WEEK 5
Last week we made it to Maine by May and this week we explore Acadia National Park, wrap up our Maine experience and cross the border into Canada.
Day 31 Mon 05/08
Today is our 2nd day in Acadia and marks one month on the road…what is the saying if you can do something for 30 days then it is more likely to stick…guess we survived that milestone. There is some semblance of routine in the minor details, but each day we are likely doing something we have never done before. I have also found that it has taken me a bit longer to unwind than I had expected and shake off the city grip and soak in the quiet and smells of nature. The slower pace and daily naps were a welcome change, but I hope I can at some point breath deep and just relax…on the road if the little details that I expect don’t happen it seems to be a bigger deal than it should, like not being able to make coffee in the morning because you are saving the propane for the fridge…so we improvised and used our portable camp stove and life was good again. I also realized that there were heaters in the ladies restrooms so it did seem like I had to go much more than usual. The fog did not lift until 11:30 am and John decided to bike to the visitors’ center to buy a trail map via the loop road and stretch his bike legs. I am not able to keep up with him when he wants to crank on the pedals (zoom…zoom), so I stayed back and finished reading my book. Once the sun came out Cooper and I took a walk around the campsites. They only had about 50 spots in the A loop open and it was full. We heard a lot of French Canadian spoken as the sites were packed in close together. John’s bike ride was a tough 25 miles in the wind and hills, and he thought comparable to his Shenandoah rides. We had planned to make a pork shoulder in the instapot for dinner but we did not have enough propane so we decided to use the cast iron Dutch oven and baked potatoes in the fire. It took a long time to get the coals ready because the wood was so wet from all the rain. Because of the season, we have not had to purchase firewood yet. We have been able to find downed wood every time otherwise that expense would add up quickly. I decided to make some quick pickled red onions, and dinner was delicious! 
Day 32 Tues 05/09
Today we woke up early to what sounded like an animal under the RV…maybe this was what I heard when Buster had his great escape. We ate overnight oats for breakfast for fuel for our big hike up to Cadillac Mountain, packed our lunches, and waited for the fog to break. It was a cold foggy rainy morning, so I got back in my sleeping bag until it was time to switch campsites. We switched campsites to a more open spot, so we were hoping for a sunny day to fill up our solar power. After the rain stopped we set out on our long hike for the day. Cadillac Mountain South Trail is 9.7 miles round trip from the campsite up to the summit at 1528’, and even though it is a gradual climb it is still considered strenuous. Cooper had enough down time to recover and didn’t limp; he was even up for chasing some squirrels along the way. The fog finally broke as we made it to the top of the mountain and managed to get some good views. We enjoyed our lunch with a view and started the long decent down. 5 hours later we made it back to the campsite without any wrong turns down the more treacherous trails. We found buster sunning in the window and it was actually warm enough to take a cold shower without cussing. We opted for left over taco salad for dinner. John thought he had left the tripod quick release adaptor at home because it wasn’t with the tripod that he had hiked with all day, but guess who found it after he had already filled his amazon cart with the replacement? My prize was I got to wear his crocs in the RV to keep my feet warm. The RV floor is VERY cold and I did not bring any camp shoes for inside the RV so my feet have been freezing for days. John made homemade hot cocoa to warm us up and it started to rain again…
Day 33 Wed 05/10
This morning we waited for the rain to stop and did not start our hike until close to 1pm. From the campground we hiked the Otter Creek Trail to the Gorham Mountain Trail summit at 525’. The fog broke again when we got to the top and on the way back down we saw hikers on the Beehive Trail crossing the cattle guard bridge towards the top. Thank goodness they discriminate against furry four legged friends otherwise I might have been convinced to go to the top…that trail is known for the “iron rungs on ledges of exposed cliffs”…After we marveled in the craziness of the Beehive hikers we made our way down to the Sand Beach and back to camp on the Ocean Trail. The sun came out and the waves were crashing against the rocky shores as we walked along the coast. What a site to see! We had worked up quite an appetite, so for dinner we reheated baked potatoes and pulled pork on the fire. 
