Maine-ly About Maine....

Wells, Maine.   High: 81, Low 67 Site #309 out in the open, AT&T not good, texts don't always go through, dropped calls...T-Mobile wifi not much better.

We are winding down our time in Maine, we leave in ten days. Eldy took another train trip to Elkhart on the Amtrak to get some preliminary eye doctor work done in preparation for cataract surgery, staying with his son and family for a few days and Sparky stayed at the RV park to take some last side trips to iconic Maine destinations nearby.

Eldy REALLY loves train travel. His trip to Elkhart was a total of 19 hours. He took Amtrak from Wells to Boston, then from Boston to Elkhart and back for the return trip, too. He loved it, even sleeping in the regular train car. The seats have footrests and recline way back so he was able to sleep. Eldy likes to watch the train cams often in different parts of the country, particularly Elkhart, as it is one of the larger train hubs in the nation. We've heard it's the third largest in the country. He's always amazed at how many Amish get on the train in Elkhart, but no surprise there, there's a large Amish community nearby in Goshen and Shipshewanna.

Old Orchard Beach

Meanwhile, Sparky got up at 5:00 A.M. one morning to head out to Old Orchard Beach, about a 30 minute drive from the campground. She had seen some beautiful shots of the iconic Old Orchard Beach pier. Hers are not as pretty as a lot of them out there, but it was cool to see it and get some photos just the same. It's a popular destination spot for engagement photos. The 500 ft. pier seems to be entirely closed in which is too bad because it's nice to be able to walk out on a pier farther out, watch the ocean, feel the breeze on your face and smell the ocean smells and maybe see a big fish or a dolphin.  The pier is old school timber architecture and really showing its age. It looks a bit dilapidated and reviews have said the inside is dark and dingy with just a few shops open. It must have been quite the destination in its day. It was originally built in  1898 out of steel and had a casino with a ballroom at the end of the pier! The ballroom is gone now, but there used to be big swing bands and famous jazz players who came to play there.

The town itself is a throwback to the 1960's with a big amusement park right in front of the ocean. It has a vintage roller coaster and the park opens at 4:00 PM in the summer. Head to the beach for the day, then head over to the park for carnival amusement at night.

under the pier, cool timber structure

Speaking of the beach, it's about 7 miles long..It covers three towns--Scarborough, Old Orchard and Saco. The beach right by the amusement park in Old Orchard was extremely dirty with litter near the pier. Ugly litter---lots of pop bottles, water bottles, drink cups, trash. There were trash bins available along the beach, not that far at all to walk over and deposit your trash -- but people just left their litter behind on the sand. Apparently, drinking booze is overlooked as long as people are not flaunting actual bottles. Sparky saw shot glasses at the beach in the sand! She picked up some large litter and could have filled a garbage bag within a few yards of walking the sand. So sad.

Back at the park, Sparky put up a hummingbird feeder and oh, boy, did the hummers come! We think previous site renters had bird feeders. There was an abundance of bird seed all over our grassy plot next to the site. Hard to pick the best hummer photos, but here are a couple....

hummer photobomb!

Another iconic Maine destination is Portland and the lighthouses in the area. Sparky signed up for a 5 lighthouse biking tour in Portland, kinda pricey for 129.00 per person. FIVE lighthouses, an EXTRA LARGE lobster roll lunch, for about 14 miles of bike riding, a narrated tour with a guide and a maximum group of eight cyclers at a time, with Trek bikes/helmets provided. This was booked directly thru Summer Feet Cycling in Portland. If you should accidentally see this tour offered thru Trip Advisor, they charge a lot more--fourteen dollars more! Book directly thru the bike shop. They appreciate that!

Sparky will tell you right now that 1. There is elevation involved going up and over the Casco Bay Bridge and on the return trip an even steeper climb, plus some hilly areas along the way, but nothing that most people in average shape cannot handle, 2. The bike seats are HARD, the bikes are Trek FX bikes with rough handling gear changes and lower handlebars, and NO step through style. Several people, including Sparky, had trouble swinging their leg over the mid bar and the saddlebag provided on the back. She had to lay the bike down on its side to get on it, lol.  3.There is a lot of on street riding. During the early morning start of the tour,  not a problem, coming back, very congested car traffic and you are riding along very close to the cars along some cobblestone street areas once you get back to town. The trip starts in Portland's Old Port district, over the Casco Bay Bridge, thru Ferry Village, then on to Bug Light, the first lighthouse which marks the entrance to the Portland break water. It's a shrimpy little lighthouse, so that's how it got its cute name. At this stopping point, we learned a little bit about Portland. It has burned completely to the ground FOUR times. After the 4th fire, a law was passed that all structures had to be built from brick, and after that, no more fires! Most of the buildings are brick in Portland and you can see a lot of them lining the waterfront. Portland was also a big rum district back in the day and there was an interesting story about how the mayor tried to confiscate, stockpile and stash away the locals' rum in his basement when prohibition came. The townspeople found out about it and all hell broke loose. They got their rum back. 

