New Hampshire, Vermont, and Finger lake area of New York, stay as Hwy rest park.

Saturday, August 6, 2016 

     After touring 201 we returned to Skowhegan, Maine and drove west on Highway 2 toward New Hampshire.  The scenery was very nice with lots of small towns an beautiful countryside.

Maine 

Staying on Highway 2 we journeyed into Vermont and upon examining the map determined we needed to head south on I-91 to reach the finger lake area of New York. We left I-91 and took Vermont Highway 4 thorough several more small town and really enjoyed the slow pace. We would have liked to stop in Woodstock, Vermont but didn't find a place to park the RV and tow vehicle. This quaint town had lots of cute and interesting shops along the street.  This bummed Sherry out and I am still hearing about her disappointment. We planned on staying in the Adirondack area of New York. We stopped and called several campgrounds in the Glen Falls area but were unable to find any campsites for the evening. Most said you had to make arrangements and reservations months in advance. Not being able to secure a camping spot we journeyed onto I-87 and were very tired from our long drive. We pulled into a roadside rest stop and slept a few hours.

 Captain Sherry at the RV wheel

When we awoke we talked about what to do and both being disappointed from the night before we decided to head toward home in Geneva.After a long 10 hour drive we were able to sleep in our home bed.

Bangor Maine

Wednesday August 3 2016

      We traveled from Eastport, Maine Seaview Campground to Bangor Maine and stayed at Paul Bunyan campground. We went to our camp site and noticed that the voltage was not right and we could not us our RV air conditioner. So we got in our car and decided to head into town to start our reason for stopping here in Bangor. Well that is when we discovered that our car air conditioner was not cooling. We had just replaced the compressor a year ago and I was pretty sure this was the same problem again. It was 88 degrees and humidity was terrible and so we knew we should get started with our planned sightseeing adventure.

House and Gate

      The city of Bangor is best known for settings of Stephen King’s novels.  We took our car and went in search of Tripadvisor top 10 Stephen King sights.  Our friend Jason is a fan and as we visited these sights we held up a tablet with Jason’s picture and took a picture of him visiting these sights as well.

     The first sight we visited was the Cemetery where they have a lovely angel statue.

Then we drove past the water works but didn’t see any place to park.  We then found Stephen Kings house and as we were taking a picture of the wrought iron gates with the spiders snakes and gargoyles. We were passed by a runner on the sidewalk that I believe was the author himself. He said hi as he jogged past and I thought Hummmmm is that Mr King. We then drove past the radio station that is owned by the author but didn’t stop. We were getting very warm in the auto and decided to return to the RV.

When we returned to the RV park we stopped at the office and told her about the voltage issue and she allowed us to move to a sight that had better electrical connections and were able to start and run the RV air conditioner.

 Paul Bunyan 

 Maine country

Harmony Maine and Bartlett Yarns

Harmony Maine and Bartlett Yarns

    Sherry knew about Bartlett Yarns before we left Indiana. She found it on Facebook and whenever we take a trip we try to satisfy her need for a fiber fix.

   

 

We stayed at a RV park on a Golf course at Palmyra Maine. It was 18 miles to Harmony on paved roads. We took the car and spent some time at the retail outlet of Bartlett Yarns. We learned there would be an open house the next day with tours of the manufacturing areas. Sherry enjoyed feeling and looking at all the colors of the yarn.

     

The next day we took the RV with the car in tow and returned to Harmony. We were able to park along the street by the mill.

      

This mill is one hundred and ninety four years in operation. The original mill was constructed in 1821 and burned down in 1921. When it was rebuilt it had the highest technology equipment available and was converted to electric power. The motor drives the original line shaft to this day. We were able to see the wool in both raw and cleaned and dyed states. They gather enough wool to make a truck load and send it out to be cleaned and dyed. The wool comes back and is extremely bright in colors. This wool is then taken to back to their mill and fluffed and blended to a recipe to make a colored yarn. After the wool is blended it is carded and spun into yarn on a machine called a mule. This spun wool is then put into hanks or cones and sold at their retail shop or online. 

Good bye Bartlett yarns

Hwy 201 Maine's most scenic

Hwy 201 Maine's most scenic

  

  I absolutely fell in love with this scenic drive. I think it was round 1988 when Sherry and I first went to Maine. She had been there before and recommended we should go again. So we packed our tent and supplies in her little Nissan hatchback and headed out. The first night we spent in a parking lot in Hershey Pa at a convenience store as we couldn’t find any accommodations. After a week in Bar Harbor and seeing Acadia National Park. When we left Maine and headed toward home in Indiana we decided to take a trip through Canada up through Maine. 

Bird houses mounted to rock wall

This is how we encountered Highway 201, and it still holds memories for us. This follows the Kennebec River through rugged Maine back country. 

This trip we were again returning home and meandered up to the town of The Forks where we turned around and followed it south to Norridgewock where we traveled to New Hampshire on Highway 2. 

Roosevelt's Campobello and Tea with Eleanor

Roosevelt's Campobello and Tea with Eleanor

August 2, 2016

Roosevelts Campobello summer home

Our plan while here at Seaview Campground was to visit Roosevelt's Campobello summer home on the island across from the campground. But to get there we had to drive about 100 miles round trip. We did see some more of the upper Maine territory on our journey to the New Brunswick, Canada entry point on the bridge to the International Park at Campobello.   

     

 After touring the home and learning some history from the docents. We then browsed the gift shop and got tickets to have “Tea with Eleanor” at the cabin down the road.

The Tea was a tradition enjoyed by Eleanor when she was in residence at the home. 

When we finished with the Tea we were gifted with a recipe book “Cookies for Eleanor”.

We enjoyed our visit and would recommend you see this place for yourself.

Good-by from Campobello

Still alive and camping when we can!

   Eastport Maine 2016

 

The longer it gets between posts the more difficult it seems to write a catch up. Don't really have a excuse but I will try to catch up now.

 I want to write about all of our adventures since my last post but will not be able to in this one catch up blog.

     These are the adventure we have had since my last post and I plan to do a post on each place.  But let me list them here so I don't forget about any.

     1. Eastport Maine. Sea View campground

     2. Roosevelt's Campobello and Tea with Eleanor.

     3. Hwy 201 Maine's most scenic

     4. Palmyra campground, and Bartlett Yarns.

     5. Bangor and Stephen King, car problems campground issues and high temperatures 

     6. New Hampshire and Vermont, stay and Finger lake area of New York, stay as Hwy rest park.

     7.  October 2016 Glendale Reservoir FWA Indiana,

     8. January 2017 Rockport Texas for 6 weeks

     9. March 2017 Indianapolis Artisan show

     10. April 2017 Kentucky Crafted Lexington KY

     11. Bennie

     12. September 2017 Wisconsin fiber fest, Copper Harbor MI. Sault St Marie

     13.  October 2017 Ashville NC Southern animal fiber festival and Black Mountain.

Eastport, Maine

We stayed a Seaview campground which was recommended to me by a fellow I met at the gas station in Trenton when I filled up with fuel. We got into a conversation when he saw Daisy and asked where we were heading. I love to have the recommendation of fellow campers when selecting a campground.

Sunrise at Seaview campground

     This was a great place to stay we had a view of the water from our site and were hoping to see Whales as the breached in the channel. Several of our neighbors spent the summer here and occasionally see the pods move through. This place sees large Tidal change and was fascinating to watch the current change and the large areas of shore line exposed and recovered. The largest known tidal change is 25.9 ft which is amazing to watch.

  

 

   The town of Eastport was a quaint Maine village with several statues and a charming downtown.     

We enjoyed our visit and time at Seaview campground and hope to return in the future.