Bill & Jan's Excellent Adventure: This Year Was a Bit Different, And Yes, It's Long, Part A

We did something very different for us this year, we did not go west. Looking back to 2008, we have gone out west every year and even to Alaska, except for one, 2013. Due to several circumstances including my Mom's passing and a medical issue, we never left Florida that year until July. But every other year we have gone west. Last year did something to our attitude and outlook, the smoke, the heat, the wind, combined with us feeling we already did that, done that drove us to come back east early, and we had no desire to go back this year at all. Instead we reignited our passion and love of Maine and New England. That coupled with a wedding for our son in July sealed the deal as they say. We arrived in Maine May 14th and never left for good until Sep 29th, and felt it wasn't long enough. And yes, before you think, sure they go there in the good weather, thinking all along that is what the area is like, remember we lived nearby in New Hampshire for 20 years, so we do know all about the snow and cold. What we don't know about it is living with it and not needing to go out if you don't want to, no work, no school, etc. We also remember how magical it is, and quiet after a big snowstorm. And no we are not talking about going back there to live all year round, we still want our warmth in Florida during the winter, but we don't want the HEAT anymore, neither of us like it and would trade the really hot and humid times for cold. We'll see how things develop over the next several years, but I think our priorities are changing. Come along and we'll see.

On to the recap, obviously big differences, much less mileage and way, way higher prices for both campgrounds and fuel, and everything else for that matter. We drove the motorhome a lot less, only 9117 miles compared with 15,027 last year. We had 61 travel days compared to 77, we only went to 12 states this year against the 23 last year. Our shortest day was 18.9 miles from Wiscasset, ME to Boothbay, ME, and our longest day was 369.9 from our friends John and Diane's lake house in GA to Ocala, FL. Our average campground cost went from $55.06/night to $67.59, and increase of almost 23%! Our low was $zero either boon docking or staying at a service center, and our most expensive was $117.72 when we splurged on a waterfront site in Trenton, ME near Acadia National Park, also we had 4 stays above $100/night this year, and 2 not worth it at all. On to fuel, we saved by driving less obviously, in fact compared to last year's purchase of 2559 gallons, we bought 1621 this year, but our average price per gallon went from $3.09 to $4.94! Our cheapest was in the beginning at $3.31 and our most expensive was $6.06. And that was our net cost per gallon, our TSD program gave us a discount of $570.40 this year over 13 fill ups. Interesting we actually spent more on fuel this year than last!

Our trip this year which of course you can check on the 2022 map went up through GA, NC, TN, VA, PA, NY into VT and NH on to Maine. We covered Maine by starting in the extreme southern end and rolled up the entire coast to Eastport, then went through the middle of the state on our way to the wedding in Buffalo, NY, then back and basically worked it backwards back down the coast all the way from Houlton, ME, back through MA, NY, PA, VA, NC, GA, and finally to Florida. We actually stayed 37 days in Scarborough, ME near Portland, part on the way in and part on the way out.

I am splitting the recap into two parts, both being mostly pictures.I was going to split out the food pictures so you could just skip that if you wanted, but realized partway through this, food, both homemade and purchased make up such a big part of what we do and enjoy, it really can't be separated. Jan and I had the intention and goal of decimating the seafood population, especially the lobsters this year, we did pretty good with that, and also we, I should say more Jan has really dived into Asian cooking, we have always loved the food, but now make a ton of it to include going to Asian markets, following and learning all sorts of recipes, to even growing her own little garden with Asian herbs like basil and mint. So there will be 2 recaps, the first up to and including the wedding, and the second coming back all the way to Florida. Here we go....

We have a tradition while here in Florida to have New Year's dinner with Tom, we have pork, greens, cornbread, and he makes the amazing black eyed peas. We all enjoy it, but some more than others:-)

We started off in Jan by having to make a trip to Atlanta to deal with dental issues, and our 18 year old cat, Bert had been losing weight and having a few issues, his vet is also in Atlanta. We took care of our dental stuff, saw friends John and Diane, but with heavy hearts we had to say goodbye to our fur baby.

Sounds a bit morbid talking about it now, but with an old cat you have to think about the end, so we had made a sliding drawer that handled his litter box, but when we did we also had a door front made to make a more usable storage space. I will admit I took quite awhile to install it.

Happier times with John and Diane

We also got inundated with stinkbugs, and in fact we are inundated with them this year as well, it took us months and months to finally get rid of them.

We did some things to change our eating habits this year, lots more fish, and especially for me, smaller portions, such as these meals of cod, scallops, and salmon.

Lots of good times here in Florida.

We got to see friends, Steve and Bobbie that we don't see very often.

Bobbie, Steve, and Tom

And lots of happy hours.

