(Above: The facilities at Sawtelle Deadwater campsite.... a bit, shall-we-say, RUSTIC. No?)

Bezabor: (posted from Caribou Public Library 09/26/05)

Sunday, 9/25/05-

(this section written offline at a North Maine Woods campsite (“Squirrel Pocket campsite”) on Second Musquacook Lake, about 45 miles west of Ashland, Maine)

We woke this morning to 35-degree temperatures at the Sawtelle Deadwater campsite. It was a spectacularly peaceful night. The Buddy Heater did its job and we were soon dressed and on the road.

Our goal today was to see the North Maine Woods. This is an area of private land owned by seven lumber companies. Roads into the area are all gravel lumbering roads….wide, dusty, and pot-holed. We stopped at a small gatehouse where a fellow registered us for entry into the area. We had to supply all the normal identity info and also specify a destination. Our eventual destination was Allagash but we wanted to stay a night in one of the campgrounds in the North Maine Woods- controlled area. Cost was $8 per person for entry into the area plus $6 per person for camping so our little adventure cost us $28.

The drive in to our campsite was fairly easy. Again, we were in an area of few pulloffs, and no scenic overlooks. There were several lakes early on but those had cabins around them so we were a little disappointed that this ‘wild’ area wasn’t all that different than other Maine vacation areas. But as we continued on, the road got smaller and the feeling wilder. We had some trouble finding some of the campsites designated on the map. There were no signs, you just had to figure out the mileage from a known place and then check any small roads in the approximate area. The map (the Gazetteer) might show the campsite on the left of the road when it’s actually on the right. So as we approached Second Musquacook Lake, we were surprised to find a sign along the road pointing back a very small dirt road to it. The road was your basic over-grown two-track with a few mud puddles that looked big enough to swallow the van. But we persevered, dodging branches and rocks and mudholes, and came around a turn and voila!- a picture-perfect lakeshore campsite. It was terrific--- a sky-blue wilderness lake and we were the only people around.

We took a walk along the lakeshore, checking out the various types of rocks and just enjoying the day. It had warmed up to about 60 degrees and was a little windy but nice. After hanging around the campsite awhile we went for a walk back a heavily overgrown road toward Squirrel Pond. We only made it about a mile before hitting a series of entirely-across-the-road mudpuddles. We worked our way around several but then decided we’d probably just continue to hit more of these so turned back. But is was pleasant to see the area and all the moose tracks and moose sign. By the way, moose-pies look a lot like cow-pies!

Back in camp we were reading the North Maine Woods pamphlet and learned that the area we are staying is a key area for the Canadian Lynx. We didn’t see any sign of one, though.
The North Maine Woods folks place firewood at each of the campsites so we had a sizable pile of wood to select from. It all needs to be split, however, and fortunately I have my backpacker’s hatchet and 2-pound hammer to do the splitting. So I split enough wood for the evening and around 1730 started a fire. We heard on the weather-band radio that rain was expected at Charlevoix (Quebec) for the evening and that didn’t look far away. Sure enough we had just gotten the hot dogs cooking when it started raining. We moved into the van to eat but the rain slowed down enough for us to get out and cook another hot dog and after a half-hour or so, quit entirely and we were able to spend the rest of the evening around the campfire.

Above: view of Sawtelle Deadwater from our campsite

Bezabor: (posted 9/26/05 from Caribou Public Library)

(this section written from a (free!) Forest Service private lands campsite on Sawtelle Deadwater just outside the northeast corner of Baxter State Park)

Saturday, 9/24/05-

The night had been a cool one-- 31.6 degrees according to the indoor-outdoor thermometer above my bed--- and the firewood came in handy. The wood was very dry and in only a few minutes we had a nice hot blaze going to stand around for breakfast. After breakfast we took a short warm-up walk in the campground, then started exploring in the van. We stopped in a few minutes at Nesowadnehunk Lake and took a short walk there. The day was warming up but was windy and it would not be much fun out on that lake so we moved on.

Shortly afterwards, we explored up a side road to Camp Phoenix and as we came around a turn, there was a woman along the road who looked at us oddly. I thought she might be unhappy about being disturbed in her walk—but then saw that just thirty yards or so down the road was a bull moose – and quite a large one--- standing in the road and staring our way. I stopped the van and Labashi jumped out with her camera. We could tell from the moose’s body language that he was about to run into the woods but he apparently was still a little curious so he would start off the road, then turn around and come back. The woman did not like this at all—she had been out for a morning jog and the moose was blocking her way home. But this impasse was quickly resolved as Labashi moved in for a better photo and the moose decided to crash off into the woods. Very cool!

We continued up the main road—the ‘tote road’--- and after lunch walked a short trail to the South Branch falls—only a mile total. We exited the park around lunch time and started planning for a campsite for the night over lunch. We decided we’d like to take a leisurely afternoon so found a possible campsite on the map only ten miles or so outside the gate- beside a small lake called Sawtelle Deadwater. We thought we found the campsite beside a boat launch and settled in there. But later we took a walk up the dirt road along the lake and found a MUCH nicer one there so we moved. We spent the nice warm (60-degree) afternoon poring over the maps and planning the next section of the trip. After supper we retired early (again!).


Friday, 9/23/05

It rained in the night at Lily Bay on Thursday night but the temperature was still a very comfortable 60 degrees at daybreak--- much warmer than the morning before. We woke early and drove up to the shower house around 0700 to take our showers and make breakfast there. We’ve taken to eating Quaker oatmeal, the maple style, with a few raisins. The new 50-per-cent-less sugar version is better than the original--- that was just too sweet. We like how it only takes a minute to boil enough water for the oatmeal so we use just a tiny bit of fuel for that. We’re looking for a good morning tea. We had picked up some sugarless chai tea at a remote country store but it’s a little too perfumey.

