with infused THC! Mike took us to local BBQ then back to their home for a glass of wine! 5/15/24 Off to Blackstone, VA antiquing with Cindy & Mike. Jim found some white enamel serving trays for Patti, then enjoyed a late lunch at "The Brewhouse". Fine evening fire back at Cindy & Mikes 5/16/24 Boating down the Roanoke River to the Shady Shack, first time for everyone.

5/20/24 Long scenic ride to World's End. Encounter engine overheating on a long climb into to mountains. Had to stop to cooldown. By coincidence, sister Mary called with a health update revising her plans.She has the issue in hand and seems unconcerned. After a nice phone call and time to assess the problem., I added antifreeze to the truck and continued on. Low antifreeze was the issue and the truck maintained temperature to our site. Local Camphost assisted with tight backin and we're all set. Even overed help getting our water tank filled. No internet here, so I'm writing without being online. Quiet wooded sites surrounded by trees.

5/21/23 Road trip High Knob Overlook, H Arch, Williamsport, Wegmans

5/22/23 Day of truck maintenance and errands in the wilderness. Has scheduled an alignment in Benton, PA, a 40 min drive away. Along the way was hoping for diesel, propane, and hardware as well. Drove 39 miles through the woods seeing nothing and wondering what I'd find in Benton. With spotty internet, got no assistance there, so it was like the old times, driving in anticipation. Then Bingo, Benton with a hardware store on the corner with propane. Friendly guy at the store told me everything I needed was in town. Off to Steve Shannon Tire & Auto Center, where I found freindly. competent service in a great shop with coffee & wifi. We had been experiencing front tire where and steering wheel wobble. Diagnosis indicated the tie rod ends, which had been noted at a stop out west, were finally in need of replacement. As the job would take a few hours, got to explore the town. Wonderful photo ops. Future Home of McHenry Whiskey,building may not last much longer. Fishing Creek with fishermen on the dam catching fish,Shickshiiny sign. In the know your history department, in 1864, Fishing Creek had draft resistors arrested by the military for disagreement with Lincoln policies, an action deemed unconstitutioanal 2 years later. Nice little breakfast nook with excellent breakfast sandwich and doury staff. Most places only open weekends. Searched for a brewpub or lunch with a beer, not a chance! May be a dry borough, common in PA. Had some time to wrestle with an account issue with Roadtrippers, hoping it's resolved before we continue to Maine.

Got truck repaired and good for our remaining trip to Maine, where I can get fans checked out. (getting an occasional truck error code after our overheating issue) Made it back to camper by 3pm then headed over to the "General Store" by the covered bridge to discover it's a Philly Steak place with no beer, so strikes against by both Patti & I.

5/23/24 Weather provided change of plan from biking to road trip. Headed north toward potential route to confirm road and explore. Good choice, got fuel and found road excellent for large rigs, with every other vehicle a large truck. Patti found a local coffee spot with wifi to get reconnected to the world. Got Road Trippers working again to confirm route for Friday. Patti discovered thrift shop next door with 70's garb for upcoming PORV season! Shop owner recommended local library for downloads and met some characters at the library. Patti & I love to explore as we travel. Lunch at Forksville Tavern and discovered ring toss game for PORV and "Rock Garden" near CG. Jim took a jump and a fall up there. Bruised only, LUCKY! Back to RV for reading/ relaxing a benefit of no Internet. Prepped for travel day.

5/25/24 After an easy exit from World's End and smooth sailing into MA., we experienced the SCARY BLOWOUT on the Mass Pike 😱😱. No TPMS warning, just BOOM. On our new tires, very disappointing! After a Pike-side tire change, at least on a wide apron on the exit ramp, we continued on to Timberyard. We knew their lot was tight, however, we were 4th RV of 4 spaces, so we had to squeeze in and figure out our exit tomorrow. Brewery is a converted old Timberyard building with lots of good choices. Had a beer and headed back to camper to attempt decompress. Met a new breed of Harvest Host camper. Stay often, arrive early, stay late. These folks go short distances between HH to maximize their stays. Quite different than our quick stayover style.

