September 2009

Our fellow workampers: Ron & Shirley








$950.00Painting,Oh,well

Queen Victoria

Sept. 30th on this past Monday we had intended to drive up north to look at the foliage, and as we got out of Ellsworth we saw that it hadn’t happened yet and rather than drive up for no reason we turned around. On the way back into Ellsworth we stopped at the Verizon store as Kathleen wanted to get a new phone. The reason for this is that she had to charge her phone every day, I had the same model as she did but back in the spring I dumped mine in the dish pan and then I went to a back-up. I also had charging problems with that same model as well. Turned out we both got new phones, this time different models, her’s is a little more advanced than mine, as it has a keyboard. We then did some shopping and returned o the MH. Tuesday we didn’t have anything planned so we just worked on the MH, we had some cabinet doors and drawers that to be reglued and secure the bottom tracks. Other than that, it was a lazy day. We got up Wednesday and went into Bar Harbor. After eating breakfast at Two Cats we went down to the pier, as it was the maiden porting for the Queen Victoria. There was a lot of fan fare as bands played, an antique car show on Main St. and entertainers at several places in town. We also did some shopping and enjoyed the festivals. As we walked past an Art Display we saw a painting that was selling for $950.00, and I thought that I could probably paint that with a couple of spray cans of different shades of blue, I really believe I don’t have a eye for art. We stopped in at the shop where we work and visited with our co-workers Ron and Shirley. We have enjoyed working with them and feel privileged to know them. They will be heading to their home in Arkansas after the Bar Harbor gig is finished in a couple of weeks. In the afternoon we went to the docks to buy some lobster and we waited for an hour. No lobstermen showed up so we put that plan on hold (sometimes a plan doesn’t come together). In the evening we turned on the TV to watch the continuing Ken Burns series about the national parks, this is a wonderful and educational series. Just another couple of days enjoying full timing.


Sept 22nd well to catch up in the past week as I have not posted anything. We are still enjoying our time here and in the past couple of weeks we found out about buying lobster on the docks as the lobstermen bring them in. Last week we bought 7 lobster for $25.00 and this week we bought 6 for $25.00, on each occasion we took them home and cooked them up and vacuum sealed them and froze them. Also on each of those days we have a lobster dinner, and they were some of the best, for at this time of the season the shells are getting harder and the lobster is growing into the new shell. As for the frozen meat we are going to have a meal when we get back to PA and share with family and friends. Today we took a bike ride around Jordan Pond and stopped at the restaurant there and had a sort of lunch/dinner, and as always it was great, after that we came home and just chilled out as the weather is definitely getting cooler and we can feel that summer has left us, we did enjoy about 3 weeks of summer. Like to have Al Gore try to explain to us about global warming as we just experienced the shortest, coolest summer we ever had. Just another good day to be in a campground.

Sept. 15th we left the motel and headed in Kennebunkport area and drove around to the Bush Summer Cottage; we also did a walk around the town. After leaving this area we went to Cabala’s and did some shopping, we like the line of equipment and the way the chain is operated. After that we did the Wal-Mart thing and then made our way home, taking a different route home and decided that this is the way we will leave next month for our journey back down south. We got back to our home and it was another great day.

Sept.14th this morning we took off for the Portland and Kennebunkport area. We took Rt.1 which is along the coast of Maine, is a slow but scenic drive and we enjoyed it very much. We did a tour of Ft. Know which is built on the banks of the Penobscot river, built over the course of 25 years in the early 1800’s and after competition never fired a shot. After it was built there were no invasions in the area. The workmanship is superb and it is really in good shape, made mostly of local granite by some great craftsman. We are probably the only people to stop in Freeport and not go to LL Bean store. We did shop in other stores in the area and got some good deals. After that we stopped in to see our friends Craig & Ginny in Saco, we had a great visit and just got caught up. They will be going to the Myrtle Beach area for the winter and it might be a little time till we see each again, this is something in this lifestyle that it sometimes goes a while in between visits. We than got a room for the night in Biddeford area and got a good night’s sleep.

The area were yesterday's tradegy took place

Sept. 9th we awoke and after breaking down camp and leaving the CG area we had breakfast at the same place we were last night. From there we went to the Eastern most point of the island to the East Quoddy Lighthouse, at the time we were able to walk out to the lighthouse as it was low tide. To do this we went down a set of ladders and across a very rocky path to another ladder were we went up to a separate little island and across a bridge to another island and at that point we went down another ladder and across a rocky path to the third island were the lighthouse is located. We could only do this at low tide as when the tide comes in it rises 40 feet and the passage is impossible. It was very unfortunate that a person lost his life yesterday as he tried to go across between islands through the water, and with the strong currents that we saw today we can see how this can happen. We also watched a lot of whales in the area for the best part of the two hours we were there. We are guessing that at least 24 whales were in the area and they were diving most all of the time, we didn’t get any pictures of them as you didn’t have time to focus on them. We had a safe trip home and it was another great day.

Sept.8th we left early this morning to go to Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Can. This was the summer home of former President FDR. His cottage had 18 bedrooms with a total of 34 rooms. Once again it was an elegant place and the up keep is impeccable, we toured this first and after that we set up our tent in the Herring Cove Provincial Park. This is a very nice clean, quiet, well run campground. We had a list of geocaches that we had arranged to take us around the island; we have done this in the past and also again on this trip and it is a great tool to take you to locations that are not on the tourist guide. We just thoroughly enjoyed the rugged coastline and the beauty of the thick forests. We did several geocaches in the forests and were surprised at the softness of the forest floor, it had anywhere from a 1 to 3 inch sponge effect to it. We then had supper at a local restaurant, returned to the campsite and retired for the night.

Sept. 7th we did some cleaning up around the camper and did some shopping. In the afternoon we went to a lobster fishing dock and found a returning lobsterman and we bought lobsters on the dock. The price was unbelievable and this must be a so called secret, one that the so called co-workers of ours never told us that we could do this. They always told us to buy from the campground which cost us twice as much. We did have a great lobster dinner along with corn on the cob and potatoes. This was the first Labor Day that Jon had off in at least 15 years and we had a great day and celebrated it.

Sept.6th we left early for work this morning for the express reasons to see the Explorer of the Seas as it was in port for the day. This is one of the largest cruise ships in the world with over 1180 crew and can carry over 3110 guests. We went to the loop road in the park to get a good view. We had a very good day at work and it was quite busy most all day, at the same time we knew that is was close to full moon as we had a lot of customers that just didn’t have a clue. Why is it that Common Sense is a thing of the past, is at times an understatement?

Part of the Fuselage

Sept. 1st we arose to temps in the low 40’s, as we said yesterday we did get a tarp to put over the openings. We had our electric heater as well and we were quite warm during the night. After breakfast we went to Greenville and along the way we saw a Mama moose and her calf in a bog and got a picture of them. We then stopped at the welcome center and along with several suggestions that were mentioned, one was a B-52 bomber crash site on a mountain nearby in 1963. So we decided to go look into this and found the site and visited the memorial to it. Of the 9 man crew, two got out alive, the other 7 perished in the crash. There was 5 feet of snow on the ground at the time and the temperature was at -30, the one survivor was ejected in his seat and remained in it till he was rescued. After that we did several Geo-caches and took in the area before we left for home. It was another good day and we were happy to get home safe and sound. Looks like we have a lot to clean up tomorrow.