We drove north from Lily Bay into the private timberlands. The map showed a gate but it was not in use. The road was all dirt and heavily pot-holed for miles but then we emerged onto another dirt road called Golden Road, this one wider and smoother but muddier. We were clearly in the timberlands now, mile after mile of it. It’s an odd place to drive… on the one hand you are in near-wilderness area but on the other there are no pull-offs and no overlooks and you have to be alert for logging trucks. After about fifty miles we finally came to a hard road and then the approach road from Millinocket to Baxter State Park. But the nice road only lasted a few miles, until we reached the entrance to Baxter.

As you may know, Baxter State Park is a wilderness park. It has no services—no gas stations, no restaurants, no flush toilets or running water, not even any potable water at all (all water must be treated), and of course a carry-in/carry-out trash policy. The road is well-maintained gravel road, only a little over a car-width wide and very twisty, i.e., filled with blind turns. One road goes to the Mt. Katahdin area and the other swings around the west and then the north side of the park for 45 miles or so and exits at the northeast corner of the park. Speed limit is 20 mph and even that’s way too fast on the blind turns. A car coming around the turn the other direction comes up on you very quickly and you both swerve to your side of the road. In many places it’s simply too narrow to pass so one or the other must pull off. The good news is it’s remote enough that there are not many cars!

We had a problem of another sort. The maximum height allowed into the park is 9 feet. Our van is just under 9 feet at the top curve of the rooftop ventilation bubble. But with the two sea kayaks we were about 9 ft-7 inches. I figured the worst case was that we’d have to find somewhere to lock the kayaks to a tree while we went into the park.

We asked at the Visitor’s Center and the guy said we’d just have to approach the toll gate and see what they say. He thought it would depend on whether the person on duty was willing to allow us through but did offer that it would be alright for us to leave the kayaks at the visitor center if we had to. He said the purpose of the limit was because of overhanging branches so I thought that good news--- a difference of a few inches would probably not matter—if we could get past the entry gate.

At the gate, the ranger never mentioned it. He simply helped us make a reservation for a campsite ($18) and collected the $12 for the vehicle pass. Once inside, we pulled over for lunch at the first available pullout and while there we were passed by an outfitter’s van of exactly the same make and model as ours but with a large commercial luggage rack—the type that luggage stands up in--- so I knew we’d be fine.

On the advice of the visitor’s center guy, we spent the afternoon on a hike to Lost Pond. Our hike started out south-bound on the Appalachian Trail, then at Daicey Pond we went left and the AT right. It took us two hours to get to the far end of Lost Pond and start off to the Foss-Knowlton lakes but we decided we didn’t want to get back to the van too late and then try to find our campsite in the dark. So we cut it a bit short but still got in a four-hour walk. Most of the trail had been like something out of the Brothers Grimm--- the entire forest floor was covered in a carpet of green moss. Our trail was mostly covered in pine needles. There was no understory so we could see fairly far through the woods—and it was all moss-covered. Very eerie.

Our campsite at Nesowadnehunk campground lay some 17 miles from the entrance gate. Since firewood was only $2 for a big bundle, I bought two bundles for the evening. But we only used most of one and the remainder I left for a morning fire since it was supposed to get down to the 30’s overnight.

Later, as we let the fire die down we noticed the spectacular stars overhead. We thought we could see the Milky Way but wanted a better view so we walked to an open field at the campground entrance. We saw two shooting stars and were just starting to pick out some constellations when we noticed clouds zooming in from both the north and the east and within a few minutes the sky was covered. Lights out. Time for bed!

Bezabor: (posted from Caribou Public Library on 9/26/05)

(written offline at Lily Bay State Park near Greenville, Maine on 9/22/05) At our campsite for the previous night (off SR 201 near the Quebec border) the temperature dropped from a balmy 59 when we arrived there around 1730 to a decidedly-coolish 34 degrees overnight. We were very comfortable sleeping without heat but we did need to break out the winter sleeping bag for Labashi and I added her comforter to mine. After a blissfully peaceful night, we arose about 0700 and I fired up our Buddy Heater, a small propane heater that uses the little one-pound camper’s cylinders. This was the first time we’ve used it since last winter. That made the van very toasty while we dressed and prepared and ate breakfast. As we pulled out of our campsite a fairly hard rain started and stayed with us to Jackman, where we gassed up ($2.89 per gallon) and got a block of ice and some miscellaneous supplies at the market.

We then headed for Rockwood and Moosehead Lake and saw a moose along the road on the way. The guidebook tells us Moosehead Lake is the largest lake lying entirely within a state east of the Mississippi and it’s a beauty. We went on through the town of Moosehead and on to Greenville. We stopped for lunch at the Inland Fisheries building and talked with a woman who worked there and came over to tell us we had parked on private land but when we said we were just stopping for lunch she relented—and even offered to let us drop off our trash in their dumpster. That latter offer was greatly appreciated--- all the rest areas and of course our freebie campgrounds but also the Natanis Point campground several nights ago have carry-in/carry-out policies…if you brought it in, you need to take it out with you. That doesn’t work very well in our little van.

We went on to Lily Bay State Park campground, arriving around noon. There were no rangers around but we were directed by a sign to fill out an envelope, seal our $13 into it and deposit it into a three-foot-high pipe cemented into the ground. We had spoken yesterday to a conservation officer at The Forks and he told us sometimes we would have to pay ‘the iron ranger’ at some Maine camping facilities. We’ve seen that before in some remote campsites but I don’t remember ever seeing one at a state park. The biggest problem with them is the fact that you need correct change and sure enough we had no fives or tens but did manage to come up with 13 one-dollar bills.

I was thinking we would take it easy the rest of the day but in the last two hours the weather had improved dramatically. The temperature was around 70 degrees and the sun was peeking through. So we took a campsite on the water and went sea-kayaking. That turned out to be a great decision---- we paddled for three hours, exploring all the little inlets along the way. We saw our first common mergansers and followed a group of eight loons who were chatting away with each other. They were highly-social— making many different sounds and diving at the same instant. They even all came back to the surface at the same time.