After winding our way out of the Timberyard lot, we headed slowly north toward the highway to Maine. Just before our entrance to I190, out TPMS alarmed out for HIGH temperature on a rear tire. We pulled over to the smell of smoke. A good Samaritan stopped and said it looked fire coming from the driver side rear axle. We smelled smoke and felt heat, but no fire. Our friend, a mechanic said the thought it was a wheel bearing which needed repair before we continued on. Fortunately, a Camping World (CW) was 3 miles away. I called Good Sam's while letting things cool down and they said service would be challenging on the holiday weekend. While waiting for their reply we headed off to CW. I figured we couldn't get service anyhow; however, we would need a place to CAMP! The CW was super accommodating, fitting us into the repair schedule, including a replacement tire, and a weekend boondock. Patti rearranged our existing reservations, and we settled in.

5/29/24 Smooth sailing to sister Linda's interment in Orono. Parked in a cemetery, no way we could have done that in the 5th wheel, then into a parking lot at Mason's brewing, where we easily fit into the corner. Loving the drivability of the Class C. Settled into Timberland and settling in to the size difference and rearranging all the 40' stuff into a 28' box! Patti finding a place for everything and putting everything in it's place! 5/30/24 Explored the bike/bike options for Acadia. Rte 3 is not bike friendly with narrow shoulders and not dedicated bike lane. Large vehicle traffic with blind curves to narrow bridges make the route unsafe. Also found the buses take neither fat tire nor E-bikes. Biking to the Sunrise Trail may be an option. Heading into Ellsworth for diner & show with family. Got car from Bob. We are already wrestling with the no car situation. 5/31/24 Off to explore Acadia at Bass Harbor Light & Wonderland Trail. Lunch as Seafood Ketch, under new owners who have retired like us! 6/1/24 Another hike on Hadlock Loop Carriage trail, which will be a ride when the PORV gang arrives!

6/2/24 Nice ride from Timberland, with a stop at LL Bean. The Class C is so much more accessible in parking lots and navigating city streets. Continued down Rte 1/3 with a stop at Robin's Nest; no one home!, then a surprise stop at Pat & Lance's. Fun to see old friends and plan summer activities. Next, south thru Camden and off to Bath. Arrived at Meadowbrook and got a discount for site reduction, another benefit of the smaller rig. Met up with Mike S. at the adjacent site. 6/3/24 Mike giving us use of his truck, so we headed into Bath to hike Thorne Head Preserve, and old haunt for Patti. Took time to visit Paul & Susan, get some haircuts for her reunion, and get some groceries. 6/4/24 Bike ride down to Popham Beach. Tried a side road, but it was closed for paving, so we ended up on the dreaded Rte 209 with minimal shoulders, which was scary with big trucks. Got to Popham beach where there are no side roads to bike on, so walked bikes to the beach and learned from friendly Rangers that no bikes on beach due to Piping Plover habitat. We headed to Fort Popham for lunch, however, it was cold down by the ocean. Headed back via "the Basin", an anchorage from my sailing days and a place Patti used to hang out. Got some great bike photos. 6/5/24 Started day with nice walk down adjacent street which went down to the water with a nice bench view. Patti headed into Bath for coffee with Susan while I worked on camper, getting pump primed, after finding a youtube video with our Forested featured. After lunch, headed into Bath to Bath Brewing and met up with Patti's reunion planners, so she had a chance to visit a bunch of them. 6/6/24 Off to see Richard & Tina in Brunswick. Jim got to play pickleball! Then a nice dinner and visit. 6/7/24 Got the cabinet that Patti ordered put together and filled. Getting the new RV more comfortable every day. Evening party with MHS '74 crew. 6/8/24 Final festivities for Patti's 50th included party at Debbie & David's home, the dinner event for all the classes, and a party at Maritime Museum.

