On to Boothbay

This morning we head further downeast to Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor to spend the Memorial Day weekend.  We made this reservation way, way back to ensure we found a place for the holiday.  We have been to Shore Hills many times before, it is a nice well laid out campground with a whole section for big rigs, so it is easy to get into and maneuver into and out of your site.  Those that are smaller and want to, can go way down the hill and camp right on the water.  It is in a good location which makes it easy for us to go to the places we have planned.

I have to admit we spent the brunt of our time in Portland eating:-)   A visit from friends, Bob and Harlean, who spent a short weekend here was one of our highlights.  We all were supposed to go on a mail boat cruise around the islands but it was called due to the weather, probably a good thing as it was cool, breezy, and rainy.  Spring in New England.  

We used to spend 2 weeks in the summer renting a house right on Wells Beach years ago, so we wanted to take a ride by, see the old place, and take a walk on the beach, one of our favorites.  Well it didn't work out quite as we planned, we hit the tide wrong, and it was a bit stormy, so not much beach.

Well's Beach

When it is not high tide the beach is perfect for walking, flat, firm, wide, and you can go a long way.  But the main reason we had gone so far south was to go to the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport for arguably the best lobster roll in Maine, our first for this visit.  But they were closed!!!!!!!  

But since we were down that way anyway we could ride over to visit the Maine Diner for lunch.  Now we had been there many times over the years, but not recently, and we had just seen a Triple D show featuring their famous lobster pie that we had never had before, so we felt we just had to do it.  And..... the best we can really say is it was okay and expensive, it did have a lot of lobster, but the cost???

Famous Lobster Pie

The clam roll was pretty good

I can't really say we recommend the place.  

Jan made a call to the Clam Shack and found out they were on much reduced hours until Memorial Day, and would be open in a couple days.  So we marked it on the calendar and headed back down later.  And yes they were open, and yes it was just as delicious as we remembered.

The Clam Shack lobster rolls
Yes they are a bit unique as they are NOT served on a New England Hot Dog roll
But, oh so good!

We accompanied them with stellar onion rings and clam chowder

Full of clams!

We ate in the truck as it was quite brisk out and savored every bite.  

Then as you all know we are quite fickle and don't think we'll be back to this area for a long time, so we decided with the fact the seafood chowder at Harraseeket Lunch was so good, we should go back and try it again and get something different.  Don't get the idea that these places are a long way, they all are within a very reasonable striking distance.

View from the dock

Another shot of the fantastic seafood chowder
We'd put this up against ANY other!

How's that for a haddock sandwich
Yes it was as delicious as it looks!

Even got a sample of lobster bisque

We did a lot of walking while we were here and I'm sure it offsets all the eating.  Jan and I are convinced of it.  It was mostly cool and overcast for our time here, but it was interspersed with a couple nice and warm days, very welcome temps after Florida.

Jan caught a pretty sunset from our site

We decided to go back into Portland, walk around a bit and try, yes, another restaurant, this time a break from seafood, Chinese.  We had read about the Empire Chinese Kitchen which had excellent reviews, and since we both love Chinese off we went.  It was a beautiful day, blue skies, warm temps, a perfect time to walk around the city.  Our lunch was spectacular, they have a small menu and we wanted to try several things.

Inside shot

Hot and Sour soup

Duck Lo Mein

Shrimp dumplings

These were amazing!
Spicy Pork Belly Buns

I know, enough food all ready!  Well, gird up, I can guarantee more will be coming as we continue our travels:-)

After lunch and walking around, we went over to Fort Allen Park and the Eastern Promenade.  They have the afterdeck of the USS Portland there as a memorial.  She saw  much action, received 15 Battle Stars making her one of the most decorated ships in the US Navy, and after the war Portland accepted the Japanese surrender in the Caroline Islands.

Casco Bay

Fort Gorges
Obsolete before it was ever used

Me standing on the afterdeck of the USS Portland

It is also a memorial to those first responders who assisted and helped on 9/11.

Back in Maine, eating very well:-)

We left you in Mt Airy, NC heading north.  We stopped in 2, new to us, campgrounds along the way to Maine, one in PA, Twin Grove in Pine Grove, PA, and one in NY, Brook n Wood in Rhinebeck, NY.  Twin Grove was out in the rolling country of PA north of Harrisburg, quite large and full of amenities all the way to a ferris wheel, but since we are ahead of the season, it was nice and quiet, well spread out, and easy to maneuver in.

Our site at Twin Grove

The campground in Rhinebeck was very nice, although a bit unusually laid out.  We had to go all the way through the campground to check in and then all the way back out, almost to the entrance to our site.  It was fine though, as the roads were wide and easy to drive on, one ding though.  The entrance road to our area had a 90 degree turn that could have been filled in a little wider, especially for our 45'.  We were escorted in and the gentleman warned me and asked me to take it very wide so we had no problem, well, the way it was situated, going out I took it wide, but not wide enough so we drug.  So we had to back and fill a bit to get around the corner.  On the good side, the campground is also large but doesn't have a huge number of sites, therefore the individual sites are huge!  Great privacy and very quiet and dark.  Fix the corner and we wouldn't hesitate to come back.