After supper we went for a walk in the campground at dusk. Another lucky decision. At the boat launch ramp, we saw something making a small wake. At first I thought it was a snake but suddenly it made a loud noise and submerged --- a beaver! Before long we saw the wake again and we followed along walking the edge of the little bay. We could barely see the wake as darkness fell. But he did finally emerge and climbed up onto a log on the bank. I turned on my little pen-light-size mag-lite, hoping to see him and we could indeed see his shape and his reflective eye and Labashi said that she could also see his front teeth. But with the flashlight batteries failing, we decided we’d better head back to the van for the night.

Bezabor: Moose! (written from the South Branch (of the Penobscott) Maine Public Lands Reserve campsite, off SR201, just south of the Quebec border. Posted 9/26/05 from the Caribou, Maine Public Library)

Wednesday, 9/21/05-- We spent last night at our first Maine Public Lands campsite and we’re doing it again tonight. You can’t beat the price--- free!

This morning we stopped at an outfitter along the Kennebec River and found that he had the same type of kayak boots we had recently bought for Labashi. She loves them and as the waters get colder I’m going to need something more than my Teva sandals. They both had my size and gave me a 25% discount. Life is good!

We needed a walk so decided we’d find an Appalachian Trail crossing and hike one way or the other to just sample the trail in this area (‘The Forks’ area). I’ve completed the AT in Pennsylvania and wanted to get a feel for the trail here. We found a good looking spot on the map at the end of Moxie Lake — we could get a look at the Lake as we drove in and then hike either direction from the trail crossing.

The drive past Moxie Lake was an interesting one--- about eight miles of one-lane dirt road with lots of lakeside cabins at the beginning and then thinning out at the end to the point where if felt (and looked) a lot more remote. It seemed odd that it was such a beautiful day--- sunny and mid-seventies --- and nobody was about.

Shortly after our arrival at the AT crossing, an AT thru-hiker appeared. His trail-name was ‘Clearwater’ and he had started the trail last March at Stone Mountain, Georgia and was proud that he was going to make it to Maine’s Mount Katahdin in under six months. Labashi gave him some water. Then she gave him our stash of M&M Peanuts (the whole bag !!!!) and then some rye bread, all of which he appreciated. Then another thru-hiker came along --- “Jax”, who was from Albuquerque. Labashi again offered water and rye bread and Clearwater gave him half of the M&M peanuts. The hikers took a break and talked with us for 20 minutes or so about life on the trail --- long enough for Jax to break out his tobacco pouch, get out his cigarette papers and roll a cigarette and smoke it. We liked that his slowly and methodically preparing, rolling and then smoking his cigarette hearkened back to an earlier time. It somehow seemed an action from an era long past—when it was routine to stop along the road and chat with strangers and enjoy each other’s company.

The AT thru-hikers have a term for people who give them food or free rides into town—it’s ‘trail angels’. So we did our trail-angel stint at Moxie Lake.

When Clearwater and Jax moved on, we got organized and started north on the trail but quickly hit a ford that would require some serious rock-hopping or some wading to get across. We decided to instead go southbound and entered the woods for a pleasant walk along several bogs and then started a steady climb. We had only planned a short walk so when we found ourselves facing an ever-steeper uphill slog an hour or so later, we turned back. Labashi took some mushroom photos and we were amazed at the extensive construction work a beaver (or family of beavers) had done to dam up one of the bog areas. The dam was easily seven feet high at the highest section. As we continued easing along the trail we came alongside a marshy area. We heard something in the water. At first I assumed it must be busy Mr. Beaver for it was not far from the beaver dam. But as I peered intently through the brush, I heard a swishing sound in the water and saw that it was a moose, raising her head with a mouthful of boggy greens. Fantastic!

We immediately froze—the moose was only 15 yards away and in deep brush in the marsh. We couldn’t get a picture there. Ms. Moose started moving in a direction parallel to our trail so we tried to creep along as quietly as possible, hoping for an opening and a photo opportunity. We finally emerged in a good spot but by that time the moose knew we were there and we only were able to dash off a few quick shots of her through the undergrowth as she turned and went splashing off. But still a great encounter! Much better than just seeing one along the road or at the distant end of a lake.

We finished up our hike and had a late lunch in the van--- wonderful genoa salami and cheese on rye bread--- then we were off. We moved on to the Moxie Falls trailhead about ten miles away, seeing a small family flock of six wild turkeys along the way. Moxie Falls is reportedly the tallest waterfall in New England. It’s 90 feet tall and was a nice add-on to our AT walk—another hour on the trail to add to our two earlier today.

Afterwards we headed up SR 201 through Jackman, where we stopped at the bank to use the ATM. No problem using our card there. We then continued up the scenic route (still SR 201) to the Canadian border where we turned around. A sign told us it was less than 100 miles to Quebec City but we had been there on vacation a few years ago so we decided to pass this time. But we have to get back there soon. We just love the feeling of Quebec.

It was after 1700 hours and we needed to find a place for the night soon so we didn’t have to arrive after dark. Labashi found a Maine Public Lands Reserve campsite for us on the Gazetteer. It was an odd one – just a two-track stone lane with a sign on a tree saying it’s a designated camping area. There was no fire-ring or campsite of any kind apparent. But that’s ok--- it was in a beautiful spot near a stream and in an open area with views in all directions. We’ll take those anytime!

The view from our campsite last night. It's from campsite #4 at Natanis Point Campground on State Route 27, a few miles from the Quebec border.

Bezabor: (posting from Sugarloaf Ski Resort, Stratton, Maine)

Tuesday, 9/20- I write today from the 'Strokes' golf course restaurant at Sugarloaf where we thought we'd break the routine of picnic-area lunches with a sit-down meal. The availability of a free wi-fi connection made the decision easy. Our little van with the kayaks on top is a bit conspicuous in the upscale parking lot but no one seems to mind. It's windy and raining lightly today but there are still lots of golfers out and we have a wonderful view of the golf course from our multi-windowed corner.