6/9/24 Arrived at Searsport Shores after a minor mishap with batteries. Starter battery would not hold charge, so we jumped from house batteries to continue on, and got replacement in Belfast. Stopped for a quick reunion at Robin's Nest with Aaron, then got situated in the Campground. 6/10/24 Testing our local transport via e-bike to Chiropractic & Pickleball, easily doable. Met with Steve about work schedule, he very flexible with a 12.5 weekly commitment to meet lot rent. Starting tomorrow with a paint project. Wonderful dinner with Fran & Ellen, new retirees! 6/11/24 Tues- Began work camper, upgrading the bathhouse, including repaint of the facade and various maintenance of aging systems. Steve very flexible in what we do, so feeling part of the decision process. Time on ladders and knees a bit of a challenge! Afternoon, took a trip to hardware store and Robin's Nest and connected with Pat & Jane to plan a get together later in the week. Both Patti & I enjoying the random meet ups with old Belfast friends. 6/12/24 Wed- Headed to Pickleball courts and met up with lots of players I haven't seen for a couple of years. Felt good to be remembered! 6/13/24 Thurs- E-bike ride with Ellen & Fran to Fort Point Lighthouse, then oceanfront beer at "The Club" in Stockton, Springs. 6/14/24 Friday- Day at the campground. Sadly, shingles is attacking Patti and she is struggling with its effects. Big ouch! 6/15/24 Sat- Fun lunch visit to the Farmer's Market with E&F, then hike to Moose Point, which has seen massive hit from winter storms. Great evening get together at Young's Lobster Pound with the Old Gang! Kathryn, Becky & Ernie, Doug & Lawrence, Pat & Lance, Tom & Jane, Cliff & Allison, and Fran & Ellen. Excellent weather on the Belfast waterfront. 6/16/24 Sun- Our hunt for a car has begun, so we did a road trip with Pat & Lance to check out a Jeep in Mt. Desert.... too much jeep for us! 6/17/24 Mon- Busy day working to get caught up on our 12.5 hr/wk commitment. Projects so far: bath house cleaning & paint, base board repairs, stain shop. Enjoying the activity and meeting other work campers. 6/18/24 Tues- Got caught up on hours painting the ceiling rafters on the bath house roof, a tedious job with a big effect noticed by many. Stayed put in the campground after working hard. 6/19/24 Wed- Off to pickleball early to beat the heat! Afternoon Chamber Event with Frank & Melanie. Not many recognizable folks at the event. 6/20/24 With the heatwave arriving in Maine, we decided a bike ride would keep us cool moving. We headed along the bat to Belfast, across the walking bridge, then up the rail trail to City Point. To our surprise, the track bikes were running, and we got a first-hand experience, to see how these bikes work and get a photo on one of the bikes. As we continued on toward Swan Lake, we road into the heat! Most of the trail is shaded, so riding was OK, and we got fresh cold water at the Swan Lake. We were looking for our friends Tom & Marilyn Doe from PORV. Patti recognized their truck on Swan Lake, and we stopped by for a nice visit at their "Lake House Project". Continued to lunch in the shade at Swan Lake State Park and finished our 30-mile loop back at the campground. In the evening, we attended a Summer Solstice event with Pat & Lance. 6/21/24 Pickleball Friday! Nice to see Dan, Diane & Doug from the old days. 6/22/24 Saturday-. First RV drive and shop experience to town. It still takes an hour or so to get the RV closed up to drive. Driving in to Belfast, however is easy with the Class C fitting into most parking places with front/back layouts, so much better than the 5th wheel. We are still searching for a tow vehicle and not finding many already set up here in Maine. 6/23/24 Sunday- Road trip with friends Pat & Lance to Stonington. A rainy-day ride to Stonington made for an interesting ride over the Deer Isle Bridge with heavy rain & fog. Fun road tripping like the old days with casual conversation. Weather cleared a bit in town and we tried a new place "27 Fathoms" for a fun lunch overlooking the harbor. Did a little shopping and stopped in to see former client Barret at Boyd's motel. Fun day. 6/24/24 Monday-, work day, Patti's shingles flared up bad so Jim got to go it alone on the paint project. Made progress on the rafter paint and should be able to finish this project tomorrow. 6/25/24 Patti feeling a bit better, so she attacked the project and we got it DONE! 6/26/24 Wednesday- Pickleball day then chilling at the Campground, hoping Patti's shingles get better 6/27/24 Thursday- Pickleball since weather looking wet for Friday 6/28/24 Friday- mini bike ride to MainePort Brewing Co. 6/29/24 Saturday- Off to Arts in the Park, met up with Cindy & Sister in law, Frank & Melanie, PORV friends Tom & Lisa, Pat & Lance. At Hannaford, ran into Phil from the old store days & Bill from Pitcher Pond. Remarkable how many people we still know from this area. Cold ride home to beat the rain. 6/30/24 Sunday- Fun road trip with Pat & Lance to Bailey Island and Brunswick 7/1/24 Monday-, staring new project shingling the kids playhouse. A bit of reconstruction needed to get it level. Patti since her recent bout with Shingles is now shingling! What a transition. 7/2/24 Tuesday- Another work day, finishing the shingles and continuing the playhouse rebuild. 7/3/24 Wednesday- Blue Hill road trip with Fran & Ellen with a picnic hike up Blue Hill, then revisiting the old falls bridge which is now replaced with a modern bridge which most would drive by without even noticing the falls. Certainly not as impressive as the old arch bridge. Visited the beach near the Lookout in and discovered Fran & Ellen had visited before. Ended the evening with dinner at Blaze on the Blue Hill River, which was a customer in our former life with the Welcome Center. 7/4/24 Thu- Jane, Tom, Allison, & Cliff keep the tradition alive with a potluck at their retreat on Tilden Pond! Great time to reflect on the old days and how each of us is living. 