Sojourn Days 61-70
Day 61 September 18 Oatmeal was the breakfast of choice this morning. Betsy and Anne had theirs before we joined them for our second cup of coffee.
After breakfast, we all toured the island, stopping at East Cove, where we climbed out to a point on the rocks and enjoyed the view. Then on to Haystack Mountain Craft School, which is a facility tucked away in the woods that teaches students a wide variety of crafts including glass, pottery, metals, woods, fibers, weaving, basketry and more, then to Nervous Nellie’s Jams and Jellies, where we just had to try each and every flavor available (some more than once) before making our purchases, and then down the road to the dump to drop off our trash and check out their “Take It or Leave It” pile. The morning included a wide variety of unique pleasures for all and lots of fun.
We returned to their home for a nutritious lunch of tomatoes, horseradish, lemons,
tabasco sauce and some clear liquid for dilution, (sometimes referred to as Bloody Marys) carrots, triscuits and peanut butter. A group consensus agreed that lobsters would be perfect for dinner tonight which we obtained in Stonington later in the afternoon. Our lobster feast started with watching them being selected to Anne’s specifications, then bringing them home
and covering them with seaweed we gathered in the bay in front of the house, then actually treating them to a hot bath, and finally enjoying every finger licking morsel. They were positively the best that we have had so far on this trip. Thank you ladies for the nice treat! We worked on a jigsaw puzzle for a while and enjoyed desert then it was off to bed by 9 PM.
Day 62 September 19 Early to bed, early to rise worked just fine except we were still mid morning before we pulled out of the drive and said goodbye. By the time that we took showers, checked our email and helped them finish the puzzle, the time had flown by. We truly loved our brief time with Betsy and Anne, and beautiful Deer Isle.
The rest of our day was spent on Bar Harbor Island, (the locals pronounce it Ba 
Ha Ba),
both in the town, and driving through the Acadia National Forest. Once again, this was a park with incredible beauty, and vistas that defy description. One of the most enjoyable was watching the people who ventured out on the platform to watch the Thunder Hole and got drenched in the process.
We spent the night in the Bar Harbor Campground which had a nice TV room and Internet hookups. We met a couple from Lake Placid, NY, who were also using their laptop and they filled us in on Administration. Generously, they offered us the newspapers that they had saved from September 12th on so that we could peruse them and catch up on the horrible details.
Barney was able to work on both websites, and get them uploaded. We then turned off the lights and locked up the place for the night as requested by the owner. I guess we could have stayed there all night, if we had wanted. Walking back to our site in the dark, except for our flashlights, we realized how cold it was getting at night. It can never get down too low for our liking. It felt GREAT.
Day 63 September 20 Today marks the start of our third month on the road and we have driven 8500 miles so far.
As promised, first thing this morning, we stopped at Judy and Lee’s campsite, and he pulled out the papers and showed us the newspaper articles about the disaster that had particular impact, as well as the immense coverage primarily in the first sections with little to no ads. Regretfully, we had to decline their offer to read the papers and return them later since we were on our way out of the area, but we could certainly appreciate the horrendous devastation that exists in our nation right now.
Drove to Bangor, Maine to hopefully find a Firestone dealer for our long awaited alignment and found that none existed in the state. The upside was that we found the Bangor Daily News office and picked up two printed sheets of American Flags that we can put in the van windows. Across the street was a statue of Paul Bunyan, representing the lumber industry in the early 1800s, so our visit to the city was not a total loss.
We were hoping to get as far as the Andrew Wyeth gallery and homestead. After evidently driving in a huge circle to get to Cushing, we found that his works are a part of the Farnsworth Gallery in Rockland and that the home was closed for the season. Major disappointment.
Since it was late in the day, we decided to find a place to stay where we could see President Bush address the nation. We were fortunate to find the Megunticook Campground By The Sea complete with cable hookup. We were delighted to be able to cook our sweet corn and bratwurst over the grill, and watch TV the rest of the evening.
Day 64 September 21 We had no sooner gotten started this morning when we ran into rain, and it rained heavily all day. We gave up on our plans to hover along the Maine coast, and decided that we would instead try to get to Manchester, NH, before the Firestone center closed, which we did. They were unable to work on it this evening, suggesting that they would work us in somehow tomorrow.
Stayed at the Autumn Hills Campground in Weare, a short distance away.
Day 65 September 22 It was unseasonably warm last night, and we had the windows open all night long. Barney dropped me off at a laundromat while he took the van only to find out that they could not even begin to start until afternoon. We spent the day walking the streets of Manchester, having lunch at the Stage Deli in the cafe outside in the breeze, and returning around 2:30PM to see that the van had not even moved from it’s spot. Bottom line with Firestone…………we needed new tires. We finally pulled away at 5PM, several hundred dollars poorer, but with a smile on the van’s face.
After checking out the Bear Brook State Park, and finding they had no facilities, we stayed in the Lazy River Campground, had a large spot on the bend in the river, and had no neighbors that we could see. Finished off our marshmallows with a nice fire. The best sleeping pill ever!
Day 66 September 23 We were unable to find a church in the area, and as we have done in the past, we tried to watch for one along the way, but strangely enough were not able to find one. Evidently, they were on side roads and you had to know that they were there.
