One thing I wanted to do before leaving Maine was to visit the flagship store of L.L. Bean. My navigation officer Google said the store is in Freeport, so off we went in that direction. The direction included a GPS detour, that when I turned on it, I knew I shouldn’t, but then there was no where to turn around.
Oh well 7 miles out and 10 or so back to highway 1. Google
was put on notice that she was not to be trusted after this. A letter will be
placed in her file, and there is a possibility that she could be replaced with
a GPS that will not take you on roads with low clearance underpasses.
Cruising highway 1 in Maine is a delight. Lots of small
towns that get crowded on weekends with “weekenders” looking for art, antiques,
and maybe just a get a way from huge cities.
I’m here on a weekday so not so busy, and easy to find a
place to park the van with a name and do some looking around. No art or
antiques needed here, and no place to
put them if I did need them, but an espresso shop offers up a couple of
bitter shots. Should have brought them some Trieste from the van…
Freeport doesn’t feel like a very large town, in fact LL Bean is the biggest thing around.
I find the store, and a place to park. If I had
wanted to, I could have spent the night right there in the Bean parking lot
with a couple of other vans that were doing just that. I had visions of coming out
of the store with a plethora of packages, but...
The store is beautiful, fantastic, and has probably
everything anyone could ever want. It was also overwhelming especially after
not being around a crowd of people for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t get out of
there fast enough. It was overwhelming, and I had to get back to my space and “Just
Breath” for a bit.
Regaining my composure, I headed to Lamoine State Park. I
was beginning to worry as there was no signage for the park , thinking that the GPS was sending me on another wild
goose chase. But low and behold the park appeared right where the GPS said it
would be.
These state parks have proven to be a exceptional value, as
most parks are under 40.00 for electric and water hookups, and a drain on the
way out. Lamoine state park offered no hookups, a bargain price of $28.00, and a superior drain
that was positioned to be downhill from your tanks. Amazing science at work
here.
Lamoine State Park is directly across the bay from Mt.
Desert Island, where Arcadia National Park, The town of Bar Harbor, and total chaos
when I traveled through there a year or so ago on motorbikes. I can actually
look at the ever-popular Cadillac Mountain right from the beach here, and not
have to deal with the hording masses like my last visit.
There is no fresh lobster for sale here, so one check in the
negative column.
The geese were having a fine time eating the apples that had
fallen to the ground. I had no idea that geese would eat apples, so now I know.
The bad news is that the Maine state parks will close for
the season at the end of the week, along with all the state parks in New Hampshire,
and Vermont. Maybe winter is coming.
Well, no worries. I crossed into New Hampshire, and ran right
into a Jeep Invasion in the town of Gorham, I literally was in the parade until
I could find a place to park.
I thought at first that this must be a Jeep Jamboree, but quickly found out that there is only one Jeep Jamboree and that is as it should be in Lake Tahoe, crossing the Rubicon Trail.
I have no idea how many Jeeps were in on this invasion but
the parade when on for quite a while. Maybe some circled back? Everyone was
having fun watching the parade, and the Jeep passengers were throwing hard candy a little
children. Does it get any better than that?
The jeeps after the parade headed to the treacherous Mount
Washington Auto road.
You can only drive it in a car, no vans allowed so I swiped
a photo off the internet.
It looks paved to me so some of those Jeeps might say Rubicon on them, but this ain’t no Rubicon trail.
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