7/5/24 Fri- Jim gets to play pickleball and have a wood fired pizza in the park. Patti takes it easy. 7/6/24 Sat- Farmers Market with Fran & Ellen for lunch. After lunch walk at Moose Point and relaxing at their place at Wonderview 7/7/24 Sun- Off to visit Cindy & Jim Patrick in Frankfort by e-bike. 15 miles on a warm day, but moving we stayed cool. Google Maps sent us along a woods road which quickly became so rutted and buggy we turned around. Had a fun time visiting & checking out their off-grid house project and enjoying Maine crabmeat from Stonington, ME. Back to our campground for shish-kabob testing for the upcoming Armenian Festival. Fun dinner with the other Work-campers. 7/8/24 Mon- Workday! Patti got creative with the playhouse, choosing trim color to really make it pop! Jim did some shower projects, redoing a drain which required creating a custom removal tool and checking out shower faucet, which led to replacing it with a new one, which required removing a wall. With 30 year-old campgrounds, the simplest job usually becomes more involved! Then while outside the camper, ran in Louise from PORV who had just arrived for a Maine visit! 7/9/24 Tues- Continued on the pond, redoing the rocks to find leak! No luck. 7/10/24 Wed- Road trip with Wally & Loise to some Maine highlights, including Bayside cottages, Mt. Battie Auto Road, Camden, Rockland Breakwater and Belfast waterfront with dinner at Darby's. Excellent visit with friends. 7/11/24 Thursday- Our first fun run with the new camper to Skowhegan toward a harvest host. The new camper is so much easier to head out without needing big planning effort. Stayed at brewery host close to downtown. Patti found a local coffee distributor along the way for specialty flavor K-cups. Easy to simply drive the new camper into unknown places without concern for parking! Afternoon tour at Maine Grains the regional grist mill for northern New England organic grains. 7/12/24 Friday- Nice morning walk to downtown Skowhegan along its waterfront. Went back to Maine Grains for fresh baked bread! Headed toward Sangerville with stops at a shop we liked from years ago having a closing sale and picked up some things for home. Next stop, Monson General Store where many AT hikers were roaming around. Had lunch at the public boat launch, where we could easily park the camper near the waterfront for a great place for lunch. Continued to Two Knights Brewing with a nice Riverwalk along the way. Two Knights provided a quiet, shady place to park with 5 beers on tap and stories of the Two Knights of Sangerville who found the fortunes it the 1800's after being born here. 7/13/24 Saturday- Returned to Searsport with stops at former favorite Bob's Farm Home. A case where memory made it better than present. Nice stop but not as good as we remembered. Visited Bangor as it may be our last opportunity! Visited Goodwill & Walmart, then decided to loop down through Liberty to St. George Brewing, which was on Patti's list. Learned they partner with Monhegan Brewing, two teacher sisters. Got some souvenirs at Reny's for our soon arriving traveling buddies. 7/14/24 Sunday- Quick bike ride to Shepard Rd. our old house. Fond memories. Evening party with Doug, Lawrence and the gang. 7/15/24 Monday- Busy workday at the shores, finishing the Playhouse and working on bathhouse. 7/16/24 Tuesday- Finally got the pond leaks figured out. Tuesday nite visited Marshall Wharf Brewing and ran into some folks from the old days. Found two brews for our Florida stash 7/17/24 Wednesday- Got the camper reorganized and repaired the vent cover on the roof. Very pleased with how solid the rood is compared to the 5th wheel. Ended the night with music in the park and a visit from friend Barb, who brought along her Mom & Aunt for a nite out. 7/18/24 Thursday- High Schools friends John & Jane came by for a visit in Belfast, so we had lunch at Rollie's. Belfast was busy, hard to park! Then too continue our cool off, went to Marshall Wharf. Great fun getting caught up. Haven't seen them in a couple of years. 7/19/24 Friday- E-biked to our old place on Pitcher Pond and visited Becky & Ernie who were our neighbors there. Our cabin looked just as we left it, with some roof dents from winter tree falls. The new owners weren't around so we had plenty of time to visit with B&E. 7/20/24 Saturday- Quick ride to the Farmers Market and to check out what's happening at the Celtic Celebration. Will be back later in the weekend. 7/21/24 Sunday- Return to Celtic Celebration to watch heavy games, where men & women throw traditional Celtic weapons and hay bales. Coordination matched with strength to win! The favorite is the National Cheese Roll, where kids, youth, and even seniors chase a 5 lb cheese round downhill to see who can capture it. Ran into friends at the beer tent for beverages while listening to a Celtic band for entertainment. Evening dinner with the other workcamper for good friendship and tasty food. 7/22/24 Monday- A little bit of work, then off to Tom & Jane's place on the pond with Fran & Ellen for swimming a fine dinner of grilled halibut. Delicious! 7/23/24 Tuesday- While I planned to bike to a dental appointment, the weather made that questionable, so Patti & I packed up the camper for a quick trip to town for my appointment and groceries. A quiet day getting ready for another party at Lawrence and Doug's, a going away for Fran & Ellen who leave until September. 7/24/24 Wednesday- Haircuts in Belfast and meet with Jeff. Again, the rain snuck up on us, so we packed the camper and headed out! Getting pretty good at it. Evening entertainment at the Wednesday nite Jam. 7/25/24 Thursday- Food prep for the Armenian Picnic. Introduced Pat of Fiore to Astrig and he provided oil & vinegar for the event. Nice to connect with him again. 7/26/35 Friday- Jim doing landscape work and Patti making Pita. Busy workcamper day at the park with lots of others.