Not a great picture, but pretty private, huh?

We hadn't spent any time in the Hudson Valley before and we were amazed at how beautiful it was.  Rolling, green forests and farms, lots of wineries, streams, incredible homes dispersed among the lovely countryside that is just dotted with quaint towns, one after the other.

Now we are in Maine, Scarborough to be specific, just south of Portland at a huge, extremely well done campground called Bayley's Camping Resort.  It is HUGE, and just to share a little of what they have, 4 heated pools, 6 hot tubs, complimentary beach trolleys, kayaking in the Wildlife Refuge, 250 acres with over 700 sites including a whole section for big rigs, trailer and cabin rentals, 3 stocked fishing ponds, live entertainment and activities in season, and even more.  It is something and especially nice now ahead of the season, as it is quiet and very sparsely inhabited.  This is one of the best and nicest  campgrounds we have ever seen.

This is the view from our site

The view back across one of the ponds to our rig

Our site from another angle,
and yes the leaves are just starting to come out:)

We spent 20 years of our lives in nearby NH, and spent a lot of time in this area, so there is a bit of that coming back home feeling that we are enjoying.  Jan was able to get her hair done in Portland.  I should mention that is one of the myriad little challengess that being full time brings.  Jan has had to, over the years find places, some good, and some not so good to get her hair done.  She keeps a log as to where and how pleased she was, so if we get back to an area she already knows where to go. She also has to plan out where and when amidst our fairly constant travels.  Obviously mail, doctors, jury duty, repairs, etc. are some of the other challenges.

I should mention the not so good news first.  I had just gotten up from a short nap, and the sun was brightly shining and as I looked into the toilet compartment which was lit up, I thought I noticed a tile that seemed to be pushing up?!?  A bit of panic occurred as you know we are pretty sensitive to leaks, and floor problems.  Sure enough the one small tile was pushing up, so it had to come out to see what was what.

And it wasn't pretty!
It's wet in there!

OMG, what is leaking?  Have to get some more tiles up.

Oh no.

Oh wow. Not good.

Has our toilet been leaking?  Well, I pull it out and sure enough we can see where water has been dripping down over the back, I figure it must be a loose hose clamp on the vacuum breaker.  The vacuum breaker is required so there is no chance any waste water can siphon back into your fresh water.  This is one of those rules that makes you scratch your head, how waste water under NO pressure can make it's way back into city water pressure is beyond me, but......  anyway I tighten the hose clamp, reset the toilet, turn back on the water, and Jan flushes while looking at the back of the toilet and I am poised to shut off the water, and what do we find, the vacuum breaker itself shoots out a stream of water every time we flush!  How long has this been going on?  All the while, Jan and I are contemplating another floor job:-(  Well, now what?  We found this in on a Sunday, of course, and realize without the vacuum breaker in the line we can't flush the toilet.  Hmm.  Well my friend Jack would be proud of me, I dismantled the undismantable, and cut most of it off and jury rigged it back up to the toilet, and voila it works!  Just don't tell the toilet police as we are running without a vacuum breaker in our line right now until we get a new part.

The dismantled vacuum breaker

The jury rigged piece about to be inserted in the toilet

So if there is any good news, now that things have dried out, it doesn't appear the floor was impacted too much, some bleach and Git Rot and I think we'll be okay, of course with the tiles pulled up we'll have to make a decision on the floor going forward, but that will wait for another time.

Meanwhile, and I know a lot of you just love our food pictures, well, get ready.  We had quite a jones built up headed for New England that centered on things like lobster rolls, lobster stew, seafood chowder, fried full belly clams, clam chowder, you get the idea.  Well Jan got her hair cut and I went looking and found a likely place for our first NE lunch, actually I cannot take any credit, Nancy and CT had mentioned going there and Tripadvisor had good things to say, so after a nightmare finding parking we went to Gilbert's Chowder House and had a fantastic lunch addressing several of the items on the list:)

Fried clams! 

Excellent onion rings

And stellar Lobster Stew!!

Then another day we made our way back to NH to go to a famous and popular place, Newick's Lobster House in Dover, NH in business since 1948.  A place we have been to many, many times over the years, you always wonder if it will still be good after so many years away?  And, it was!

More fried clams and scallops, onion nuggets, and homemade chips
after our unbelievable fish and clam chowder!

Jan's a happy camper

Then another direction, up the coast or downeast as they say.  To Freeport and LL Bean.

