MAINE

Half of our time in Maine had passed by just relaxing with the grandparents and NOT traveling.   Cooler weather was embraced, and we focused on family and food.  :) 

Mechanic Man was eager to try the local food again … LOBSTER.  He’s had it before, of course, but Maine’s fresh lobster is raved as the best.  We purchased some freshly caught (and still alive) and took it home for cooking.

This was food for the boys only … the girls around here weren’t interested.  We enjoyed a delicious salad instead!

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Well, the time arrived when we were eager to see some of the sights of Maine.  We visited downtown Bangor (the 3^rd largest city in Maine) first to take an educational field trip to the local  science museum .  We weren’t sure what to expect, thinking it might be tailored mostly for the younger kids (and some parts were); but the boys enjoyed checking out the displays and hands-on exhibits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I discovered a local juice/plant-based restaurant that is now my favorite place to eat in Bangor!

 

 

The boys found one that had their favorite food …

 

 

 

Another day, we explored the Orono Bog Walk.   After walking through and enjoying the local flora of the Bangor City Forest for a while in search of the bog walk, we finally found a map that directed us to what we wanted to explore … the boardwalk itself.  

We enjoyed it so much that we plan on visiting it again!  Not only was it an amazing sight to behold, trekking from the wooded biome and crossing over into a peat biome, but we also left one city and entered another!  (Remember our excitement at the Four Corners?!    These invisible yet printed borders are a simple type of joy for me.  LOL!)

 

Our vacation time is approaching its end ... but we will squeeze in a few more things to do before heading home and focusing on preparing for schooling again.  Stay tuned!  :)

Northbound ... to Maine!

For most of the trip, we were blessed with pleasant weather.  We had to endure “Bill” while waiting in Texas but no other rain or disappointing temperatures.  On the other hand, heading north was nothing BUT rain!   We were expecting the cooler temperatures, and the rain stuck with us all the way to Maine (along with some traffic).

 

 

 

As we crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge, we loved imagining George Washington crossing the Delaware River that Christmas in 1776.

 

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Only in New York have we seen this sign as we drove the northbound highway:

 

 

 

We stopped halfway to Maine to not only break up the long trip, but to visit our home town in New York.  We were able to briefly visit most of our family in the Catskill Mountains and even had a chance to visit my grandparents in the cemetery.   Driving down familiar roads from our childhood years and passing by the house where my grandparents lived was truly a trip down memory lane.  Even in all the rain, it was great to see the beautiful country where we lived.

  
 

Even in the rain, the Catskill Mountains are beautiful to behold!

 

One of the many creeks that flow in the mountains

 

The old wooden bridges are still around from our childhood days.

I *was* a tad nervous riding over them! ;-)

(Excuse the drops on the pictures ... it rained the entire trip!)

 

 

 

Eight hours later, we crossed the Maine border!    Symbolic of Maine (at the rest stop):

 

 

 

What a great place to spend summer!   Oh!  Grandparents had this for kids the first day!

 

 

 

Let the fun begin!

Last Day Eastward

Our last eastward part of the journey ended in South Carolina, and from there we headed north!  Hurray!  

The trip from Georgia to South Carolina was short and pleasant traveling.  The only "excitement" was a taxi driver texting while driving and causing a cluster of tractor trailers on the highway.  They all managed to pass the taxi; and we did, too, which is how I noticed that she was texting.  I took the liberty of reporting that driver to her company for her own safety and the safety of others on the road. 

TEXTING AND DRIVING DON'T MIX!

 

 

We made a stop at a local Walmart in South Carolina and found ourselves in an awkward driving position.  The entry ways in the parking lot were not wide enough for a long vehicle to enter.  I had to hop out and direct Mechanic Man as he backed out.  (Remember lesson learned the other day about backing up? LOL!)  Thank God he has the commercial-driver training under his belt and that he notices all the details of hauling a long trailer behind the truck.    I have no interest in this driving ... I would have caused all kinds of havoc if I drove!  LOL!

 

Our home is now in the familiar turf of North Carolina.  :)

 

 



 The Carolinian heat invited the kids to the pool as soon as we set up camp for the night before heading north again!

 



On-the-Road Adventure Continues

At this point, we were halfway to the eastern part of the U.S.  We weren't really stopping to see anything else in these states on the way back because we are eager to head north!  However, there were several things we passed in the southern stateson our eastward route:

Statue of Liberty

and

the track that is "too tough to tame."

That was all cool to see before lunch.  After lunch, things livened up some!