Harold, Phil, Moi, and Scott

Scallops and corn was a go to dish as well as delicious Jacques Pepin black bean soup.

We recovered our captain chairs which were needing attention.

Jan, the diesel mechanic hard at work as usual

Another few get togethers and a nice visit from Doug and Nancy who left the park.

Moi, Doug, Jack, Harold, and Nancy

Moi, Tom, Phil, Nancy, Doug, Harold, and Debbie

Don't forget crab cakes:-)

Which brought us to the end of our Florida days.

And our bedroom TV crapped out, found a hard to find replacement and got it installed.

We even tried our hand at Cioppino, it turned out great.

A stop at John and Diane's lake house and their secret boon docking spot:-)

And by the time we had the new TV in for a week it was apparent that neither of us could hear it, so a sound bar was needed and installed.

We worked our way near Savannah and took advantage of the fresh shrimp, bought pounds of it. Even tried our hand at cleaning and eating the fresh soft shell crabs.

Found a new overnight campground in NC.

Made some French Onion Soup on a chilly night.

Moved on up to Waynesville, NC and got a very nice site right on the water, and met some nice folks, Dave and Roz.

And some sightseeing.

Then over to Murphy, NC and the Nantahala to supposedly fish, but it was blown out:-(

By this time the indicator light for the truck's braking system that had been driving us crazy for a long time, which we had replaced most every part had finally reached our limit so only one thing left, run a whole new wire, which the diesel mechanic did and at last found our problem, a chafed wire.

Fixed!

While near Atlanta we had this amazing Mexican chicken soup that our friends John and Diane had showed us!

A beautiful campground right on the river in Sevierville, TN.

We found a great Vietnamese restaurant for pho and a Banh Mi, followed by a light swordfish dinner made by us.

Then what we were looking for!

Into a great spot in Scarborough, ME, check out the beach, and meet up with Karen and Tom.

Our first Maine seafood meal.

The weather didn't cooperate with our Striper fishing trip, cold and windy! But Tom got one, I got one, Karen got 2, and Jan got skunked.

The food kept getting better and better.

We hung out a bunch, ate a ton of seafood, had a great time, it was nice to be together.

The famous Kennebunkport Clam Shack lobster rolls we all are eating in the above pic

All the while the happy chef created, and so did Karen. We switched off many evenings and all ate like kings!

Jan started on the Asian in earnest, but we had to add some scallops and even a softie.

We walked on Wells Beach, visited Ocean Point, and then moved to Boothbay.

While here we went to Billy's in Wells, little did we know that it was $1/oyster day, actually every Wednesday, which we took advantage of many times as it worked out. Tom, Jan, and I enjoyed delicious oysters as well as wonderful food, and Tom and I even had another dozen for dessert!

We were able to meet with friends Bob and Harlean and enjoy a nice visit and a great lunch.

Notice you haven't seen a lobster roll yet, so over to Sprague's we went.

The coastal scenery never fails to inspire.

More Asian creeping in.

One of the most famous lobster roll places in Maine is in Wiscasset, called Red's Eats, nationally famous and we all will admit, perhaps the best lobster roll in Maine, and certainly the biggest, because of the notoriety, the line is long every minute they are open, but they always deliver, but right across the street is Sprague's which I showed you a moment ago, almost as good, and almost no line, so which is better? I don't know, but I defy you to find a better lobster roll than Red's, unless you make it yourself:-)

Red's fried scallops, out of this world, and the roll!

We had a great time in Camden, a gorgeous town. We did seafood in the rough at Young's and seafood more elegantly at The Waterfront, both delicious.

Then off to Trenton and Acadia, and our two stellar waterfront sites!

Jan and I on one of our favorite hikes around Jordan Pond.

Acadia never disappoints.

Jan and I had to run into Bangor for a few errands and found a nice place for lunch, of course, right?

We had to have lobster we cooked ourselves!!

Bagaduce Lunch isn't far away so we had to go get our scallop, whole belly clam, and onion ring fix.

Then on downeast to Eastport. One of the most eastern points in America. And home to 30+ foot tides!

And we found an interesting place that served lobster pizza in addition to gigantic bowls of too thick chowder:-( The pizza was awesome.

Still "trying" to solve the world's problems:-)

We discovered Helen's in Machias, and the best haddock chowder in Maine, actually it is closely followed by two others, The Angler in Newport, and Billy's in Wells. A side note we found the Helen recipe and made it ourselves last night, oh so good! And simple! I added lobster to it, no it doesn't need it, but can you actually have too much lobster, the onion rings, some of the best as well, and nicely baked haddock.

After a week or so there we said goodbye to Karen and Tom and headed for Buffalo for the wedding. We stopped in Saco, Me for two nights and since we had no plans decided to drive down to Wells for a Billy's lunch especially since it was dollar oyster Wednesday:-)