8/2/24 Friday- Easy ride to Boothbay harbor to meet up with travel partners,
Valerie & Dan Hartley and Debi & Jim Evans. Nice side by side sites. Quick set-up, then a trip to Boothbay Craft Brewing for a planning meeting for the upcoming week. Then a mini-tour of Boothbay Harbor with a nice outdoor harbor view beverage from The Tugboat. 8/3/24 Saturday- Off to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens to see the gardens, butterflies and wooden trolls. Met up with Debbie and Ned, making our little band up to 8 friends. The rainy forecast turned out to be nice and sunny. Had dinner at our old favorite the Boathouse Bistro, with a 3rd story view of the harbor and excellent food. 8/4/24 Sunday- Portland Headlight was our destination today. Heavy rain on the way cleared to sunny skies as we arrived at the lighthouse, reminiscent of the day we were married. Headed into the Old Port of Portland, with waterfront dining at Flatbread. Continued some sightseeing through the Old Port with a visit to one of Ned's haunts, Novare Res Bier Cafe. Then north to LL Bean for some outlet shopping, where Valerie, Patti, & I found deals on outer wear. Val, Dan, Debi, & Jim headed on, while Patti, Debbie, Ned, & I visited Patti's brother Rich and wife Tina. Final stop was for Gelato Fiasco, our always stop place when in Brunswick. 8/5/24 Monday- Our chance scheduling to Monhegan Island, amidst a rainy week forecast, was perfect! Sunny, warm, with mild seas made for an epic trip to the Island with first timers Dan, Val, Jim, Debbie, & Ned. Wonderful hiking above the turquoise waters was only interrupted by a thieving gull grabbing my sandwich while I took photos! Quite a few other hikers on the trails. After a strenuous hike, we ended at Monhegan Brewing Co. where I got delicious scallops to go along with my beer. Wonderful day with family and friends. 8/6/24 Tuesday- A welcome day off at the campground to relax and catch up on laundry. 8/7/24 Wednesday- Nice weather again, so we road tripped to Bailey Island to see the Cribstone Bridge and have an impromptu reunion with fellow PORV connected Mainers Marie Clair & Tim. Fun to catch up with them over lunch. They gave us a tour of their place on the island. 8/9/24 Thursday- Epic tour of Pemaquid Lighthouse and King Eider's Pub. Successful shopping at Reny's for Patti. Goodbye firepit for Debi & Jim, who are returning home to address Debi's health issues. 8/10/24 Friday- Said goodbye to Debi & Jim, then headed toward Timberland. Great stop in Belfast at Marshall Wharf where their great selection was a hit for all. Growlers to go! On the way north on Rte 1, needed a detour around a crash wind turbine blade in Stockton Springs. Easy traffic otherwise and drove into our wide sites at Timberland. Had fun at the pub right withing the park with a wild crowd celebrating someone's birthday with sing alongs. Good food, too! Nice addition to the park.

