RV Date: 09.02.21 We Survived Ida

Told you the storms were still chasing us. We had been in Maine for a few weeks roaming around, but we arrived in Bedford, Ma. yesterday afternoon. You see, I decided to pick my punishment for evading Mother Nature for the last 9 months. Maybe she will be satisfied and tell Mr. North Wind to settle down and quit being q grump. I can hope. Neither of the last 2 storms got us as we twisted around the Canadian Border, but rather than head to the safe west side of the Appalachians, we followed the coast down to visit my Uncle in Cape Cod. From looking at the modeling forecasts, I could tell we were in for quite a bit of rain but no severe storms or winds were forecast for the area. We tucked into our new site on Hanscom AFB Campground around lunch time and shortly after that the first rain bands started to reach us. They were light at first, a soft drizzle which would barely dampen your clothes, strengthening slightly in droplet size requiring at least a hat , if not a raincoat, to be outside in, then to finally, a steady downpour by 4:00 p.m. It stopped about 7:00 a.m. this morning and varied in intensity throughout the night. No wind or lightening to worry about though, just the sound of never ending drops on the trailer roof. We had a small pond outside our camper this morning, but no flooding to worry about. Some areas close to us did receive major rain with the flash flooding it invariably brings, especially in cities that are concreted over. So maybe Mother Nature will cut us a break, but I'm not going to push our luck. We are here through the 7th and I see Larry is cruising around the Atlantic building some muscles before it comes across the Eastern Seaboard. I think Kate's remnants will get sucked into Larry's vortex and add her remaining strength. So from here I believe we are heading West to visit Gettysburg.

Okay, the last 2 weeks, hmmm; .... a synopsis I think! I told you about the visit to Bar Harbor (BAAH HAABAH) and the E.coli water breakout already and left you to go visit Steven King land. So a drive into Bangor and up to his front yard we went. We got some nice pictures of the house, gates and the ominous looking carving in the side yard. Following the visit to his house, we moved along and saw the water tank from "It" and the cemetery behind the legend of the "Pet Cemetery". For me it was an enjoyable day, as I was able to get lost in my mind in the worlds that Steven King has created through the many, many, books of his that I have read.

The next step in our adventure was to follow US Hwy 1 to its start in the North of Maine. A lovely day spent driving through the solar system, it's a to scale model built by the University, and the beautiful views throughout Northern Maine. We drove along the St. John river on the US side and found a nice place to stop and watch the clears waters pass and gaze at the homes across the boarder. It would have been nice if we had been able to roam to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and Terri really wanted to visit Quebec, but the boarder crossings were still vague, and overwhelmed due to the pent up demand. So we stayed in the US and cruised around. We ultimately ended up in Wells, Me just south of Kennebunkport for our last couple of nights in Me. We went for a beautiful stroll on the beach in Wells and I added to my rock collection (I got a rock tumbler for Christmas a few years ago and its spinning in the camper storage area. I have a big bag of rocks, sand and debris from the Arkansas diamond fields that I need to tumble next!! Who knows, maybe we are rich!!!). We also finally scored a lobster roll! My buddy Shakey has been describing them and drooling about them since I met him in the distant past. He was right, they are absolutely delicious!

So, that basically catches you up with our travels. We will spend the next week in the Boston area being tourist. I'm trying to talk Terri into taking a guided nighttime haunted tour that cruises through the darker side of Boston, cemeteries and the alleys of the Boston Strangler are two of the key stopping points..... We are going to do a Hop on and off daytime tour so I can get my history geekiness sated for a week or so. Next major stop is to Gettysburg.

I've been asked if I could put in some maps of the areas we are in, so I will see what I can do.

I do have quite a few pictures to add and will do so later when we arrive at a campsite with Wi-Fi. I got a notice from AT&T that they were going to severely throttle my hotspot connection if I didn't stop it. nyeahhh nyeahhh it's supposed to be unlimited. We are at Hanscom AFB, upper left corner, Boston to the right, Cape Cod and hour away and Salem just off the map