Since we now have to  visit the diesel pumps at gas stations, our choices of where to fuel up are limited.  We are using "truck stops" to do our fueling since we can safely fit our tractor-trailer-sized combo under the overhangs and have plenty of space to turn around.  This lucky day we were able to pull in behind a tractor trailer that was all done pumping fuel instead of just starting.  Mechanic Man carefully pulled through to the tank, but when he stepped out to start fueling, he realized that he had pulled a bit too far forward.  So he hopped in and backed up (aware of the tractor trailer behind us).  Suddenly, we are bumping forward!  Yes!  We hit the tractor trailer!  Thanks be to God, there was no damage!  When Mechanic Man told the driver that we hit his truck, the driver didn't even notice or care!  Whew!   He probably knew that he was WAAAY too close to us because Mechanic Man didn't move us that far backwards!   Another lesson learned!

As if that wasn't stressing enough, we ended up traipsing through Atlanta traffic after work hours due to the time change as we entered the next time zone and were unable to find a campground anywhere!   We kept on truckin' because we had to get out of the city traffic and finally found a quaint campground called Country Boys' Campground.  Just what we needed after the high-anxiety day of city traveling! 

"Crawdads" on Dad's Day

Out of Texas and into Louisiana allowed us to complete the goal of "Crawdads and Crocks" from our first time through when heading west! 

What are crawdads?  I don't recall giving much detail about this Louisiana-menu item in my earlier post from Louisiana.  ;-)  Click the link above to learn more.  :)

Well, Mechanic Man *really* wanted to try some boiled crawdads, so he even looked up "how to" eat them.  I was in the other room while he was watching the online video and heard only the ending comment of  "sucking the juices out of the head."   (Count me OUT!)

Without traveling too far off the main highway since we were tractor-trailer sized on the road, we found a restaurant that had a sign for "boiled crawfish."   They even had a parking lot large enough for our rig!  Must be the place to eat 'em!  Well, they were out of the boiled ones, so we ordered deep fried ones.

(Not so scary to look at ... unless you know what's under all that coating!  LOL!)

Everybody tried them except me.  (Remember me  trying the "alligator bites?"  That was pushing the limit.)  They all liked them ... stated they were a tad salty, but they were deep fried so, of course, they'd like them!  ;-)    They all tried to convince me that I'd like them smothered in ketchup.  ;-)   No, thank you.  I just sat there and took pictures.

(I told them before we left to "count me out," so a protein shake was waiting for me in the cooler!)

After lunch, we put in some more hours on the road and stopped at a Yogi Bear campground.  We have never been to one of these before, and it looks like a place of great fun for a long-term stay.   There was a lake and all kinds of water toys at the humongous pool.   Since we were just passing through and staying only one night, we didn't have the opportunity to utilize the facilities outside of the campsite.

Trying to level fifth wheel was troublesome, and Mechanic Man had to make a run to the camp store to buy a level to manually level it since the "auto leveler" decided to give us an error message.  (If the fifth wheel isn't level, then we can't safely pull out the slides.)  He returned with two tiny ones, but they served the purpose.  Another one of those kinks to work through ... or be repaired.

After a restful night, we were ready for Day 3 of our eastward journey!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...

We started off late on our first day with the new setup and didn’t put in many hours of driving.  While the proper hitch was finally installed in the truck, it wasn’t properly installed.  Thank God for Mechanic Man who knows his stuff!   Besides having to redo some of the manual labor to set it in there correctly, there was the new routine of preparing to leave.  In the motorhome, it was simply put things away, pull up the shades, and disconnect the electric, water, and sewer.  With a fifth wheel, there is much more involved!  Of course, there is still the disconnecting of the “utilities,” but there is also the slides to bring in, and the entire unit to hook to the truck … not to mention the arranging of items inside the fifth wheel so that they don’t impede the slides and/or scratch up the walls while in transit.  ;-)  It was a bit odd to “pack” the first-traveling morning after spending the previous four days “settling in.”  Items in closets, drawers, and refrigerator had to be situated in a way for being jarred around.  However, I must have packed well because we had no calamities like those I have heard from others.  Every time we hit a bump, I was envisioning items in the pantry falling over or something scratching the closet walls. Thanks be to God all was fine … let’s pray it’s always the case!

 

"Let's get outta here!"

Traveling was an entire different experience, too.   Humor me here … close your eyes.  Really … go ahead and close them … please?   Imagine driving down a two- or three-lane road with your house behind you.   Your entire house and your belongings are being towed behind your vehicle as you do 50-60 mph down the road.  You know it’s secure, but do you wonder if it will pop off the hitch?  (Yes, I asked that of Mechanic Man!) You have those lead-foot drivers who need to be in front of you, or there’s the pokier person in front of you … and YOU have to PASS that car!  Can you feel your body tense a bit??  Well, that is how I felt this first day.   As always, I attribute my faith in our safety not only to God but to Mechanic Man who has a CDL (commercial driver’s license) and knows how to drive tractor trailers and how the towing process operates.  Yet, I still kept looking in the mirror behind us.   All was well, though.