Continuing north on SR 16, we came to the base of Mt. Washington, one of the many mountains which we had been watching for miles. At 6288 feet, it is the highest mountain in the northeast. It has an auto trail that goes to the 
summit, and although the road claims to be two lanes, there are places that you feel are impossible to manage. Fortunately, Barney did all of the driving up and down, so that he could prove his theory, that he “always knows where the tires are on the road”. There were NO GUARDRAILS. The road is only 8 miles long, however in order to handle the incline, you are required to drive the entire time, up and down in first gear. They also advise you to stop on the ascent to allow the engine to cool, and to stop frequently on the descent to cool the brakes. Each stop along the way was welcome as it gave us time to appreciate views. You start out in the hardwoods, then into the evergreens, then the stunted vegetation, the tundra, and then above the timberline entirely. There were places that the clouds were well below us, and times that we were encased in them. Other times, we could literally “see forever”.
Note: When we started at the base it was in the upper 70s, at the summit, the wind chill was 32º. We had to stop on the way up and change into warmer clothes. The highest wind velocity in the world was recorded on the summit at 231MPH. Hurricane force winds are recorded 100 days of the year, and it snows sometime each and every month. With all of that said, it is a spectacular trip with awesome views and well worth the time and effort.
Luckily, we found the Timberland campground located in a birch tree forest with cable TV connections. We had a great dinner of roasted chicken, baked potatoes, salad and butterscotch pudding for a late night treat. Nice place, nice evening.
Day 67 September 24 It was foggy this morning, so we were in no rush to get going since we were in such a scenic area of our trip. Rain is predicted later today and through tomorrow. Barney worked on the computer while we finished our coffee and watched the Today program. On our way out of camp, we saw a Florida Gators license plate and gave them a “thumbs up”. They were thrilled, and he rolled down the window and shook hands. We had only gone a few miles when the fog lifted and the sun came out.
Another day of gorgeous colors. The traffic today was very light and it allowed for a relaxing day of sightseeing. We could not drive but short distances when we would want to stop to take another picture. If only we had sound to go along with them. We are delighting in listening to the leaves rustling in the wind, and the water rushing over the rocks as it moves downstream.
The last few miles in New Hampshire took us through several deep Notches and the colors were a feast for the eyes. We came around a curve, and across 
a lake was The Balsams Resort nestled against a field of red. Around another curve, and just inside of Vermont, we spotted a man selling his maple syrup from the back of his truck. We tried his free samples and decided on the darkest brand. He educated 
us on the fact that the color dictates the taste even though they are all 100% pure. What a sweet man he was, and when we realized his name was WILLARD, we had to take his picture. It just goes to prove that it is not the name, but the person inside that we should get to know. Last year’s WILLARD had left such a black mark on our trip.
We camped near St. Johnsbury, VT and had pizza for dinner in town. Nice treat!
Day 68 September 25 As predicted, we awoke to light rain, and by the time that we updated our log, it was pouring down. We decided that this would be a great day to take care of chores, so we drove to Montpelier which was less than 50 miles away. In spite of the rain, the hills and foliage were lovely. We did make one stop at the Goodrich Maple Syrup farm, and literally got the cook’s tour of the facility. She and her husband have 13,000 taps in the trees, and do all of the work themselves. Technology has now developed a way to gravity feed the sap from small tubing into larger ones for accumulation, which has eliminated the need for manual labor to hang and empty pots. We saw the large vats that are used to boil down the sap and learned that it takes one 40 gallon drum of sap to produce one gallon of syrup. It certainly makes you enjoy this tasty treat all the more when you see all it takes to produce the product.
After trying to locate an available B&B for the night in Montpelier, we finally gave up and stayed in a cottage at the Twin City Motel. Based on the owners’ recommendation, we ate our dinner at the Bamboo Garden and it was wonderful.
Day 69 September 26 Morning sunshine put us in the mood to get going and we actually headed north a little before working our way west to the route that would take us along the Green Mountains. We stopped at one of Ben and Jerry’s three Vermont factories for a tour and samples. It was all very interesting and of course, tasty.
Another day of minimum mileage driven because we were constantly stopping to “smell the roses”. One stop was for a covered bridge and another one for a roadside waterfall. Truly, we once pulled over just to smell the clean air, and listen to the silence.
We stopped early and stayed at the Mountain Trails Campground in Rochester, VT. There are fewer and fewer campers so we seem to always have the choice spots, and this one was no exception. We built a roaring fire for both heat and beauty and enjoyed both to the fullest. Dinner was steak, baked potatoes and a glass of red wine complete with candles and in front of the fire. Perfect setting!
Day 70 September 27 We were anxious to hike the trail in our campground that was a little more than a mile through the woods and up to the cliffs 
overlooking the White Mountain Valley, so we bundled up (40º) and started out shortly after 8 AM. They had put yellow dabs of paint on trees every 20 to 30 paces so that we could follow the trail, and even with that, there were times when we really had to search to be sure of our direction. Once at the top of the mountain, the view of the valley was obscured with dense fog, but above it the hills on the other side were full of color and the sky was vivid blue. We kept hoping to see deer or moose, but they had probably heard us coming and none were seen.
We have been on state route 100 which follows along the edge of the Green Mountain Range, and it has been one small town after another, most of which were founded in the late 1700s and the early 1800s. The countryside 
throughout Vermont has been a delight to see. We made a stop this afternoon in Weston, and spent a half an hour going through a country store that had a little bit of everything you could possibly think of, plus free samples of cheeses, dips, salsas, seasoned crackers, fudge and a myriad of other items. Too bad we had already eaten our lunch, we could have filled up there.
We crossed into Massachusetts and tried to find a campground, unable to do so, we found a great place for the night with our room overlooking a bubbling brook, and breakfast included.