Bike Rides: Sunrise Trail 32 mi https://maps.app.goo.gl/FhmbkMwsLWNbThX1A Schoodic 12 mi https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZkJRNu2t5gWK1FAZA Two Cats to Park Loop 20 mi https://maps.app.goo.gl/SYVc5L7RUitdFvfh6 Carriage Trails via Parkman Trail Head https://maps.app.goo.gl/E8EdvLp2Hg9nsd3g7

8/11/2024 Sunday- Off to Acadia carriage trails for a fun gravel ride. 8/12/2024 Monday- Stayed in park 8/13/2024 Tuesday- Drive to schoodic with shopping at General Store where Jim & Dan found jackets/ 8/14/23 Wednesday- Sunrise attempt at Cadillac encountered fog, cleared in Bar Harbor while waiting for 2 Cats breakfast. 8/15/24 Thursday- Attempted Bass Harbor Light, but too much traffic. Landed a parking spot at Ship Harbor Trail and had fine hike with Val & Patti. Dan under the weather with a flu bug. Got great T-shirt shop in SWH. Val got family souvenirs and Patti found an Acadia sun shirt for me! Headed over to John & Jane's for a fine outside dinner on their new patio. 8/16/24 Friday- Road trip to Stonington to visit Nervous Nellies and enjoy downtown Stonington. Restaurants have change since our last visit. We ended up at Crybabies Restaurant, which had been diner before and now a nice restaurant. Visited a new brewery "Naiad Country Brewery" for a beer on the way home. 8/17/24 Saturday- Excellent visit to Bucksport to see old buddy, BJ, of Carrier's Mainely Lobster for a feast. Our choices included chicken and haddock sandwiches and great seafood chowder. BJ brought over some fresh crabmeat to try, Delicious, and two lobster rolls to go! Then over to Fort Knox where Val toughed out her fear of heights to go up into the 2nd highest bridge observation tower in the world to see the Maine coast from above! After that, we went underground in Fort Knox and got lost. A young girl with a light led us out! 8/18/24 Sunday- Ventured out on the Downeast Sunrise Trail looking for critters. Saw some birds, then got the big blast from a train that was running that day. A rail trail with a still active railroad! Fun e-bike ride! 8/19/2024 Monday- Back to Bass Harbor Light, early to find parking. Got some good, foggy views from the shore. Then over to Thunder Hole to catch the big waves at high tide. Amazing wave action, getting fellow travelers and Patti wet! 8/20/2024 Tuesday- Shopping around Ellsworth 8/21/2024 Wednesday- Beehive & Great Head, Fogtown Brewing 8/22/2024 Thursday- Local shopping 8/23/2023 Friday- Travel day to Lubec

