060628 - BATH, ME

Bath, Maine
Arrived June 14, 2006

If you had ever asked me when I would visit Alaska or Maine, my answer would have been the same – are you kidding?

Well, never say never ,

Here we are in Bath, a beautiful, little, thriving town on the lower east coast of Maine. It was a two day drive from Redding, CT with a stop over at Salisbury State Beach Park, on just the northeast tip of Massachusetts right on the beach. It was a beautiful campsite, as recommended by Barry and Maureen and we wished we could have stayed more than just one night. We felt right at home there. When you look at the roof of a trailer or motor home, you may see many items and devices there, such as radio and TV antennae, air vents, satellite dishes, storage pods, and air conditioners. If you see more that one a/c, the RV is probably 30 feet or longer. Rigs with only one A/C are less than 30 feet. Most of the RVs we saw and were among had only one A/C. Nice middleclass working class size rigs, not the monster buses that rock stars and celebrities ride in.

The reason we had to get to Bath by Wednesday was because Maureen was leaving on Thursday for a cruise to Alaska and we wanted to see her before Barry drove her to the airport. This meant that Barry would be home alone, with the dogs, so us bachelors would be free to run around.

When we arrived, we knew there would be room for the Beast because Barry drives a 40 foot Country Coach and if he says there’s room for us, we believe him. As we backed into his 100 foot driveway, that had already included his RV, we felt safe and secure. Electric and water hookups were performed by Barry, and we were really happy campers.

Barry drove Maureen to the airport Thursday morning so we had the day to ourselves. We promptly headed for Wal-Mart to shop and wandered the aisles in an electric cart for hours.

Friday was a real treat. Barry has a motor boat (Boston Whaler class) moored at Robin Hood Harbor, and in the afternoon, we took a ride around the area, going into nooks and crannies of the coastline. Peter took to motor-boating quickly – finding a good spot to lay down in quickly. Along the way, we happened across some lobster fisherman just pulling in their traps and we bought 2 lobsters for dinner. Peter was upset that we didn’t get 3.

Boating along the coast is incredible – so many small bays and harbors and so many boats. The tide changes every 6 hours and is about a 10 foot swing, so there is a drastic difference in landscape and coastal appearance between low and high tide.Everywhere we went there were lobster trap buoys marking their location for later pick up. There must have been thousands, for as far as the eye could see. They were all brightly colored with different combinations to be able to tell whose trap was where, and they appeared to be scattered randomly throughout the waters.

That evening, Barry threw the lobsters in a pot, and soon we were cracking and picking our way thru a great meal. It was Peter’s first taste of Lobster, but I warned him that we don’t order them in restaurants unless he wants to spend his entire kibble allowance for a month on one meal. He understood.

The next day we were going to take the boat out and watch the Lobster boat races but they were really early and the tide was still low, so we opted for a later departure and we cruised the waterways and visited a few pretty harbors and saw some magnificent boats.

As you might have expected - Sprint and Maine are not on speaking terms. My cell phone is constantly roaming and my Internet card sent me a Morse code signal that said “WHY BOTHER?’.

As luck would have it, someone in the neighborhood had a WIFI set-up and we managed to piggyback off it for a few hours a day – although we never knew when he turned it off and on.

One evening, Helen Thomas, the famous woman Press Corp reporter was lecturing at a nearby town for a local civic group as well as hawking her new book, and it was quite a turnout – and there was a $10 ticket fee to boot. The location was an old restored barn turned into a theatre/ lecture hall, and it was wall to wall liberals, conservationists and Bush Bashers. WE sat quietly and tried not to make comments and got thru the evening without a scratch. We even told some people that the dog’s name was PETA.

Prior to the lecture, we stopped at a local roadside joint called the Sea Basket and had a delicious meal of lightly fried haddock and scallops – sort of Maine’s version of KFC.

Freeport is a short drive but is a whole different kind of small town. In the first place, it is the home of L.L. Bean. In addition to that, there are many famous brand and signature stores such as Starbucks, Gap, Banana Republic, Ben & Jerrys, Pendelton, and the like for the yuppies that live and visit the area.

Our first stop was to L.L.BEAN’S outlet store, which is only a block away from its main store. There were a few good bargains we picked up and bought a nice jacket at the main store as well.

One evening Barry took us to a local pizza joint that made pretty good pies and also had good tasting spaghetti in a bowl with meatballs and sausage for $5.

Friday, Maureen returned from her cruise but between the flight and the drive, they were both exhausted and so we didn’t get to talk about her trip till the next day.

Over coffee and bagels, we watched a slideshow of all her pictures, and they were taken well and quite good.

Both of them gave us some travel tips and ideas for the rest of our trip and by Tuesday morning, we were ready to hit the road again. We wished each other safe and happy travels and talked about seeing each other again in Green Valley Arizona in the winter.

Our visit to Bath was so much more than we ever expected and between the Connell’s hospitality and the charm of the town and surrounding area, we really hated to leave, but there were new places and people to see and meet.