Bangor - A place to get caught up

We had initially planned to go into Canada through Calais/St. Stephens because we were going to continue traveling up the coast.  However, we needed to get the oil changed and the tires rotated on the Honda and I wasn’t ready to spend a weekend without cell phone coverage in Lubec, Maine.  So we ended only driving about an hour to Pumpkin Patch RV Resort in Hermon, Maine, (a suburb of Bangor).  The park is very nice, has full hookups, cable, and the sites were spaced a little further apart than you normally see in a private campground.

We were assigned site #45 which is shaded most of the day on the driver’s side.  After getting set up, we went to the Hermon’s Family Restaurant to use our 10% discount coupon I received when we checked in.  I was hoping for a “meat ‘n three” or vegetable and cornbread dinner like what you get at Cracker Barrel.  But since their vegetables for the day were french fries, potatos, potato salad, rice, pickled beets, and veggie medley, we both opted for a hamburger and fries.  (I was hoping for some corn, green beans, macaroni & cheese, pinto beans and cornbread.)  The hamburger was tasty though.  But I forgot to use my 10% off coupon which is typical for me. :)

On Saturday, we drove to a rail trail I found about 30 minutes away in Newport, Maine.  We rode on the trail as far as Corinth, Maine,

and turned around and rode back.  We crossed over this creek before arriving in Corinth.

The trail was packed like the other rail trails but was quite a bit bumpier in places.

Unlike the other rail trails we had ridden on, this one was shared with ATVs, horses and snowmobiles.

We didn’t see any horses and it was a little warm for snowmobiles.  :)  Part of the trail was located along Sebasticook Lake. 

Surprisingly, there were very few (if any) boats on the lake other than the few we saw tied up at some docks.  The grass along the sides gave it the appearance of being a good fishing lake; and since it was so clean and wide open, you would have thought you would have seen some jet skis or waterskiing -- particularly on such a beautiful day.  



(If this had been a picture of Percy Priest Lake back home, you would not have been able to see the lake for all the boaters.) 

We also rode by some nice houses on the lake and this secluded cabin in the woods…

… that had a nice view of the lake.

We rode for a total of about 1 ½ hours with the trip back not taking quite as long as the trip out.

On Sunday, I finally got all caught up on the blog.  (Yippee!)

On Monday, we took the car to Honda dealership in Bangor to get the tires rotated and the oil changed.  When you tow a vehicle as much as we are towing the Honda, it’s a little more difficult to keep up with the miles because the odometer does not change when the motor is not on.  I had to add the miles we had traveled on the motorhome since we had started full-timing to the miles on the Honda odometer since we put the new tires on the car to see how many miles we had put on the Honda tires.  It was more than 5,000 so we knew we needed to get it done.  We arrived at Darlings Honda at 6:50 am on Monday and by 9:00 or so they had the car ready. 

In Maine, "wicked" can mean "nice", "beautiful", "fun", but can also mean "mean" or "bad".  So it can get kind of confusing as to what the person is meaning.  For instance, when we arrived at the Honda dealership, the service manager said, "Man, I'm having a wicked morning" meaning "I'm having a busy morning."  When we left, he thanked us for the business and said "Have a wicked day!" which translated means: "Ya'll have a real nice day, ya' her!"  And the word is used all the time by just about everyone. 

"Man, that bike ride was wicked (fun)!" 

"Have a wicked (nice) day!"  

"Those mountains are wicked (very) beautiful." 

So I guess I could describe our morning like this:

We got up wicked (very) early to take the car in because it had a wicked (a lot) amount of miles on the tires.  I had a cup of wicked (good) coffee and a really wicked (delicious) doughnut while we waited not too wicked (very) long for the car to be serviced. 

I worked the rest of the day on Monday and then we took a break to go pick up a few more things at Hannaford’s, the "main" grocery store in "Maine".  We went into the Staples next door first and when we came out, we saw one of the most vivid beautiful rainbows we had ever seen.

Not only could we see the entire rainbow,

it was also a double rainbow (unfortunately, I could not capture that in the picture).

I was blocking a lady who was trying to get into her car when I was trying to take the pictures.  When I noticed she was there, I apologized and stepped out of the way.  When I pointed the rainbow out to her, she was mesmerized by it too.  She said it’s amazing to see such a rainbow and said it’s a shame that most people don’t remember that God put it there and why He put it there.  I agreed with her and said the rainbow is such an awesome sight to see and it reminds me that God always keep his promises!  Thank You, God!