Monday, 9/19 We were still in Rangeley. We stayed the night at the Stephen Philips Reserve and had a less-than-great experience. The guide book told us the rate was $10 for the night and there was nobody around and the office was closed (and had no after-hours procedure posted as most campgrounds do) when we arrived so we camped and then went to the office to pay in the morning. But when I handed over $10, the guy said the rate was $16. I guess I chalk that one up to the guidebook having old info.

We hiked up Bald Mountain at Oquossoc which appeared from the description in "50 Hikes in the Maine Mountains" to be an easy one but the words "trail steepens considerably in the last .2 mile" turned out to be a challenging scramble over wet rocks and roots-- enough so that we almost turned back. But the views at the top on this blue-sky day were magnificent and well worth the climb. We split an apple and watched migrating hawks--- broadtails, I think--- pinwheeling in groups of ten or so around and around in the air currents above us. Somehow it took us three hours to do a hike estimated to take only half that. Maybe it was the dilly-dallying halfway up the trail to chase another pileated woodpecker through the woods hoping to get a good photo. We never did get the shot but did enjoy putting our ears up against the trunk of the tree she was hammering; it sounded like she was just on the other side of the tree.

After lunch in the parking lot we went back into Rangeley to chase down information I had seen at the library about free flights over the lake. But the library was closed so we went to the airport and found nothing going on there. At the Chamber of Commerce building we learned that I was a week off--- it's not this Monday, it's NEXT Sunday. I've got to start writing things down...

Monday afternoon we went back to the Wilhelm Reich Museum, this time to try the orgone energy accumulators. This will take some explaining (see the log entry for Sunday for more info). We learned from our tour of the museum on Sunday afternoon, that the conference center (which was not included on our tour of the Museum) had an accumulator big enough for a person to sit in. We thought this fascinating and so called at the conference center office to see if we could try the accumulator. We were warmly greeted and given a tour of an accumulator room, i.e., an entire room built as an orgone energy accumulator. It was approximately a 12 x 12 room with galvanized metal sheathing on all sides. Inside were four person-sized accumulators, three adult size and one child-size. Our host explained that three of them were "3-layer" accumulators and one a "5-layer" accumulator ('it's much stronger', said our host). We decided to each try the normal strength and extra-strength ones for ten minutes each.

Shortly after we sat down in our accumulators, Labashi said "I feel it already'. She was referring to a tingly feeling you get when your skin is about an inch from the metal. I too felt the sensation but since she was in the extra-strength model and I the normal-strength, I wondered if it would be more apparent in hers.

After our appointed times we compared notes. The extra-strength one did seem slightly stronger in sensation. But we could not say that it had any effect. We both thought that taking the time to sit in the accumulator daily would be similar to meditation.... the mere act of taking the time out could be beneficial.

Three of the four orgone energy accumulators in the larger room-size accumulator



Bezabor in the 'extra-strength accumulator'

Bezabor: (posting from Sugarloaf on 9/20)

Sunday, September 18--

After staying the night at Rangeley State Park, we went shopping at the local IGA and gassed up (gas is $2.79 a gallon at the IGA), we went over to the town library where I posted the previous log entries. We toured around the area, checking out the boat launches and gear shops, then went to the Wilhelm Reich Museum. Reich was an interesting and tragic figure. He had the misfortune to grow up in eastern Europe when World War I was breaking out. His mother -- to whom he was devoted-- had committed suicide and his father died a few years later of disease (tuberculosis?). He spent four years in the Army (a picture in his house shows soldiers dancing in a circle and someone -- probably Reich has labelled it "dancing before dying"). He developed a theory that there's a very strong, universal force which is in and through all things. He called the force 'orgone energy' and conducted scientific experiments which he claimed to prove it's existence. He designed and built an 'orgone energy accumulator' which is a box built of multiple materials--- metal, fiberglass (stranded fiberglass- like your house insulation), and celotex (a pressboard building material) in layers. His theory of how the energy passes through or is reflected by the different materials led to the development of the accumulator. And he proved it worked by comparing the temperature of an empty, single material box with that of the orgone energy accumulator: the temperature was always slightly higher in the accumulator.

With time, orgone energy became paired with claims of healing. And with more time, it came to the attention of the FDA, which is claimed to have pursued Reich relentlessly, leading to his being jailed and many of his writings destroyed. He died in jail from a heart attack just a few months before his 60th birthday.

Reich also invented the 'cloudbuster', an array of pipes mounted on what looks like an anti-aircraft-style gun mount. One end of the pipes point skyward and the other end is grounded and submerged in water. The unit was mounted on a truck bed and would be driven to an area needing rain or suffering from too much rain. The unit could be pointed at a cloud and cause it to dissipate or at an empty area of sky and would cause a cloud -- an a raincloud at that-- to appear (and rain!).

The desciptions are fantastic but one thing I can't deny: when I put my hand in a small accumulator, I felt a definite tingle-- and a pretty strong one at that. Same for Labashi.

It's easy to see how the accumulator's claim of capturing an abnormally high level of the 'universal energy' could turn into claims of healing power.

Fascinating!


Entrance to the Wilhelm Reich Museum. The building in the background is the conference center.

