The start: Heading to Quebec

 

So we went to a new campground, Pumpkin Patch RV in Hermon, Maine.  It is the official start of the caravan.  There we met with our Wagonmaster, Conrad & Janet and our Tailgunner, Ron & Judy.  Since last year’s caravan Rita & I have been toying with the idea of becoming staff for Adventure Caravans in either a Wagonmaster or Tailgunner role.  So, this caravan will be an opportunity to see exactly what is involved.

So, we started with rig inspections.  Since this caravan is going into Canada and RV services can be few & far between all the motorcoaches & campers are checked for safety & durability.  We crawled underneath looking for loose nuts, bolts, straps & body parts.  We checked tires & suspension systems.  Looked for dents, scratches & broken glass.  We ensured that the rigs were up on their maintenance schedule and checked on spare filters, belts and tires.  If all was well we attached the bright yellow caravan sticker & their Rig Number  to the top corner both front & back, that will allow us to identify each other along the route.

Then once all 18 rigs were in the campground and inspected we had a meet & greet social in the evening to start explaining the rules & expectations of the caravan.  Day two we had a nice dinner to finalize the first day of travelling & make sure everyone was ready to leave.

Day three of the caravan is actually travelling!  Well first thing in the morning I joined Ron as he did the tire check.  Every travel day the Tailgunner thumps every tire of the caravan, RV’s, tow cars, trucks and campers, to check air pressure.  Then as the rigs were pulling out of the campground, we had them stop near us and we measured everyone, we need a total length of each unit for the ferry to & from Newfoundland you pay by the foot for the ferry.  Then once everyone left we practiced tailgunning.  Which means we stay back from all the caravanners and make sure no one breaks down and gets safely to the campground in Quebec.

The trip involved a 220-mile drive over nice two lane highways through northern Maine and crossing the border into Canada.  Fortunately, all our rigs got through with no issues.  The Canadian Border guards ask very direct questions about guns, alcohol and cannabis.  Like I said everyone got through unscathed except one.  Me…..  First how much alcohol?  Told him three or four bottles of personal use liquor.  Cannabis?  Nope.  The guard doesn’t ask if you have guns but where are your guns, “mine are home” he then asks are you sure???  Yep.  How about ammo, all at home then out of the blue, “do you have any knives??  Sure, I do, clipped on my belt.  Can I see it? He asks, Sure…..  I hand it over and as he tries to open it a remember….  This is the knife Jackie’s Gunny gave me the day before they deployed to Iraq.  It is a special edition “BenchMade” spring loaded knife.  And you guessed it, illegal in Canada.  “Sir please park your RV over on the side & come in.  CRAP!

Once inside we meet with a different officer.  This one was a little more friendly.  He knew the knife was special and commented that he did a deployment with the Canadian army to Afghanistan.  He commented right away that he figured I had a sentimental attachment to the knife & I explained the details to him.  He told us that the knife is illegal in Canada, but he could hold it at this border crossing for 90 days.  We couldn’t ship it home because we can’t take it to a shipping point and the option to take it back to the US was complicated.  So?  We opted to have him store it for us and we will probably go a little out of our way at the end of the caravan and retrieve it.

Back to CC and on our way again.  Oh yeah, Welcome to Canada!!!

The rest of the trip was easy peasy.  Well except for one odd thing.  In every province in Canada all road signs are in English & French except for one province, you guessed it, Quebec,  There EVERYTHING is only in French.  I mean kilometers instead of miles is ok, so, is liters instead of gallons.  But ARRETT instead of STOP.  Warning signs, hazard signs, special instructions all French.  When your driving  a rig totaling 65 feet trying to figure out where your going?  Interesting…. But we made it safely.

The Maine Event?

We have two campgrounds booked before we start our caravan up to the Canadian Maritimes.  First stop is a campground called Narrows Too, just out of Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor.  Our plan is to get some fresh seafood! So right after we get set up we head to a place recommended by some locals, Downeast Lobster Pound.  

So let me tell you what we figured out.  There are restaurants that are here for dinner, a bit pricey.  And there are places called "lobster pounds".  There you can buy raw or cooked seafood.  Many have casual dining, usually outdoors but some covered.  This one had open air covered dining, the upstairs was a separate bar that you can bring your food from the "pound" to eat. Not the fanciest looking place, but we're here to eat cheap lobster.

We both orderd a lobster dinner, it came with an ear of corn for $12.95.  Plus we ordered a clam chowder.  The bar offered local draft beers for a reasonable price.

First we picked our dinner, then send it to the kitchen. 

 End result?