It was extremely quiet here on this visit, very, very nice as compared to many times we have been when there are so many people just walking around, let alone finding parking, is almost impossible.  But, we were both a little disappointed, it seemed to us that a little of that LL Bean magic was gone and they weren't carrying as much as normal, possibly all the other competitors are making inroads in their business.  Still nice to wander around.  Then on to lunch.  We used to keep our sailboat in Freeport and got to know another institution down on the dock for lunch, Harraseeket Lunch.  It is definitely a tourist trap, but has excellent food and a lot of locals eat there, especially now before the season starts. 

The incredible seafood chowder!

And a tray full of steamers, yummy

Now you will notice we have not yet hit the lobster rolls, well be assured they will be, and soon.

A quick post, a reminder to some and a suggestion to others

We usually try to plan out our fuel stops somewhat, and that also includes differences in price from state to state.  Most of us with diesel pushers have an advantage of a large fuel tank and considerable range.  We use Pilot Flying J almost exclusively as the truck lanes are easily accessed, have large capacity pumps, and we have a Good Sam/Pilot Flying J card that gives us a discount over and above even the cash price.  Also on a trip like we are on now, knowing that New England has few Flying J's, we wanted to plan to get fuel as far into the Northeast as we could so we could travel around without worrying about fuel for some time.  

Well, what a shock!  Normally we'll find a few cents difference between states, but what we found this morning was unbelievable.  We wanted to get way up in Pennsylvania before we fueled so we could easily travel all the way north to Maine and most of the way back without refueling, so I opened the Pilot Flying J app and found several truck stops near Wilkes-Barre, great.  Then I checked the price, WOW!  More than $.50/gallon as compared to VA!  I couldn't believe it, so I went online to investigate and found out Pennsylvania has the highest fuel taxes in the nation.  It sure surprised us.  We are both from PA and never were aware of it, of course, it's not like we spend much time there.  

So by looking around at our route and fuel needs we found we can fuel near Port Jervis, NY, right where we leave I-84 to head north on Rte 209.  Wilkes-Barre prices are $3.759, and Montague, NJ is $3.399.  That, my friends is significant enough to make a difference.

So be sure to take a look at the individual state prices as you travel this year, sometimes just a small adjustment to when and where you fuel can make a significant difference in fuel costs.  Heck it'll get you a nice glass of bourbon:-) 

Fishing again!

We had a fantastic time in Marble, NC.  First off, I should say we did not drag coming out this morning, although we went very slowly and Jan watched me carefully every inch of the way.  More campgrounds need to take these kind of things seriously because a steep incline or a road that is full of holes or drains, low branches and need to be trimmed foliage are all items that will cause someone to come back or not.  Please be sure to give them your feedback in a firm yet polite way, but do it.  Too many times we'll complain among ourselves and the campground will never know what their problems are.  It is just as important to give positive feedback so they know their efforts are appreciated.

But on to the fishing.  We drove from our campground about 20 miles to the Upper Nantahala River.  It is a small clear stream with great accessibility and all public, so for a change fishing access is easy and plentiful.  We saw quite a few other fishermen enjoying the river and the fine weather.  This river is classified as Delayed Harvest, so right now you call only use a lure with one hook, no bait, etc, and you can only catch and release, just perfect for what we had in mind.  Also the water levels are controlled by a dam as this is called tailwater, so is very consistent.  We fished on 2 different days and were successful on both, always a terrific thing.

A shot of the beautiful river

The first day, we caught one fish apiece, and spent a glorious 3 hours, fishing several different spots, really getting our sealegs back.  After all it had been last fall since we had fished.  Reacquainting ourselves with our gear, waders, tying on new leaders, tippet, and wading again took a bit of time, but it came back quickly.

One of our first day fish

Our new Rod Vault really made it easy to pick up from one spot and move somewhere else, no longer did we have to hang the rods out the window, or break them down, just slip them in the vault, and move to the next spot, pull them out and fish.  I wish I could say it was entirely worth waiting 10 months for.

Jan fishing

One of Jan's successes

We went back the second day and did even better, Jan got 2, and got another one.

What a beautiful spot, huh?

Yay, got one

One of mine

All in all we spent a very enjoyable couple days in the Murphy area, had a great lunch at Rib Country, highly recommended by the way.  You can relax, we forgot to take pictures of our BBQ:-)

And after getting out of the campground in Marble, Valley River, we drove the coach up to Mt Airy, NC to the Mayberry Campground.  It is large, quite nice, friendly people with some large pull throughs and convenient to the interstate.  We are here only 2 nights, and did a quick overview of Mt Airy which is the home of Andy Griffith, so there are lots of Andy Griffith Show memorabilia in town.  Andy's cop cars are everywhere giving tours, Floyd's barber shop, etc.  

After looking around in town we had a very enjoyable surprise visit with a former neighbor couple and friends of our's, Larry and Teresa.  They own a beautiful lot in a motor coach resort nearby, and we took a chance and dropped in on them.  They actually weren't there when we arrived but showed up shortly, and we spent a great time catching up and telling stories for a few hours.  It is wonderful when paths cross with great friends!