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.