Now all we had to do was remember how to eat this.  We weren’t the most proficient, but we did pretty well.  Add a quick trip to the restroom to clean up the mess from flying lobster bits and butter and we were HAPPY!

We have basically had seafood every day we were here.  We are fond of raw oysters and frequently share at least a dozen on the half shell when we are dining out.  Unfortunately, even here it can get pricey.  Until we discovered a local oyster farm.  We visited with the owner and after a few free samples and a quick lesson on shucking we bought a bag of fifty oysters and a shucking knife and headed home.

Rita made some dip and I started shucking, I actually got pretty good and we had a nice dinner of oysters.  The only problem is I didn’t think to take a picture or video so, dang it…..

The next couple of days were trips into Acadia National Park.  Once again we used our favorite national park app. Guide Along.  It explained the park & its history, telling us the perfect places to stop, view and to hike.  We did two days because the trip to the summit of Cadilac Mountain is by reservation and we wanted a crystal clear day to enjoy the views.

First stop was the Great Meadow.  A chance to hike a short trail to the beaver dam & lodge.  I had to stop once to relocate Rita in the tall grass.  It's pretty impressive that the beavers chewed these trees down from the distant wooded area and then floated or carried them to build both the damm & lodge.

We stopped at all the outlooks and enjoyed the day.  The stop at Sand Beach was interesting.  Its the only sand beach in the entire area, all the others are either rock outcroppings or round rocks verying in size form a baseball to a basketball.  There were alots of swimmers, but the water was a little chilly for us.

Sand Beach

All the other beaches

No barefoot strolls here

The views were breath taking along the way.

A nice stop at Jordan Pond and getting an understanding of the carriage paths.  The Jordan Pond has a small restaurant and store & a nice view of the lake.

There are lots of bodies of water inside the park and we learned the "official Maine" difference between a pond & a lake.  The main distinction between a pond and a lake is size. Generally speaking, ponds are smaller in size and shallower than lakes. In Maine, ponds are less than 10 acres in size. Lakes, on the other hand, are larger bodies of water that can span several miles in length and can contain much larger volumes of water. Another difference between ponds and lakes in Maine is the way they are formed. Ponds are typically formed from natural springs, streams or smaller bodies of water that have merged together over time. In contrast, lakes are often formed through glaciation process.  The park is home to 14 Great Ponds and 10 smaller ponds & 24 named lakes

Another great feature of the park is the 100-year-old carriage roads that wind through the park, they have crushed rock surfaces. There are forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, weaving around the mountains and valleys of Acadia National Park and under and over 17 historic carriage road bridges.  Vehicles are prohibited, the only way to enjoy them is bike, horseback or of course by horse drawn carriage.

Here is one of the bridges crossing the road.

Day two was Cadillac Mountain, Basically we drove back into the park and were now able to drive to the summit.  Spent an hour or so walking along some paths and took a few picture.  The views were great, we found a nice place & sat for awhile soaking it all in.

If you look cloesly, squint a little, then imagine a little more, and you can see Europe over Rita's right shoulder.  Just pass the clouds....

On a bonus day we drove to Schoodic Point, it's a separate part of Acadia National Park across the Mt. Desert Narrows.  We took a nice 45-minute drive along the coast to this hidden gem.  Once inside the park it’s a lot like Acadia NP, but without the crowds.  We took a leisurely drive all the way to the point and then sat out on the rocks watching the painters do landscapes and enjoying the waves crashing in front of us.  Yesterday was hundreds of people, today a dozen. Perfect.

Next we move to Bangor, Maine and are wait for our caravan to form.

New York & New Hampshire

After the Spartan races we headed towards New York, we stopped at Pulaski, NY for a couple of days.  It was achance to relax, just the two of us, we have been going like gangbusters since we left Florida.

We did take a nice hike to see the Salmon River Falls.

Of course after a hike you need to find a local brewery!  Here's our view from the deck of LD's!

Next we're getting together with one of the clubs we belong to, the New York Centrals.  They are having a rally at 1000 Islands Winery near Lake Ontario.  It's a boondocking rally so its free camping!

While we were there we did a boat cruise to see the 1000 Islands. We boarded the boat and as we pulled out of the marina we saw Boldt Castle, a mansion built by George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the world famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, he set out to build a full size rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on picturesque Heart Island.  The beautiful structure was to be a display of his love for his wife, Louise.  Unfortunately Louise died before completion and Boldt shut down construction and walked away, the workers left everything on site, tools included.  Over the years it was sold and eventually the 1000 Island Bridge Authority purchased it and is slowly completing the site per the blueprints.