While we all love the spacious fifth wheel, we all commented on the convenience and comfort of traveling in a motorhome.  Everything is accessible when we are mobile in the motorhome.  Not only that, but the kids can lounge in the back (with their seatbelts on) and have more space to do things while we are on the move.  Traveling with a fifth wheel, they have to actually sit upright in the truck, side by side, looking out the window or sleeping with head hanging back on the seat, like Mechanic Man and I had to travel as kids.  Even the Poodle missed having some mobility in the truck as I held her captive on my lap.   Well, we can’t have it all now; can we?  

 

I have to admit that while the new experience of traveling with our house behind us was definitely different that first day on the road with the huge setup, these were simply observations and not really complaints.   May God continue to be with us and bless us on this trip!  (Oh!  We still were in Texas that first-traveling day yet closer to the eastern border!)

 

STUCK IN TEXAS!

As we were trekking through Texas, my dear husband had a calling from God to stick around for a few days.  We were literally so close to our newly purchased fifth wheel that he thought it would be less expensive if we bought the needed truck in Texas.  We could then take the fifth wheel home ourselves instead of paying to have it delivered.  So, that’s what we did.  God had it all worked out so well that we were given a great deal on the truck where they even took our motorhome for a trade!  Only glitch was that we had to wait a week for both the truck and the fifth wheel to be ready.  We know this was God’s plan because both vehicles were to be ready for us on the same day.   So ....

We found ourselves a campground and paid the weekly rate to make the most of the time we had here.  We were able to meet up with my aunt and my cousin (whom I haven’t seen since we were just kids in elementary school!):

 

 

As a group, we visited the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco.  

 

 

 

 Howdy, pardner!  ;-)

 

We had a fabulous time together and are thankful that we were able to see them!

(Thanks, cousin, for making it happen!)

 

This would have been interesting, too, but we didn't have time.  Maybe another visit?

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MOVING DAY

 

  

 While this fifth wheel is nothing in size compared to the house we just sold, it seems HUGE to us after two months of the small quarters of the 22' motorhome that held five people and a poodle!  ;-)  God has His reasons for everything, and we know that the order of these events is to make us appreciative of what He is giving us.   We LOVE the floor plan and ability to walk around.


I still have an island in my kitchen! 

Youngest Child always asked for a house with stairs, and now he has one!  ;-)

We have lived without living room furniture for almost a year when we were downsizing, and now we have THREE loveseats!  (We will be removing one, though, to put in the needed desk.)

We spent months looking this floorplan over online as we were considering what to move into, and it's hard to believe that we now are in it!  God is good!


STUCK within "Stuck!"

As we moved into the fifth wheel, unloading from the motorhome what seemed like endless items, we were waiting for the truck to be delivered.  When it arrived, Mechanic Man noticed that it had the WRONG hauling hitch installed!  Ugh!   We couldn't accept the truck because it had to be taken back to dealer for the correct hitch to be installed, and it would take 4 days to be done!  REALLY??????

We had to have the fifth wheel hauled to the campground so that we could stay the additional days until the truck would be ready.  Again, we knew God had a reason for this.  It gave us some time while near the RV dealership to live in the fifth wheel and work out the kinks.  It was truly a blessing since several things needed to be replaced or repaired.   The tropical storm was also about to hit Texas, and we didn't need to be hauling a fifth wheel (for the first time!) in hurricane-like conditions.  So, we hunkered down and enjoyed setting up our new house.  (We are still amazed at how much we squooshed into that small motorhome! )

 SO -- now that we have learned of God's will concerning our living arrangements and followed through it all, it is time to hit the road again and say goodbye to Texas!  (We felt like temporary residents of Waco and wondered if we were supposed to stay there!  haha)  

Things we noticed about Texas while staying here for so long (twice in a one-month period):

*Lots of churches called “Cowboy Church”

*”Loop Roads” – they drove US “loopy” at times!

*Joe Buck’s Coffee … similar logo as “Starbucks” with a dude on the logo that looks similar to the famous Duck guys.

*Yummy food options – Texas Cattle Company (great steaks), Mexican restaurants (kids are sick of Mexican food), and Whataburger (ate there several times!)

 

Time to complete the trip east so we can visit our family in New York and Maine while making a few stops along the way (including Italian restaurants to satiate the kids' desire for authentic pizza) before the summer vacation is over!  Stay tuned!