All is Well in Wells, Maine

Well, here we are in Wells, Maine. Rugosa roses are blooming everywhere! Even in the sand!

Moody Beach Thousand Trails RV park  Highs: 60's, lows- 50's

Site: 308, back in, front section of the park. ATT--inconsistent, T-Mobile very good signal

We are settled in Wells...The Thousand Trails Moody Beach RV park is a very nice park. The front section closest to the road has two newer parts, they have the best and most level gravel sites to choose from, but there is no shade. That being said, the first site we tried, had a deceptive severe slope that was not easily visible and the gravel hid it well. We were not able to get level and have all four tires on the ground on the RV so we had to hook back up and move and unhook once again at the next site over. 

Wooded sites

If you want to be brave and head for the woods and nice shade, smaller travel trailers and RVs can fit just fine in between the trees. It's a lot tougher for a rig bigger than 40 foot like us to fit in the wooded section. We have done it, but it's no fun backing in. The interior roads/lanes between the sites in the woods are very poor, with potholes and random big rocks jutting out. C'mon Thousand Trails, please fix your interior campground roads! At least grade them and fill in the potholes till the next rainstorm.

The park has a very nice pool and decent laundry facilities, with a couple of really nice playgrounds and a nice basketball court for the kids. Unfortunately, people sometimes use the basketball court for a doggie meet and greet/dog park, because the park doesn't have one. Separate from the RV park, out front, is a big miniature golf course with go carts. It's super popular. Highway 1 is the main highway leading past the park that passes thru several small tourist towns (Ogunquit for one), and it is a nightmare to try and get out on it much of the day to go anywhere. Even on a bike, there is only a narrow shoulder for bikes to ride on on one side of the road. Lots and lots of restaurants to choose from. The Maine Diner, Hobbs Harborside, the Omelet Factory, and the Egg and I, are some that we have tried and liked. Right next to the Hobbs is a cool dock and pier. 

Murals and sailor knots tying practice are there, along with a cool buoy tree!

There is a nice bike trail which is a little drive, in Kennebunk, right behind Kennebunk Elementary School. It's called the Eastern Greenway. It eventually will go all the way from South Portland, Maine, to Key West, FL. The trailhead behind the school is about an 11 mile drive from the RV park. Take a left on the trail behind the school to start out on a shady trail. If you take a right, you hit on road riding almost right away. However, you can only go about 5 miles on the shady trail before having to cross a major highway at a light to pick the trail up again on the other side of the highway in Saco. Then there is more on road riding through a very nice neighborhood for a bit, then Sparky lost the trail. Eventually, you can ride to Bug Light Lighthouse in South Portland if you don't mind portions of on road riding. Sparky has not tried it because of all the on road riding. She'd like to go to the lighthouse at some point, because she loves lighthouses, but she needs better navigation tools at this point. Bug Light is modeled on an ancient Greek monument.  It was dubbed "Bug Light" due to its small size. There is also a lighthouse tour out of Portland that might interest some.

Back to the beach! Walking to Moody Beach is probably the easiest way to get there from the Thousand Trails RV park, as parking is limited and only along certain stretches of the public beach lands. You walk along a street (Bourne) to get to the beach, along a narrow shoulder. Cars appear to be respectful of all the beach goers. Along the way, you pass through the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on both sides of the roadway. During certain times of the day, when the tide is in, you can rent a paddle board and paddle through the marshes.

Once you get to the beach, Moody Beach, the walk is wonderful. The entry way onto the beach is so beautiful with the rugosa roses starting to bloom and the blue sand mat just makes the colors pop.

The beach mansions along the shoreline are huge, the beach expansive. Sparky's favorite house has the only weather/wind vane on the beach. She calls it "The Lady of the Sea."

The beach is not usually crowded except for the holiday weekends. The water at the beach is currently very cold so few swimmers were in the water this past Memorial Day weekend. It was 50 degrees! When you look up the temperature, it says, Moody Beach Temperature and Wetsuit Guide, haha. That's a big clue! Here is the rest of the house...Isn't it a beauty!?

The cold water doesn't seem to deter the piping plovers, which are currently in a protected nesting season at the beach. They were out feeding the day Sparky went walking. Nesting season is April 1-August 31, similar to turtle season in Florida. Fences and signs are put up to protect the grassy nesting areas. They move so fast along the beach it's hard to get a photo!

We will be here another week, then off to Bar Harbor! Sparky is looking forward to visiting her brother in Bedford, MA this coming weekend. If the weather holds, we are going to bike ride some beautiful areas where he is and get some serious biking miles in.We will see you on the road, down the road.....