Day 34 Thurs 05/11
Today we left Acadia. Check out time was 10 am, the earliest we have seen so far in the parks. We dumped and filled our water tanks and drove into Bar Harbor to check out the town. It was cold windy and misty so we quickly walked the coast and dove into a few outdoor shops. I saw a few restaurants advertising blueberry pancakes so I got a craving. For lunch we heated up our pulled pork for sandwiches in the RV to save our entertainment money, and then on to Ellsworth to refill our propane at EBS Building Supplies. It took 3 guys (2 were in training) to refill it, but they got it done. Unfortunately, I missed the photo op because it was entertaining to watch. Our Harvest Host option near Bar Harbor did not accept trailers longer than 24’ even though the website indicated up to 29’, so we opted to spend the night in the Ellsworth Walmart parking lot. I was still thinking about blueberry pancakes so I decided I would research a good recipe and make them myself tomorrow morning instead of seeking out the best in the area. We did decide to walk for blueberry ice cream though as there was a local shop across the street. Online they said they closed at nine but when we got there at 7:05 they had closed up early at 7:00. It was not meant to be. When we got back to Walmart I went to buy my blueberry pancake ingredients and decided to get a local newspaper too to catch up on the news. John made chicken noodle soup for dinner.
Day 35 Fri 05/12
This morning the sun was out and I made blueberry lemon pancakes for breakfast and tested out the smoke alarm too as I burned the first batch on the cast iron skillet. After breakfast, we drove from Ellsworth back to Bangor to drop off the radiator that John replaced at the scrap yard and got $17.50 cash back to recycle it! While we were in civilization we also restocked on pet food as that was the other item we forgot to get before going to Acadia. We had rationed the animals’ food so they were not happy. John also bought treats because we have decided to try to positively reinforce Cooper to try to change his emotional behavior when he sees other dogs or people while on leash. John was also able to return the unused tools at Advance Auto Parts that he had walked in the rain and bought to replace the radiator because it turned out he already had what he needed. We met up with Adam Thiesen again at Food and Medicine (FAM) to get our remaining packages that didn’t make it the first time and learned about a volunteer opportunity at Maple Street Community Garden. This was a new community garden down the road with 31 – 4’ x 10’ raised beds on abandoned asphalt over a remediated site. 2 of the beds will be used to grow produce for local food banks. Ellen, a young mother of 2 kids with a physics grad student husband, had a vision because they moved to the area and walked the park every day and thought what if that were something else, like a community garden. She and her husband worked with the city, the neighborhood and a private donor to make it a reality, and 1.5 years later the plots were fully rented and they were preparing for their orientation with the gardeners the next day. They had piles of seafood compost/loam delivered to the site, so we helped fill the beds for a couple of hours. Ellen’s passion and perseverance was so inspiring! She also recommended a book that inspired her: The Great Neighborhood Book, A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking. We met a few of the community members that stopped by to ask questions about the garden and shared in the excitement of the new addition to the neighborhood. After that we went back to FAM and weeded their raised beds in preparation to fill them with loam for planting too. We loaded 1 trailer of loam into the beds and decided to come back in the morning to finish up when they got more dirt. We spent the night in the Bangor Walmart parking lot and John made burgers for dinner with sautéed local fiddleheads as a pre dinner snack. Fiddlehead ferns grow wild in the area this time of year and we picked some up at the grocery store to try out. Cooper was super uncomfortable because even though we tried to keep him away he had sampled the seafood compost and it made him sicker than a dog (no pun intended)…We thought it would be a long night.