Bug Light

Liberty memorial/kiosk

After Bug Light Lighthouse, we stopped at an interesting looking ship formation. This memorial kiosk covered the history of the Liberty ships built during WWII. Lots of great information about the ships. Sparky learned a lot about these war ships through the kiosk. Liberty ships were designed as merchant cargo ships during WWII to be built as fast as possible under the Emergency Ship Building Program under President Roosevelt and welded rather than riveted. You've heard of Rosie the Riveter? Well, the South Portland shipyard, one of the ports where the ships were built, had Wendy the Welder. Women entered the workforce during that time in record numbers as the men were entering the war. The average time to build the ship from start to finish was 52.5 days. The shipbuilders worked seven days a week, 365 days a year in three shifts. The ships were welded instead of riveted and sections prefabricated, numbered and partially assembled with sequence and position for assembly to save time.  Some of the ships experienced cracks and fracture failures before ever seeing service, but they were still a valuable asset to help the Allies win the war. They were able to build these slow (11 knots per hour) but necessary cargo ships faster than the German U-boats could sink them! The ships had to endure, monsoons, typhoons, bombs, mines and icebergs, but helped the Allies maintain their supply lines. Two hundred sixty-six ships were built in Portland. And think of the winters back then! Temperatures in Maine fell between 10-30 degrees below zero back then! Out of 2,700 Liberty ships built, only 200 were lost. Eventually, the Liberty ships were thought too small and too slow, so another line of ships took its place, the Victory ships.

Before losing lens cap

Continuing on, a ride to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. This lighthouse is on a long breakwater ledge on the Southern Maine Community College campus. This lighthouse was twice the size of Bug Light but still small. You had to walk a VERY large boulder path with deep crevices and rock hop from one boulder to the next to get out to the lighthouse. Sparky lost her lens cap down a crevice there. (Good thing she didn't drop her keys! exclaims Eldo.) Sparky panicked for a second when she heard that CLINK, as the cap hit the rocks below. But thankfully, she had placed the truck keys deep inside her fanny pack. Whew! 

The boulder walk to the lighthouse was a little nerve wracking, you really had to practice "mindfulness". Apparently, Sparky didn't as she lost her lens cap, but at least she kept her feet from getting stuck in a crevice.

Fort Preble, a 19th century fort, had very little left of it's structure, but if you used your imagination, you could envision the troops guarding the waterfront. Sparky missed a little of the history as she just HAD to get this photo of a schooner passing by through one of the sentry ports.....

On to Shore Road, Portland's wealthy district of ship owner homes. Sparky was too busy watching street traffic and avoiding potholes or possible damaged pavement to see the houses along the way. Next lighthouse, Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse. It was very cloudy at that point so it was tough to get a decent photo. Actually, it was too foggy and dreary to get one at all. So here is one from the internet.

Some doctor bought it recently, for $95,000. Sounds like a bargain, really! We don't know if he was going to live in it or rent it out for an Air BNB, haha.

Next, a stop at Portland Head Light. It is the MOST photographed lighthouse in America. It's a classic and so beautiful. The sun came out for this shot!

Portland Light before the sun came out

We ate lunch there from a local food truck. It was very good! Sparky could have gotten a lobster roll, but settled for a caprese sandwich on ciabatta bread. It was delicious! There were three kinds of lobster rolls you could have ordered and an assortment of Maine crafted soda drinks, blueberry soda, or Moxie--a sort of sharp, bitter root beer, Dr. Peppery type of drink. It's the official soft drink of Maine, but Sparky opted for her drink of choice--Coke. The bees and wasps invaded our picnic, but we held them off. We took a few more photos of the Portland Head Lighthouse...The lighthouse tower is only open one day a year on Maine Open Lighthouse Day and only a limited number of tickets are sold for people to be able to go in...288? Something like that. Sort of like the lottery!