1. Fairy-seeker Labashi hot on the trail.

2. Bezabor's first fairy house

3. Fairy House Ordinances:
- Build only in marked Fairy House Zones
- Use only dead natural materials
- Create Fairy Houses that are so natural they are almost hidden
- Be advised the Fairy House will periodically be inspected by the head Fairy Code Enforcement Officer
- No permit or setback required
- Maximum footprint is 1 sq ft.
- Maximum size is 1 cubic ft (about the size of a milk crate)

4. Bezabor's second fairy house-- the stealth fairy-house.

Bezabor: posting from Rangeley, Maine

Bezabor: (posted from the library in Rangely, Maine)

(this portion written offline in the Wal-Mart parking lot at Waterville, Maine) Since we were in the Freeport area, we stayed Tuesday night (the 13th) in the municipal parking lot at Freeport… within two blocks or so of LL Bean….with four or five of the big RVs.  To some degree that was a mistake. One guy ran his generator until almost midnight so I didn’t get any sleep until early morning but then just slept in a little and I was fine.  Labashi didn’t seem to mind the generator noise.   Lesson learned--- don’t assume the RV guys are going to shut down their generators at 9 pm like they do when forced to shutdown by such policies in most campgrounds.

While reading a local newspaper, I read about a trail in Harpswell called the Cliff Trail.  It features two ‘Fairy-House Building Zones’.  A sign at the beginning of the trail tells how it works: you build ‘fairy houses’ out of any dead natural materials, sticks, bark, leaves, stones, etc in either of the two areas designated for this purpose.  The houses are limited to a foot square of footprint and a cubic foot of volume, “about the size of a milk crate”, the sign says.  If I understood correctly, this was a tradition started on Monhegan Island.

Since Wednesday morning (9/14) was foggy anyway, we thought we’d take a walk on the Cliff Trail and check out some fairy houses!  It was a lot of fun and we even joined in by building three of them ourselves.  The woods was well suited to the task--- lots of evergreens and birches so the groundcover of needles and lots of deadfall had us imagining we were seeing fairy houses long before we ever reached the building zone for them. Birch bark was available in pieces up to a foot square so that made it pretty easy to come up with a roof.  Labashi collected some acorns and pine cones to decorate hers while I searched around for mossy overhangs to close in.  We declared ourselves master fairy-house builders in short order.

The article said we should plan about an hour for the one-and-one-half mile trail but it took us almost three hours.  We had great fun both looking at the fairy-houses others had built and building our own.  The trail was a good one, too.  It was mostly pine-needle covered and wound through mixed woods then led us up a steep hill, the other side of which was a cliff overlooking a small bay.  We eased along the cliff trail, hoping to see some wildlife and happened upon a big pileated woodpecker—he must have been nearly a foot high. We heard him pecking very slowly and could see pieces of bark falling from a tree in the distance.  As we closed in, I had the camera ready but he was too smart for us…no matter how slowly and carefully we advanced, he would only let us get so close then would fly further along the cliff top and we’d start the game again.

After Cliff Trail, we headed for Orr’s Island.  I was hoping the kayak shop there would be open but mostly just wanted to get a look at the water.  But that was not to be.  The fog got thicker as we approached the sea (of course!) and before long we couldn’t see over the water at all.  So we decided to take in the Maine Maritime Museum at nearby Bath for the afternoon.

The Maine Maritime Museum was very good.  We particularly enjoyed the old buildings and old shipbuilding equipment of the ‘yard.  Just the scale of the tools is impressive… I saw a wrench--- just a standard open-ended wrench design--- but as long as I am tall.  The part that’s missing from any museum like this is the smells.  I’d love to have seen this shipyard as it was building the Wyoming… the wood smells of the sawmill and carpentry shops, the smoky smells of the blacksmith shop, the pine-pitch and tarry smells of the caulking shed, and the pigment and paint-thinner smells of the paint shop would have been fantastic!  

We left the museum at closing time and the fog appeared to be clearing so we thought we’d get a look at the ocean again by going down toward Phippsburg and Fort Popham.   It wasn’t long, though, until fog closed us in again.  We did make it to Fort Popham and as we sat snacking in the van, a sea kayaker came walking up from behind the fort in full gear.  I went over and asked him what brand of radar he was using (that’s a joke, of course) and he said the fog was so thick that even with his GPS and compass and thorough knowledge of the area he and his paddling pals had gotten a little lost and into some rougher waters.  He had decided to call it a day but his friends were paddling on.  I helped him bring his kayak in from the beach and load it on his car rack.  While chatting he gave me some recommendations for good paddling spots up at Mount Desert Island and I believe he was gently trying to dissuade me from attempting to paddle the mouth of the Kennebec by talking about how long he had paddled in Maine before attempting it.  No worries there, mate!  This would be the kind of place to aspire to paddling as you work on your kayaking and navigation skills.  I’d think we could do it at slack tide but would not want to be out there in the fastest hours of tide change.

We then drove on to Wiscasset to find a parking spot for the night.  I had read about being allowed to overnight in a municipal parking lot off Water Street so we went searching and it didn’t take long.  As you might expect, Water Street runs along the water, in this case the Sheepscot River.  I noticed a restaurant nearby called ‘Le Garage’ and looked it up in a good guidebook we picked up – ‘An Explorer’s Guide – Maine’ and it was rated as exceptional.  The listing drew me in with their ‘light meals’ policy--- you could get smaller portions for under $10 for most entrees--- and a description of a Maine specialty ‘finnan haddie’.   I took a chance on it for my meal from the description and learned that finnan haddie is smoked cod and hard-boiled egg cooked, diced and then folded into a white sauce and served over toast.  I loved it and can’t wait to try it again somewhere else.  Labashi had a very good lime-shrimp with salsa and avocado appetizer.  

We then walked through the darkened streets of Wiscasset and had the eerie experience of passing a graveyard (dated 1735) in a very dark area of town just as an overhead streetlight went out.  After we passed, the light came back to life.  It couldn’t have been timed any better if one of the graveyard residents was playing a little game with the two tourists out after dark.