Day 36 Sat 05/13
Today we dealt with a very sick puppy from the seafood compost the day before and went back to FAM to help finish filing the raised beds with loam. After a couple hours of shoveling dirt the beds were full and ready to be planted. Today we got to work with Ron a born a bred Mainer and learned a bit of Maine history. He shared about growing up on a potato farm as that used to be a huge industry before the paper mills and oil companies took over. He talked about the organic way they used to farm with cover crop rotations of clover and oat for two years and every third year getting a potato harvest from the well-fed soil. Then slowly the farms started getting addicted to the fertilizers and pesticides to yield a crop every year… We also talked about brown bread and baked beans and other local fare. Ron was my lucky compost recipient as he had his own 50’ by 50’ garden at home with a compost pile. We shared the sentiment that after composting for a while it physically pains you to throw any food scraps in the trash, and if he had not taken it from me that is what we would have had to do before crossing the border. After wrapping up at FAM and saying our goodbyes, we made one last stop at Tiller and Rye Grocery to get our yogurt bottle deposit back and buy more yogurt…and other yummy things. The drive from Bangor to St Stephens Bridge through the Maine “wilderness” was spectacular. It seemed like we were driving at 20,000 feet in the air above the clouds as the horizon line was really high and it was beautiful, at least the parts I was able to see…Between Cooper and Buster we cleaned up 6 pukes in the RV on the drive to Canada…We crossed the border into New Brunswick Canada with ease. We had all the paper work ready for us and the animals and the border agent didn’t really look at much. He asked if we had any alcohol, mace or pepper spray, or firearms. We said no and he let us through. There were a few other cars getting searched as we flew right by. We realized that this part of Canada included a time change past eastern standard time. Tonight, we stayed at the Harvest Host Granite Town Wild Blueberry Farm near St George. We quickly realized that our cell service switched to a Canadian carrier and decided to confirm our unlimited data plan in Canada and Mexico with AT&T. Tonight, was date night and we went into town to try Pete’s dairy bar. We quickly found out after they scooped a waffle cone of blueberry and cream and coconut macaroon ice cream that they only take cash…Canadian cash… luckily there was an ATM next door and we exchanged money for ice cream. We checked out Green’s Point lighthouse and found sea urchins on the coast. It appeared that sometimes the lighthouse was actually an island as the tide was really rushing out for low tide. This lighthouse was also a community maintained site and you could rent out a cabin on the hill. It was very peaceful. We made it back to the farm for the night and caught up with Barrett, Jessica and baby Beckham. They gave us a FaceTime tour of life on Jessica’s parents farm in Iowa. We will see them in a couple of months as we drive through “The Middle”.
Day 37 Sun 05/14
I got a phone call from Dad this morning that Granddaddy passed away last night at 9:30. They were with him when he took his last breath, and were relieved that he was no longer in pain and that he was with MeMe in Heaven now. I must say I was relieved too. He was not eating and was sleeping all the time so it was only a matter of time before his body let go. I had a hard time imagining being in that state or having to see someone in that state. I found comfort in the timing as he could finally say Happy Mother’s Day to MeMe again in Heaven. Kristi offered to fly me down for the funeral with miles, but after much deliberation, I decided not to go to funeral…I said my goodbyes last weekend on the phone and didn’t need closure from the funeral. John and I had discussed the options before he passed and basically felt the same way. One of the last things Granddaddy said to me last Sunday was that he wanted John and I to enjoy our time very much…normally that is a pretty standard thing to say to someone embarking on a journey, but we tend to find deeper meaning in last words…the word “enjoy” is used to urge someone to delight in or take pleasure in what is being offered or is about to happen…to appreciate, to savor…so for me it was a bit more profound. I have always thought to enjoy is a choice, for me sometimes not an easy one…but I think I have realized it is actually a gift not to be taken for granted…To rejoice even. We tried to watch the Metro Church live sermon online through the Walmart Wi-Fi but it was not strong enough so we will catch it on YouTube the next time we have good Wi-Fi. We called our Moms for Mothers Day. We chatted a bit about Granddaddy and in general end of life and our own selfish desires vs what is best for comfort of those letting go. I wonder if I would want to go quickly or allow others to prepare for my death? I think I would prefer to be able to prepare for other’s death but hate to think about them being in that state of in and out of the spiritual realm…Not something we think about often or even have a choice in really but a hard reality anyway. We took it easy today and drove towards St John and took a walk on the New River Beach Provincial Park. We found a ton of sand dollars in various states of their lifecycle and enjoyed the crisp Bay of Fundy air. After the beach, we drove to Reversing Falls but they were not reversing because of the tides. Typically the direction of the falls reverses depending on which way the tide is going. We ate left over soup for lunch, next stop you guessed it, Walmart…John made salmon for dinner, and it was simple and delicious… I decided that he can make dinner for the rest of our lives and he enlightened me why his meals are so good… “because he makes it with love and passion and mine are usually made with stress and forced perfection”…”You will like this ½ cup exactly of XYZ!” We decided my baking is made with love and passion and that is why it is good. So true…you can literally taste the effects of striving for perfection that falls flat every time if it isn’t true to your passions and filled with true love…After dinner I talked to Dad and Kristi about my feelings about the funeral and made the final decision to not go back to the states for the funeral. We were in for a very rainy very windy night.
So far Canada has been very friendly and welcoming, and even though we have only seen a small portion of the vastness it has to offer it has not been short on life lessons. This week we were reminded how one person can make a profound impact on their community wherever they are no matter however long they are there, and that perseverance is the key even if it is not for you to reap the harvest, but for others who come after you or who are left behind…And, the sun will come out tomorrow!
This map below indicates our route this week from Acadia National Park in Maine to St John New Brunswick Canada.
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