Silly me at Portland Light

We spent about 20 minutes at Portland Light, the last lighthouse and then it was time to head back. First, a group shot....Sparky thinks she was the oldest in the group.

We headed straight back to the waterfront where we first started. The total bike riding time, actually on the trail (the Eastern Bike Trail-a rails to trails which was a nicely paved portion), and streets, was about 2.5 hours, and the mileage was a little over 14 miles. The total time of the tour was 4.5 hours.

Is this a really good bike tour? Sparky would say, and this is just her humble opinion, it was just all right. It was a little too expensive for a tour like that, and the information and history given was very short and sweet. The bikes were just OK. There was a lot more street riding and although the group was cautioned about safety rules, it was a little nerve wracking to be on city streets during prime traffic time on our way back. If you go on one of these bike tours and you are in the middle to the last part of the bike "train", please remember to STOP for red lights. The rest of the group WILL wait for you to catch up. Sparky witnessed a VERY angry driver who waited for several bikes to pass through in front of him while he had the green light. Another caveat: the bikes had NO reflective rear light on the back. NONE. There really needs to be reflective lights on bikes for street riding. Even better, flashing red lights on the back for as much on road riding as we did. Sparky wished she would have asked if you can bring your own bike. It would have been great to have a little more information or history to the tour for the price. What was nice is that we were able to explore for a few minutes on our own at each stop, but there wasn't enough time to explore the museum at Portland Head AND get photos. Sparky did enjoy having enough time to explore on her own and look for photography shots. It's great when you are an avid photographer and want to get that perfect shot, like this schooner shot through a sentry hole (?) at Fort Preble. 

The other drawback was the pace. When you lead a tour like that, you have to watch and pace the entire group based on your slowest rider. We averaged 6-7 mph, and later, the group requested a little faster pace. The group was on average, a younger group, so everybody appreciated the pickup of the pace later on. For some, slower is better....but Sparky appreciated the quicker pace. If you do do the tour, street parking is limited nearby, but there's a city lot for 15.00 a day or less. Other than that, we had a really nice college student for a guide and she was knowledgeable and took good care of the group. This was just one of several bike tours offered in Portland.

There are also so many cool towns nearby Wells. There are resort towns and beach towns all along the coast of Maine, of course. Resort towns seem to attract the wealthy and have pricey restaurants, big mansions, pricey food and accommodations and big yachts, haha. Beach towns attract a different crowd and seem to have more reasonable prices for dining and activities. Old Orchard is a beach town. Beautiful Kennebunkport, a short distance to drive, is a resort town, and is the summer home to the former Bush presidents. You can view the compound from across the harbor. There is also a VERY upscale fantastic restaurant there called Cape Arundel Inn. We had a terrific birthday dinner there last year which was a birthday present from Sparky's brother, Rich. You can see the Bush compound from the restaurant windows while you dine. Kennebunk, another fishing/harbor town, right next to Kennebunkport, is a beautiful little town to visit. The flowers and landscaping are AMAZING in the summer. 

Both towns offer amazing dining experiences, lobster boat tours, and plenty of tourist shopping. Both of them are extremely popular tourist towns in the summer. AND--Kennebunk has the Eastern Bike Trail which you can hop on behind Kennebunk Elementary School. There is an information kiosk to the side of the school at the spur entrance to the trail and plenty of parking for both the school and cyclers. Just park as far to the side of the school as you can, away from the entrances to be courteous. Sparky has seen SASQUATCH on the trail! Really!

Check out the footprint in case you don't believe....haha...

Ogunquit is another little town (pop. 1,000) that swells in the summertime, on Highway 1, south of Wells. It has the popular mile and a quarter long walk (one way) along the harbor called Marginal Way with 39 benches to stop and sit and watch the waves crash onto the cliffs and shore. 

There is also Perkins Cove, a terrific little village with shops, restaurants and galleries to explore inside of Ogunquit right where the Marginal Way walkway begins. 

Perkins Cove

a restaurant at Perkins Cove

Barnacle Billy's is the top rated restaurant in Ogunquit. They are Maine-ly known (haha) for their lobster dishes, but of course! Sparky rode her bike down to Ogunquit and the Marginal Way for one last look today. There are several entrances where you can pick up the trail. Sparky took the entrance in Perkins Cove, one end of the trail. She locked her bike at the wharf and then walked the seaside trail and back. 

