East to Maine

After leaving Shelburne on Thursday 9/18, we toured the Ben and Jerry's plant in Waterbury VT. Great free samples! In New Hampshire, we took Dave Michaels' advice and looped south around Mt. Washington. The day was clear and the vistas were gorgeous. Deciding it was too late in the day to drive to the top, we checked into a campground in Gorham and supped on leftover spaghetti. In the morning, we took the auto road up Mt. Washington - 8 miles of narrow, winding road. Temperature at the top was in the mid-40s but it was sunny and the air was crystal clear. We had views of 110 miles - west to the Adirondacks and east to the Atlantic.

It was a boring and BUMPY drive through Maine, but we had an excellent lunch at the River Restaurant near Paris ME - one of those seredipitous moments. The food was delicious, the waitress/owner delightful, and a fellow patron was fun to visit with.

Our destination was Mt. Desert Island. After checking our campground guides, we made phone reservations with a place in Ellsworth ME. But when we got there, and realized how far we were from the island, we cancelled and got a site at Bar Harbor Woodlands KOA. It was one of the best campgrounds we had on the trip, and a good thing, too, because ......

We got in a 5:15 and as we set up, I discovered water under Forrest's bed. It was coming from the city-water inlet, and the dirty clothes in that corner were soaked! For all I knew, it had been leaking since Wilmington. After some frantic investigation, I found that it was only a loose clamp on the incoming water line - easily fixed with a screwdriver. That still left me with a pile of wet clothes, so after supper I headed for the campground laundry. Great facility, but I had no quarters, there was no bill changer in the laundry room, and the CG office was closed. While Forrest showered, I drove to a nearby convenience store for change. The laundry was finally finished at 9:30. I drowned my sorrows with ice cream (yes, it was Ben and Jerry's!) and hit the hay.