8/23/2024 Friday- Arrived early, got set up an e-biked into Lubec to scope things out. To our dismal, Lubec Brewing closed as well as most of Main St. Got info on Whale watch and seaside beer at Waterfront restaurant. 8/24/2024 Saturday- Whale watch & Old Sow boat tours out around West Quoddy. Nice display from whales and great ride in and around the Old Sow Whirlpool. 8/25/2024 Sunday- E-bike ferry tour to Deer Island and New Brunswick. 8/26/2024 Monday- Quoddy State Park 4 mi shore hike 8/27/2024 Tuesday- Back thru Campobello to East Quoddy Light and nice lunch at Pier Waterfront. Great weather! 8/28/2024 Wednesday- Finally, Dan get's his visit to an American Legion that's open! Fun nite with local fisherman, Aaron and stories from local tax assessor on impact by folks from away driving up taxes. 8/29/2024 Thursday- Eastport road trip. Nice brewery, but no seaglass, access to beach was blocked. 8/30/2024 Friday- Drive Day to Lakeview with nice lunch stop at Million Dollar View. Visited with Rick and Sandy from PORV.

8/31/2024 Saturday- Off to Canada via Madawaska. Got vehicle checked at border, then 1st brewery closed. Found another and recovered. Surprised to see how "French" New Brunswick is. 9/1/2024 Sunday- Bike ride to Sinclair to line up an ATV and show Val the ATV trails. Got ATV scheduled for Thursday. 9/2/2024 Monday- Pelletier Island bike tour. Excellent scenery with nice lunch at the ATV overlook. 9/3/2024 Tuesday- Over the border again to seek out "Quebec" for Val & Dan's map. Visited mile 0 and got souvenirs at Northern Door Inn. Easy border crossing and mini-trip to bland boundary crossing to Quebec. Dan found the facilities functional at best! Nice lunch at Stumpknockers and visiting Bouchard's for Ployes, then to First Mile Brewing. 9/4/2024 Wednesday- Long bike ride loop to Frenchville and back. Great riding though the fields. Picnic lunch in Frenchville, then return to First Mile. 9/5/2024 Thursday- Big 100 mile ATV excursion through the Maine woods. 9/6/2024 Friday- In the park with chores. Accomplished laundry, RV registration, and RV wash. Afternoon in the sun and evening games.