It's right around a mile one way and there are a few ups and downs on the paved trail. 

You pass by stately homes on your left and the ocean constantly on your right. You might even pass by an artist on your walk.

Swimming in this part of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean is not for the faint of heart. Water temperature today was 68 degrees. You can't say you haven't been warned!

You also pass by several rocky cliff beaches that look amazing. Check out where the lifeguard sits for one of the beaches. Actually, there are a few swimmers off to her left, and to the right of her.

It would be difficult for a person in a wheelchair to navigate Marginal Way as parts of the path are extremely narrow and a little steep here and there, but it can be done. The scenery is fantastic.

Riding her way back through Ogunquit from the Marginal Way (no bikes allowed on the walkway), Sparky was passed by a twenty-something young man on a banana bike flying by. (Remember those?) He calls out to Sparky, "Let's get a movin', grandma!" as she is huffing and puffing up a hill in first gear. She grins and says, "I'm a workin' it. I'm a workin' it!" She gains momentum, he starts slowing down because his bike doesn't have any gears. By the time she gets to the top of the hill, she passes HIM by, really rollin' now, he's about dead in the water and had run out of steam and she calls out, "Time to pick up the pace there, dude!" She laughs as she flies by him, he laughs.....and off she goes....

By the way, there are TWENTY-SEVEN lighthouses in the downeast Maine region, the gold area on the map. That's home to more lighthouses than all of the rest of Maine combined. Lots of day trip possibilities if you come to downeast Maine. 

Our current location, Wells, Maine is 137 miles southwest of Acadia and is not considered to be in the Downeast Region, but there so many things to do and see in this area as well! We stayed in the coastal region of Maine all summer and just barely scratched the surface to capture all the beauty, the nature, the hikes, the shopping and dining- it's mind boggling! Not to mention the Amtrak to Boston trips under two hours if you want to take in a baseball game or visit all the cool historic sites in Boston. Wish we had been able to head way north, but no membership parks up there, just moose, maybe, and rustic campgrounds. For anyone wanting to see moose, you have to get farther north, think Baxter State Park area and Moosehead Lake, wa-a-a-y up north. Amazing nature of a different kind up in northern Maine--it's much less populated--lakes and forests, the Appalachian Trail, moose, and much much more.

And there you have it, folks....We are leaving Maine this week and headed west--Hershey, Pennsylvania, here we come! We will miss our nice friends who we have met during the summer for the second year in a row....Bob and Paula, and our friends that we met in Batesville, IN, are here...Donna and Ken. It's wonderful to know that when you are RVing, there's a very good chance you will see friends again that you've met down the road, and we do!

Thank you for following and reading along with us. We love sharing our travels! And Sparky likes writing the blog so she can remember stuff, because a year from now, she will say, "How long was that bike trail in Kennebunk?" Or, "What company did we book that lighthouse tour with?" Things like that....(She really means, "What is the name of that restaurant just down the street from the park that we liked so much for breakfast?" and "How long did it take to get to Joann Fabrics from Wells?" laughs Eldo.) Ummmm, yeah...OK.....guilty as charged...

See you down the road!

Painted Lady Butterfly in Kennebunk on the flowers

Joining the Fenway Fan Frenzied Fanatics!

Moody Beach Thousand Trails, site #309. Highs: high 70's-'80's, lows-high 50's-60's. AT&T cell: can't even find a server to run a speed test. T-Mobile wifi: 6.95 download, 0.45 upload. That's terrible! 

last visit to Schoodic Peninsula and Acadia NP 2022

We left the Acadia National Park area and all the wonders it has to offer this week. Sparky is sad to leave, but more adventures are coming that's for sure. And, we might even return next summer for the awesome temperatures we had for 85% of the time we were here, over 14 weeks in Maine!