It rained fairly hard on our little home there in the Wiscasset parking lot overnight.  This was supposedly the remnants of Ophelia but it wasn’t windy, just some steady rain.  Since the day was supposed to be threatening rain all day and we could see the coast was foggy, we headed for Augusta and the Maine State Museum.   It’s rated a ‘gem’ by AAA and as under-appreciated by the Explorer book and they are right (and only $2 per person!).  AAA recommended a mimimum of an hour but we again spent more than three hours.   I loved little things like the display of a granite quarry derrick.  The derrick is of course much to high to fit in the room’s 15-or-so-foot ceiling so at first all you see is the rotating platform of the derrick mast and a short section of the mast and boom as they go up through the ceiling.  But as you follow them up to the ceiling, you notice a large block of granite suspended from the ceiling --- just where it would be if the derrick were a real one--- and it’s suspended over the walkway you just came through as you approached the derrick display.  Very cool!

We then rushed off to Colby College in Waterville to see their art museum since it was getting a little late in the day. The galleries were filled with interesting paintings. My favorite of the day was a Winslow Homer painting called ‘The Trapper’ and Labashi liked the James McNeill Whistler dry-point drawings and Walter Gay oil paintings.  All and all a fine museum, particularly for a small college.

We had a magnificent supper at Wendy’s and rented a DVD for the evening to watch at Parc Wal-Mart.

The ‘Winged Migrations’ DVD worked out very well for us.   The movie is excellent in itself but it also allowed me to test out the current draw of my DVD player in my laptop via the inverter I had plugged in to the van’s cigarette lighter.  I was a little concerned that the laptop draw would be too much for the van battery, particularly when going through the DC-to-AC conversion by the inverter.  But we watched the movie plus the ‘making of’ featurette with no problems—a total of about three hours.  I do have to figure out what’s going on with the headphones on my setup--- I have two of them running off a Y cable plugged into the speaker port of the laptop and for some reason the sound on one headphone is very hollow unless you pull out the plug and then put it partially back in.  But the other one is fine.

I should also mention the movie ‘Winged Migrations’.  We had not seen it in release and only happened upon it in the Movie Gallery in Waterville.  It apparently had come out in 2002.  It’s an odd film to describe.  Four film crews followed different groups of birds on their migrations.   This was done by imprinting the birds at birth on handlers who would then keep the birds close to the cameras mounted on boats, cars, and ultralight aircraft.  We highly recommend this film—the photography is so outstanding and the photographic angles unprecedented.

(the next section written offline from Mt. Blue State Park campground near Weld, Maine)

On Friday morning (the 16th) we took another sea kayak trip—this one on Grand Lake, one of the Belgrade Lakes and reportedly the one which served as the model for the movie ‘On Golden Pond’.

Conditions were excellent for some refresher training on more challenging conditions.  The wind was blowing a steady 12 knots or so, creating nice little two-foot waves.  We played in the waves for an hour or so, first taking them head-on, then ferrying across them, then turning quarter-to, all to work on our rusty kayaking skills. We even got to surf a couple of the waves a bit.   We also did some gunkholing at the end of the lake but could not go very far into the marsh.

Friday afternoon we headed for Mt. Blue State Park.  Off-season camping prices are a reasonable $13 for us out-of-staters.  We walked down to the beach and back, then had a well-earned meal of chien-chaud-du-vin (hot dogs sauteed in wine), one of the specialities of our road trips.  This reminds me of the ‘it doesn’t get any better than this’ beer commercial.  This is pretty terrific living.

Bezabor: (writing from Brunswick, ME ) The fine weather continues--- beautiful blue skies with temperatures in the high seventies and low eighties, nights in the high fifties. We spent Saturday in the Ocean Park area. Labashi and her buddy went to the beach and I did my log entry for the 10th (below) and then went walking at Ferry Beach State Park-- about two miles of looping through the park's trail system. Back 'home' the three of us had a lobster feast and, yes, we overdid it. We've not had lobster in quite a while and it surely tastes different here.

On Sunday we slept in till almost 0900 and had a terrific Maine brunch then took a drive through Old Orchard Beach and on to the Scarborough Marsh, Maine's largest salt marsh. We checked out several of the launch ramps at low tide and took a walk at the Scarborough Wildlife Reserve and then a shorter one at the nearby Nature Center. Sunday evening we took Labashi's buddy out to one of her favorite restaurants--- Royal River Grille in Yarmouth. 'Buddy' and I started things off with a chocolate martini and we all had excellent meals. Great place!

Monday morning we (again) got up late and finally decided we had to get back on the road. We left shortly after noon and only made it as far as Freeport where we stopped at good ol' LL Bean, looking for wet-suit bottoms for Labashi. I already had mine from a trip a few years ago to the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium and know that the waters of Lake Superior were so cold that even on hot days you need something for your legs.... and that assumes you don't overturn and find yourself gasping for air in the cold water. She found some Hydroskins pants to her liking and I debated upgrading my kayak rack but decided I'd better do with the setup I have. We spent the night at Winslow Park just outside Freeport. It's a nice little town-run park with waterside sites for $22 so that seemed OK after having been camping free for the last few nights at Ocean Park. I backed the van into the campsite and then opened up the back doors wide and put on the bug screen so we could sleep with the breeze coming in from the bay. That worked well--- we had a half-moon and when we'd awaken during the night all was ghostly. We awoke at 0615 or so to a spectacular sunrise.

We took our first sea kayak venture of this trip this morning, right at the campground. There's a nice boat ramp there and we had showers afterwards. We launched on a falling tide and paddled on a mirror-smooth bay over to a nearby marina then circled back across the out-going tide. We were only on the water about an hour and a half but that was about right. No reason to overdo ---- we need to work up to the longer trips. At the take-out we talked for awhile with a couple just launching their sea kayak-- a beautiful Aleut-Sea II fiberglass tandem--- now THAT's a sea kayak. We gave them a tour of our little home on wheels and then they were off. That Aleut-Sea II is, if memory serves, 22 feet long and goes like a bat out of Hell. All that waterline length and two paddlers.... it's perfect for this type of sea kayaking.