Alister Tower / Playhouse

Power House

Boldt Castle

The 1000 Islands is a series of islands, actually 1,864 of them in the St. Lawrence River before it gets to Lake Ontario.  To be an considered an island it must be at least three square feet, have at least one tree and some other type of vegetation.

The smallest of the 1000 Islands!

The tour took us along Millionaires Row up into Canada & back in two & half hours. There are all types of houses on all sizes of islands. It was a perfect day for a crusie.

We rounded out the day at a local pub. go figure...

Next stop was Warrensburg, NY, near Lake George.  Over the years Rita & I have visited many military battlefields & forts.  World War II sites when we lived in West Germany, Revolutionary battlefields & forts, Civil War forts both Union & Confederate and Civil War battlefields.  But we have never visited a British fort, until now.

We spent a HOT afternoon at Fort William Henry, a pre-Revolutionary War British fort.  It was built in 1755 and was captured by the French, after a seige in 1757.  We didn't take any decent pictures, did I mention it was hot?  We did see a demonstration of a musket firing & a canon firing.

We took a sunset cruise on Lake George.  It was fun we were on the boat "Lac du Saint Sacrement"  and as we cruised along the shore the homeowners would come outside and ring bells, the ship then blew its air horn.  It happened over & over.  At one house the family was waiting for us on their boathouse roof & the kids did flips & dives off the roof.  Boats would run up along side our boat and beep there horns eliciting our ships captain to blow the horn again.  It was fun...

Next we headed east, drove through Vermont, we'll be stopping in Vermont on the way home after the caravan.  We camped on the Conneticut River for a four days.  We visited the Cog Railroad on Mount Washington.

The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). The railway climbs Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It uses a Marsh rack system and both steam and biodiesel locomotives to carry tourists to the top of the mountain. 

It is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37%. The railway is approximately 3 miles long and ascends Mount Washington's western slope, beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet above sea level and ending just short of the mountain's summit peak of 6,288 feet. The train ascends the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour and descends at 4.6 mph.  

We rode to the summit & discovered why they say Mt. Washington has the worlds crappiest weather.  Climbers practice here for Mt. Everest in the winter.  We arrived to heavy cloud cover so views were out of the question, actually finding the buildings & train were challenging.

Base station

The start up hill

Cloud cover up ahead

Above the tree line

Our guide / brakeman Darlene

Hikers!

Summit house

At the summit, of course now is when it starts to rain...

Now the interesting story, in 1933 they built a weather station at the summit.  It was manned year-round.  On April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory made history. The three-man crew witnessed & recorded the fastest wind speed in history.  The day before, April 11, was a beautiful sunny day, they could see the Atlantic Ocean, but April 12th changed drastically, winds started increasing to 100 mile per hour.  They thought the anemometer was malfunctioning due to ice & snow accumulation.  One of the crew climbed a ladder to the roof then crawled up to the peak to clear the ice.

Not the actual day, but where he climbed, in 100 mph winds!

Keep in mind he went up there in over 100 mph winds.  Minutes later they started recording wind speeds well over 100 mph & gusts peaking at 231 mph.  Still a record speed witnessed live by man!  The observatory has actual recordings of the event.

 We heard the train whistle signalling the arrival of our return trip. So we went in search of our carraige.

There she is!

On the trip down we learned about the cog railroad, the strange part is the carriage is not connected to the train engine.  What??? They're separate and have separate braking systems in case of emergency the train engine could fail and take off down the hill, but the carriage can deploy its own brakes and stop.  The engine would then stop a little downhill, re-establish power and come back up for the carriage.

Just resting against the engine

You can see one of the three drive cogs.

Afterwards at the suggestion of our brakeman we went to the Mt. Washington Hotel.  It's a turn of the century luxury resort that catered to the rich big city elite.  It is a classic Victorian age hotel complete with 18 hole golf course.  We walked around the resort, sat on the Observatory Deck for drinks then went down to the steak house for a well-deserved dinner.  Freaking awesome steaks!!!

Mt. Washington Hotel

Lobby

View from the Observatory

Great place to sit for a couple of cocktails...

The hotel even had a Prohibition Era hidden speakesay in the basement, The Cave!

The Cave

Saturday was a rainy day so we stayed in CC & watched TV.  Around 5pm cabin fever struck, so we got cleaned up & headed to a local brewery, the Copper Pig.  Had a flight of beers & a couple of tacos, swung by the grocery store & started getting ready for tomorrow’s trip to the coast of Maine for ten days.  I see lobster in our future!  

 I did take a picture of the Connecticut River from our campground, it was a nice calm between the rains.