Rachel Carson Wildlife Preserve on the walk to the beach

We landed back at Thousand Trails Moody Beach, actually in Wells, Maine, but the post office across the street from the park says it's Moody, Maine. We settled in quickly after a funky start with the neighbors behind us. A guy came over to say hi and proceeded to let his dog run loose all over our lot while we were in the middle of trying to unhook. (A big no-no in 99% of campgrounds, dogs are supposed to be on leash even at your site.) The dog promptly said hello by pissing on our electrical and water post and the owner said nothing. Sparky hadn't even hooked up the water yet. UGH! On a brighter note, we met a super nice family on the other side, the Young family, and boy, are they young! With three young children, they are full timing and loving it. We love seeing their family at dinner at regular hours at the picnic table every night. Great kids and kudos to them for taking their family on the road for some amazing experiences. (Twins at one end of the table!) Can't imagine all the stuff and supplies needed to store to take a family on the road full time, but they do it! The kids were adorable and the parents super nice. It's always wonderful when RVing to meet new people on the road and hear their experiences and the why's and how's of how they came to be traveling.

Sparky got back into her routine of riding the Eastern Trail, a really nice ride out behind Kennebunk Elementary School. It's shady for 4.9 miles so Sparky will often do a double loop to stay in the dappled forest shade. If you don't mind riding out on city streets, the trail goes much further but cuts back and forth between nice rail bed trail and city streets in New England towns along the way to Bug Light lighthouse if you are heading northeast on the trail and want to get a lot more miles in.

Two days after we arrived, there was a "woody" car show right down the street. Sparky was waxing nostalgia, as when she was a toddler, she went to preschool a few days a week so her mom, (mother of five children) could get a little rest. Sparky was picked up with her siblings in none other than probably a Chevy woody station wagon, most likely a model in the late '40's. So she went and checked them out. The cars were very cool and classy! WOW! This one was a 1946 Ford. It looked a LOT like the car Sparky remembered getting picked up in for preschool back in the early fifties.

Loved some of the hood ornaments....

Such a classic era....A used 1950 Ford Country Squire woody station wagon in the day cost 1695.00.

Sparky thought this guy (below) REALLY dug his wheels....He had a hard time getting out of his car, and joked that he probably wouldn't be doing it much longer. He had Great Race stickers all over his car and the current one for this year. Sparky didn't get a chance to talk to him, but the Great Race is a really cool car rally involving antique cars. It's been going on for 39 years and has made its way through 46 of the 48 states. This year was a 9 day, 2,300 mile car rally of sorts, not really a race but a time, distance and speed rally. The vintage cars date back to 1916. The drivers and navigators get precise instructions each day that detail every move down to the second. They are scored at secret checkpoints along the way. Cars start and finish one minute apart if all goes well. This year the race started in June in Rhode Island, and finished in Fargo, Minnesota. The challenge is just to get these old cars to the final destination each day. We bet this guy had stories to tell. Wish we could have talked to him!

Historical Boston's Fenway Park

Three days after arriving in Wells, Sparky's brother Rich took us to a Boston Red Sox baseball game. Wow! What a treat! We rode Amtrak into Woburn, MA where Rich picked us up and had a short drive into Boston to go to Fenway Park, "America's most beloved baseball park." It is also the smallest MLB park and is irregularly shaped due to Boston's famous crooked streets. (or so "they" say....) It is even on the National Register of Historic Places. 

We parked at the Harvard Club (Rich is an alum) and had a quick bite to eat. Once we arrived at the park, our seats were behind home plate up high in the grandstands and had a wonderful view of the whole field, but not so much the scoreboards and the high fly balls. The scoreboard at Fenway is MANUALLY scored. Remember seeing the score boxes removed by hand as the score changes and the replacement score put into place? Fenway still does that. If a player hits the ball thru the hole in the score box while the score is being changed, the batter is automatically rewarded a "ground double".

Fenway is steeped in tradition. It is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium, built in 1912 and redone in 1934 and has had upgrades and renovations over the years. Because of its age and physical constraints to how it was built where it was located, it has some quirky features like the Green Monster, the Lone Red Seat, the "Triangle", Pesky's Pole, the Fisk Pole, PLUS-crowd song traditions--"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond, which is sung at every game and has quite the story behind it. More about that in a minute.

The Green Monster is a painted wall with the scoreboard that is about 315 feet from home plate. Sparky expected a monster face to be illustrated on it, but nope! Just a wall, but it is THE left field wall at 37.167 feet  high which is one of the highest walls in MLB. It's a challenge to hit a home run over that wall and a psychological challenge as well, but it benefits right handed hitters as it is a shorter distance from home plate than most other baseball parks. Supposedly, the story goes that the Red Sox owner at the time noticed all the bars and restaurants near the park had an unobstructed view of the park, so he ordered construction of the wall the keep people from getting a free look at the game. The inside of the wall has hundreds of signatures from current and former baseball players. Tradition says if it's the first time for you to play at Fenway, you gotta sign your name on the wall.