This afternoon we dropped in again at LL's and picked up a guide book and it paid off right away. We read about the Peary-MacMillan Museum in Brunswick and thought that sounded just right--- interesting and free! We enjoyed that very much and noticed an art exhibit in the same building so did that and then explored the 1902 building. Very impressive!

We checked my listing of wireless hotspots and found that the Curtis Library in Brunswick has one so that's where I'm writing from today..... - Bez.

Bezabor: (writing from Ocean Park, Maine) I'm starting to lose track of time already. We spent Thursday the 8th at Ogunquit, Maine. We saw a sobering exhibition of World War II press photographs at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and walked the 'Marginal Way', a coastline trail, to Perkins Cove where we had a sunset dinner at an outdoors table at 'Jackie's Too' restaurant. We couldn't decide whether to spend the night back at the Walmart at Portsmouth which we knew to allow overnighting or take a chance on the one at Sanford which was a little closer. At that point I remembered that I had purposefully bought the 'Plus' version of Delorme Street Atlas because it has a database of phone numbers-- and sure enough the number for the Sanford Walmart was easy to find. A quickie call to them and we learned we were indeed welcome to stay the night parked near the Lawn and Garden section. But just a few blocks later we saw a sign advertising campsites for $12 per night so we took that option and it worked well.... we didn't have to drive the 15 miles or so out to Sanford only to have to come back to the Ogunquit area the next day so that was worth it to stay at Elmere Campground.

We spent Friday morning at the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge and the Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm in Wells, Maine. We took a pleasant walk along the interpretive trail at the Refuge and a longer walk of a little over three miles at Laudholm Farm. After a relaxing lunch in their parking lot, we got back on the road and slowly toured Biddeford Pool, then stopped at the Biddeford boat launch to check out the Saco River. The launch ramp parking area only had a few cars but included a young fellow sunning himself in a wheelchair and two bicyclists taking turns taking pictures of each other passing the photogenic harbor area. One would lie on the ground while the other would pass in front of the harbor background time after time, slowly circling around behind, then standing in the pedals and putting on a racing pose as he passed in front of the photogenic background. Then they'd switch off and the other guy would be the star.

We went on to Ocean Park and realized we were too early to meet with Labashi's high-school friend who lives there so we slowly toured the area and found Ferry Landing State Park. We walked the Tupelo and White-Oak trails and learned about the Tupelo or black gum tree. This stand is the furthest-north stand of this tree. We were happy to have no mosquitoes in this area -- we had run into more than a few of them at Wells. We walked down to the beach and saw the long white strand was virtually empty--- only a few people far in the distance-- and on such a beautiful day.

We met up with our friend and she invited us to dinner at Huot's Restaurant where she said the haddock was the best ever. So we had haddock and scallops for dinner and then later took a drive for ice cream. It's a tough life but somebody's gotta do it!

Bezabor: On the road at last! I write today from a Panera cafe in Portsmouth, NH. We left Tuesday the sixth after a late start. I found four or five breaks in the sidewall of the van's left rear tire and they were just too dangerous to ignore--- a blowout at speed could easily have led to a crash or rollover. When I called my local repair shop I learned the tire had been discountinued so I'd have to go for another model, the bad tire was four years old so any defect claim would probably be denied by Goodyear. With the differences in tire, I chose to go for a pair. So $269 later and a few hours later, we were finally able to get on the road.

I went to my former work site to check out (see the first log entry for explanation) and as it turned out I was glad I did. This led us to also do a geocache in that area. The geocache instructions had been given to me at my retirement party. When I put the initial coordinates in the GPS, I saw from the unit's map that it was taking me to a retirement home-- thus the reference to "Ghost of Retirements Future" in the geocache instructions. The intermediate clue gathered there took us to an outdoors shop where a gift certificate for $125 awaited. What a surprise! We used it to buy some kayaking boots for Labashi.

We finally got on the road about 1500 hours, our goal being the Port Jervis, NY area. More specifically we were looking for Walmarts in that area. We tried the first one at Matamoras,
PA, just before crossing the line but it had a sign forbidding RVs so we moved on. We tried another at Middletown, NY, but again, that one had a sign forbidding overnight stays. But we persevered and had better luck at Fishkill, NY. But by that time it was late and we were a little wound up from the travel and this Walmart chose Tuesday night to run the parking lot cleaner machine so we didn't sleep well.

On Wednesday we headed for Maine and as we neared the Massachusetts line I remembered that the world's largest antiques fair was to be held this week at Brimfield, MA. I had found that in a book "1000 Things You Must See Before You Die" (or something like that-- remember, I'm in a cafe here!). So we stopped in Brimfield intending to stay the night in the parking lot. But we only lasted about three hours or so. The antique fair was very big but more like a flea market than we expected. We enjoyed our stay even though it was quite hot walking through the area. But about 1500 we decided to get back on the road. That took us to New Hampshire. When we found that the state campground was charging $35-$57 for a night at Hampton Beach, we decided to do the Walmart thing again. We were out of luck at Seabrook and Rye but found the one west of Portsmouth (Newington) to allow overnighters.

We chatted with a Walmart employee who was working her first day on the job--- she was from Gulfport, MS and had been sent here by her Mom. She had accompanied a friend who was attending college in New Hampshire and she was dropped off to live with a relative in Portsmouth. She was miserable here. She complained of the funny way people talk using the example "they PAHK the CAHH". She was homesick and didn't know where her mother is--- at the last minute her mother had chosen to stay in Gulfport.

We also chatted with a Walmart clerk who was 70 years old and said she's a gold-hunter. She had retired from the post office five years ago and she winters out west and summers back east. She had a gold nugget on a necklace and just loved to talk about gold. She said she had taken her daughter to Alaska a few years ago and would like to go back. What an interesting person! Her name is Pat.

We spoke with another couple travelling and staying in Walmart parking lots. We had a nice chat but never exchanged names. They were from British Columbia and travelling with a pickup and a hard-side pop-up trailer. They too were suffering from the sticker shock of campground prices.

