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.