The Lone Red Seat in section 42, row 37, seat 21 designates the longest home run ever hit at Fenway, by Ted Williams in 1946, at a distance of 502 feet. His record still stands, but there have been some contenders to that record.

The Fisk Pole, is the left field foul pole named after Carlton Fisk, who hit a game winning home run in Game 6 of the World Series, that stayed fair and bounced off the pole. 

The Pesky Pole is the right field foul pole named after Johnny Pesky, who was never known for home run hitting, but one day hit a home run that struck off the foul pole.

The "Triangle" is every center field fly catcher's nightmare at Fenway. It's the deepest part of Fenway, at 420 feet from home plate. A ball that lands safely in that area will usually ensure a triple. If it bounces badly, the hitter might even get a home run out of it.

guy in green proposing

The game was a close one, and an interesting one with some funky plays...."What the heck was that all about???!!!" but some of the best parts are the people watching, too! Rich and Sparky went to get a drink, and on the way back to our seats, we saw out of the corner of our eye a guy down on one knee, proposing to his girlfriend. At that moment, the stadium played, "Hey, Baby, Would You Be My Girl?".....Over 36,000 voices chimed in roaring that song. It was great! Of course, she said yes. Can't imagine anyone NOT saying yes in that moment in front of all the fans while you are being shown on the Jumbotron! Update: A woman actually said "no", in 2017, much to the embarrassment of her boyfriend at the time and they were caught on camera arguing. Oh, dear!

Then, in the middle of the eighth inning, here comes another Fenway tradition. A little background maestro, please.....In 1997, an employee played Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" in honor of someone she knew that just had a baby and named it Caroline. Of course the crowd sang along, and it was played off and on as a "feel good" motivational song over several years. Along came a new manager of the ball park, and he decided it should be played every game as the crowd response was always strong and seemed to rally them into more positive spirits whenever it played. In 2002, it started being played at every single game. For years, fans wanted Neil Diamond to come and actually sing it. In 2010 he did and again, in 2013, shortly after the Boston bombing, he came and rallied the crowd, donating his royalties to charity. The fans now belt out Sweet Caroline every game in the middle of the eighth inning. So good, so good!

It was hard to describe the emotions that rolled through the crowd during this song. EVERYBODY sings it and with an almost sell out crowd last night for the Red Sox/Yankees game, we all sang our hearts out..."SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!" and "BAH, BAH, BAH!" If you don't know that song, check it out and also the "Hey, Baby, Would You Be My Girl" originally sung by Bruce Channel-it's on Youtube.

Rich and Sparky

Even though the Red Sox lost, 3-2, we had a fabulous time. Such a unique experience and so wonderful to get to see some baseball history up close and personal. And of course, Sparky was so happy to see her middle brother, Rich and his wife, Lisa. Thanks, guys, for a memorable trip!

We headed back on the AMTRAK 11:30 PM train to Brunswick, arriving at 1:20 AM in Wells, very tired happy campers, er, fans....(On game days the 10:30 PM train out of Boston back to Maine bumps the time an hour later to 11:30 to accommodate ball game attendees to head back home). So nice of Amtrak to do that! Very happy with all the times we have ridden Amtrak to Boston this summer. Very few delays, really nice conductors coming and going. We will say that stops are NOT announced consistently. Some trips they told us every stop, other trips you either had to ask or keep a sharp eye out for the station. If you were to take a nap, you snooze, you lose! Maybe.

beautiful sand patterns

Other than walks to the beach (30 min. from the campground) we plan on just taking it easy, tending to minor chores around the RV, more bike rides on the trail, and MAYBE one last train ride to Boston as we love visiting there so much. The Wells area is almost completely a beach town destination and a foodie destination for all things seafood. It really is a great little town and a great location for exploring Boston utilizing the Amtrak out of Wells. Hope you enjoyed hearing a little more about historical Fenway Park. It was a wonderful experience and you can do tours there, either in person or virtual. 

As we count down our stay here in Maine, we are thinking and planning our drive out of Maine, towards Ohio and Indiana.  A week and a half to go and off we will go, heading in new directions and adventures....Bye for now......

Electricity is Really Just Organized Lightning-Really?