So at this point we're 2 for 6 on finding Walmarts that allow camping. The searching is not fun but I have an uploaded file from the Discovery motor homes site that lays the Walmart locations on top of my Street Atlas program and allows us to see about where they lie in relation to the interstate or the town center and that has worked ok. But I should have bought Don Wright's listing of Walmarts that don't allow camping. It's looking like the ones closest to the interstates are the ones that tend not to allow overnighting. - Bez.

Bezabor: The vacation prep continues. We wrapped it up today but found a problem... while washing the van this evening I found several deep cracks in the sidewall of the left rear tire. That tire will have to be replaced before we can leave. I checked the other tires and found no problems on the outer sidewalls, then used a flashlight to check the inner sidewalls. I couldn't see any problems but could not see well. Hopefully I can get the tire fixed and the other tires checked closely tomorrow and still get on the road afterwards. Happy Labor Day!

Bezabor: Another day of prep for vacation. We had cleared most of the van's contents out so we could give it a good cleaning and re-stow everything (and re-familiarize ourselves with where everything is!). We've taken time to make some small improvements-- the kind of thing you think about while on vacation but then forget about after arriving home. Things like positioning the seatbelt fairleads at a more comfortable angle for travel or disabling the door-switches so the interior lights stay off when we leave the doors open to catch a breeze on a hot day. We're also trying to be sure we aren't setting ourselves up for injuries from flying gear hitting us from behind if we happen to get into an accident with the van. I also spent a few hours in town chasing supplies and since it was a nice evening, I mowed the lawn-- well, most of it anyway--- I ran out of gas and it since it was getting dark, I gave it up for the day. I'm bushed. This retirement stuff is turning out to be a lot of work!

Bezabor: We spent the day prepping for an overdue vacation. We will be travelling in our home-made 'RV', really just an older window van that we've converted into a primitive camper. We don't have a microwave or satellite TV or refrigerator, or even a shower. But we DO have a futon mattress, a porta-pottie, a cooler, a one-burner stove, a storage cabinet with fold-out table, and a few toys--- we have a set of folding bicycles that fit under the futon mattress platform and we have our two sea kayaks on the roof rack. We also have a laptop computer with DVD player for movies and a TV tuner to pick up local stations via a 'rabbit-ears' antenna. So from our point of view we're livin' large. It sure beats living in a tent. We can't afford a true RV and don't really want one--- too big, too complex, too expensive. We like to cruise back roads and forest roads where most RV's would just be too big--- this one is just right for the two of us. We've been doing this type of camping for years. Years ago I had a '69 Chevy van that we used for weekending but all we had in it was a foam mattress and cooler. My high school buddy and I used to go hunting and canoeing and scuba diving (not at the same time!) using his '72 Dodge van as our "RV". He had installed two cots bunk-bed style along the wall and that was about it. Over the years I've known several people who have used bare vans or pickups with 'toppers' as their campers and I'm somewhat surprised it isn't more popular. I suppose the issue is kids.... the space is OK for two but too crowded for more than that.

We have another two days of preparation. If we wanted, we could probably push and be ready to go tomorrow but since it's Labor Day weekend, the campgrounds are probably jammed and the roads will be extra- busy Monday so why rush it? Wow... what a thought---- no reason to rush.

Bezabor: Well, today is the long-awaited day. I retired this afternoon with nearly 29 years of service. When I signed up for this career path, I was expecting to last out the 'normal' 30 years but was very fortunate ... my employer was cutting back and offered me an incentive to retire early. An early retirement is both good news and bad news, of course. You get the freedom of retirement but at a price-- a hefty reduction in income when you switch from regular pay to a monthly annuity of about half that-- but then again, it's in some ways 'free money'. I've locked in that income and if I have to I can go to work somewhere else.

When you think about retirement, you think it's going to wind down slowly.... but in my case the last year was busier than ever-- particularly the last month. The same staffing cutbacks that allowed me the wonderful benefit of retiring early brought extra hours and a frenetic pace. And when the heavy vacation month of August rolled around, it looked like it was going to be busy just covering for my vacationing. But on top of that we had an extra measure of challenges-- quick-turnaround projects which just would not wait for all our folks to get back. Well, no matter now--- it wasn't all THAT bad--- just nothing like the vision of your waning days at work. I did not expect to work three hours of overtime the night before my retirement party yesterday. And I didn't expect to attend a long meeting on my last day at work (That even surprised some of the other folks on the conference call ("I thought you were retiring today. What are you doing here?" asked one. All I could say was "I can't go home till all my work is done".) But on the other hand, if I had made an early exit I'd have missed the opportunity to talk to some of the terrific people I work with. Several stopped by to wish me good luck and promise to stay in touch and two long-time work-friends took me to lunch. Pretty cool!

The bureaucracy is having one more bit of fun with me. It was late in the day and nearly everyone had left when I met with our Security manager about turning in my vehicle stickers and ID badge. He told me all I had to do was drop off my badge and decals in a drop box at the gate when I left. At the gate, I dropped off myh little package into the drop box, then noticed a sign on the box--- it said "Attention Retirees: Do not drop your badge and decals in this box. You must sign out in person. If you do not, you must return next business day to do so". So I spent the extra time to exit (there was nowhere else to go) and turned around and drove up to the guard at the inbound gate. I explained my situation and asked if he had a signout log for me to sign. He said "No, the guy who has the log left a half-hour ago and you'll have to come back Tuesday" (the first business day after Labor Day). The guard said he had been told by the signout-log guy that there would be a lot of retirees today and the procedure had just been changed and to be sure to pass the word to the other guards to not let us use the drop box. But he didn't (apparently) pass the word to the security staff that would be advising us of the new procedure! So, looks like I have to do my normal 40 mile commute to sign out on Tuesday. Ya gotta love it.

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