Current location: Trenton, ME.   High: 86,  Low: 63 AT &T terrible, T-Mobile mi-fi so-so. We use the Speed Test app to determine what kind of internet service we will have once we get there. Here at the park: T-Mobile upload 24.7, download .6.  AT&T--upload 0.00, download is 0.87. That tells you AT&T sucks for internet!

Sparky would love to say that the hitch up leaving Wells, Maine for two days at Trenton at Timberland Acres RV Park was wildly successful and non-eventful, which was 98% true, except for one thing.

We got to our two day stay at Timberland Acres RV park, ready to plug our RV into electric power and Eldo says, "Where's the surge protector?" He usually picks up the hefty surge protector and puts it away after Sparky has detached it from the electrical post and wound the big thick electric cord onto the cord reel inside the rig. In all fairness, sometimes Sparky picks up the surge protector and puts it in the bay. She had laid it on the ground next to the water pump, thinking either he will pick it up or she would pick it up later. He missed it, Sparky got distracted, she missed it, and we left the $400.00+ surge protector BACK at the previous campground. This is bad news, if you care at all about all the electronics in your rig. This day and age, with aging electrical wiring at older campgrounds, you are REALLY taking a chance by just directly plugging your RV electrical cord into the campground electrical outlet post. You can get power surges through the lines, or in our case, just a few days ago, low voltage problems either of which can cause damage to the electronics in the RV possibly or shut down service to the RV. And there's always a possibility that lightning in the area can strike close by and fry things inside your rig through surges or direct hits. It has happened plenty of times to RVers. So in the two times we have been out on the road full timing, we have ALWAYS had a surge protector in place at the campground post hookup. 

Two campgrounds ago, our surge protector kept tripping and shutting our electric supply down. It turns out there was a bad breaker at the post. So it's great insurance. Thus, a great concern when we don't have it to plug in. Luckily, Sparky called the campground and they had it and will hold it for us. Whew! Someone could have easily decided to keep it and say nothing. Should we drive back to the campground which was about 300 miles away and go get it right away? Should we wait a whole week til we return to that same campground and retrieve it then? We did neither. We were just too nervous about not having that electrical protection on the line.

Off we went to a nearby town of Holden, Maine to a Jayco dealer and they had a surge protector that was at a much better price, with a multitude of new features AND an app that lets you see the monitoring of the electric lines coming into the rig and how many amps you are using. It also monitors the park electrical supply and will shut off power to your RV if problems are detected.  Here is what we got:

Here is a sample readout on the app:

When Eldo makes his coffee in the morning, he can see the amps jump up...that coffee pot uses 12 AMPS. That's BIG electrical usage. (But worth it! claims Eldo.) The coffee pot uses almost as much as a running AC in the rig! You don't have to keep an eye on your amp usage at campground if you have 50 amp service at your site, no problem. Plenty of juice to run things. But-sometimes the circuitry in the RV will trip a circuit breaker if two main appliances are in use at the same time even with 50 amp power supply. If you are on 30 amp service, which we have had to use upon occasion because a 50 amp site was not available, then you really have to be knowledgeable about what appliances use how many amps and what you have running at any given time. They add up fast! Campgrounds will sometimes give you a list sort of like this one, so you don't "blow up" your breakers! (The second set of numbers are the amps for the appliance.) This is just a very short list.

What's cool about this surge protector besides giving Eldo more facts and figures he ever wanted to know about electrical power in the rig, is that it has a white bulldog face on the post if everything is ok. Plug it in, turn the switches on inside the box. White face? A-OK. If it turns red, it then displays codes on the protector box and Eldo can look them up on his app and know exactly what's wrong with the electricity so we can report a specific problem to the campground. One time we had a campground maintenance guy tell us  that our old surge protector was going bad. So Sparky went and tested the surge protector on three other unoccupied sites to prove there was nothing wrong with the surge protector. It's a bad breaker in your campground box, buddy.

AND one more great thing. If lightning ever strikes a surge protector or lightning surges through the power lines and your surge protector at a campground, usually it's toast. You have to buy an entire new one. Big bucks. Not the Power Watchdog protector. It has a circuitry module board inside and you can replace it for about 30-40 dollars.  We are back online with the new surge protector in place. We will save the old one which still works, as a back up.

We spent two days at a new-to-us campground near Bar Harbor, because we couldn't get into the Narrows Too Campground or add any more days on the end of our stay at the Narrows (which is a free stay with our campground membership). There are only a very few allotted sites for members so even though the park can seem to be empty, they are not allowed to place a Thousand Trails member in any other site that could be available. So far we have not had a problem getting sites with our booking window of 180 days out, but we have a hard time understanding why, is space is available, that we can't stay longer. Can't fuss too much about that, because by staying in membership parks all summer long up here in Maine, our estimates are we have saved at least $5,000 in camping fees by using our Thousand Trails membership. We will deal with the shortcomings of the program just to be able to be near the ocean and Acadia National Park all summer long. This is Sparky's last chance to ride the carriage roads and hike at Acadia! 

We stayed at the Timberland Acres RV Park...It was a reasonable 63.00 a night, for two nights, which is above our budget, but still quite a bargain to be so close to Acadia National Park in the peak summer month of August. Nice campground, nice pull through sites, although the pull throughs are out in the open, with no trees or shade of any kind. It's hot up here right now...high 80's, low 90's...and humid! Ugh...But not as hot as many parts of the lower U.S. They have lots of seasonal people staying at this park, but with over 300 sites, it's bigger than it looks when you pull in and they had room for us. 

Easy to maneuver around with a big rig. Sites are fairly close together, but so long in length, you can position your RV so it's not right next to your neighbor's window. We are so used to being assigned certain spots, we didn't ask for a different one, but there are nicer ones with more shade there.

And after two days, we headed 6 miles down the road to our last day in the Bar Harbor area at Narrows Too campground in Trenton. By the way, AT&T service on our phones is TERRIBLE! Dropped calls, cutting out badly. T-Mobile mifi is better for internet, but as far as trying to have regular conversations or texts with family on our AT&T phones, it's really problematic at this particular location in Trenton, ME. 

As we have said before, you can rent a big kayak at the Narrows Too Campground, but the tidal charts restrict heavily when and what time you can go so you don't end out on the mud flats! Sparky wanted to go today, the 7th, but the next available time for kayak rental due to tide issues was not till Aug. 11th! Weird!

We tried a Lobster Roll (a Maine tourist diet staple!) from the Lunts Lobster Pound today which is right directly across from the campground. It was delicious! Lobster roll offerings are everywhere at local lobster pounds every corner you turn. (A lobster pound is usually a small take out or eat in restaurant that serve all things lobster, clams and seafood. Here's another little one just down the road from the park. We haven't tried this one yet. But yum, lobster rolls are really really good! (And Sparky is NOT a lobster fan, says E.)

Another day, we ate at a great Mexican restaurant in Ellsworth, that we have found to be very good. Margaritas Mexican Restaurant in downtown Ellsworth, a short drive from the park. We highly recommend that one, too! Cool interior decor....

Downtown Bar Harbor wharf

On a particularly hot Sunday, Sparky decided to ride the free Island Explorer bus system, sponsored by L.L. Bean Company. The bus comes regularly to the campground, takes you the Village Green Center in the heart of Bar Harbor a 30 minute ride and from there you can pick up other buses to explore Acadia and Mount Desert Island. Good deal! So Sparky rode the bus into Bar Harbor and spent a couple of hours browsing and checking out the town, then headed back on the Island Explorer to our campground. Bar Harbor has LOTS of fun little tourist shops, and LOTS of ice cream shops, of course. This store's corner display had everything blueberries, even a "Blueberries for Sal" tee shirt. Great children's story, by the way....

Be prepared for sticker shock on some things, maine-ly food. (Haha, see what she did there?) Sparky got an average sized milkshake, and it was ten bucks! Downtown Bar Harbor has expanded shops at the wharf, adding restaurants, more tourist booking attractions and more lodging. It's really beautiful there. You can even walk out on a sand bar  from the wharf when the tide is out and cross over to an island. It was too hot today to do that, so Sparky didn't. BUT--watch out and be aware of the tides! Nobody is going to tell you when the tide comes in or out, so it's your responsibility to know when. Hmmmm...Sparky thinks it would be FUN to get stranded. But--is that 50.00 or 150.00 on the sign? Guess that makes it less fun....haha.

at the Bar Harbor Wharf

We will be here five days, then head back to Wells Thousand Trails Campground at Moody Beach for three more weeks, then we start heading west towards the midwest at the end of the month. Hope we didn't bore you too much with electrical stuff! But it's all a part of RVing especially as a full timer! See you down the road......