Where we have certain lingual idiosyncrasies in the south, the two I have noticed here is that every reply starts with a suscint "Yep." "Yep, she looked good." "Yep, yep, we sure need rain." In fact, I think I am catching this too. Yep, I think I am. And the other is "All set."In a restaurant this phrase means, are you ready to order, do you need anything else and are you ready to pay. Handy. Saves all those words.
The glorified trailer park was not so bad. They were mostly neat, most had wooden decks and some were decorated and landscaped. Most also had fridges outside and lots of stuff stored outside so a bit crowded looking. But they also had a roped off swimming area in the lake with two floating docks and a pier for tying up boats. I am sure m
any families are having memorable summer experiences. It was just not very polished and the laundry room was scary. We witnessed another game which I think is called washers. Similar to horseshoes but there are two rectangular boxes with a cup in the center of each of them. You toss metal washers and get two points for getting in the box and three for in the cup. The campground holds a tournament every Friday night and we are told that folks take it very seriously.
On our way to this location I called for directions and was told it was "right on Hwy 9 and there is a sign." As we approached the area, I did see a small highway sign with arrow pointing right and a 2. On the coast, these signs usually indicated something is 2 miles ahead on the right so we went on and peeled our eyes. Nothing. We stopped at a convenience store (do not think like the ones you know....very basic and rustic). Nice young woman told me that you indeed should turn down that road and go 2 miles. I remarked that we were told it was right on the highway and she said that in that area the people would likely describe it that way. Oooookaay. Then she warned me to be sure to observe the 4 way stop down that road as people often drove right through it. When we got to said intersection we found out why people didn't stop. It was not a 4 way but a 2 way stop. Starting to feel like we are in the twilight zone or one of those movies where a stranger encounters aliens disguised as people.
But that is behind us. We left that area yesterday headed again north and now west. For awhile there are few signs of human habitation, then telephone lines, finally power lines and as we approach Bangor, more and more signs of civilization. We also encountered the worst road I have ever been on that calls itself a highway. We had many delays for paving but wondered as the parts they were paving were not nearly as needy as that first part. The last 25 miles to Greenville took us 45 minutes due to construction delays. But we are here in a charming albeit rustic campground. School starts in Maine on Monday next so it is sparsely populated, but it is dotted with apple trees and has spacious wooded sites. We spotted two large rabbits feeding nearby. The good thing is that we again have cell and internet coverage which were both spotty at the last location.
Greenville is on the shores of Moosehead Lake where Gene camped about 30 years ago several times. Cousin Jane and Roy have joined us here and are staying in a motel with a stunning lake view. Roy has come here often in the winter for cross country skiing. This is a jumping off point for people headed off into the wilderness to ski, hike, snowmobile, or fish. You can see Mt. Katadin, the end of the Appalachian Trail, beyond the far side of the lake. So for a small settlement, there are a lot of restaurants, trading posts, a large outfitter. A sophisticated gift and furniture shop nestled in the back of a shopping center next to a laundromat looked out of place. And the lake is just right there with a backdrop of mountains. This is also a center for seaplanes as they take folks off to wilderness camps from here. There will be a seaplane fly in here the weekend after Labor Day. We have seen a couple of them tied to docks along the lake.
The glorified trailer park was not so bad. They were mostly neat, most had wooden decks and some were decorated and landscaped. Most also had fridges outside and lots of stuff stored outside so a bit crowded looking. But they also had a roped off swimming area in the lake with two floating docks and a pier for tying up boats. I am sure m
any families are having memorable summer experiences. It was just not very polished and the laundry room was scary. We witnessed another game which I think is called washers. Similar to horseshoes but there are two rectangular boxes with a cup in the center of each of them. You toss metal washers and get two points for getting in the box and three for in the cup. The campground holds a tournament every Friday night and we are told that folks take it very seriously.On our way to this location I called for directions and was told it was "right on Hwy 9 and there is a sign." As we approached the area, I did see a small highway sign with arrow pointing right and a 2. On the coast, these signs usually indicated something is 2 miles ahead on the right so we went on and peeled our eyes. Nothing. We stopped at a convenience store (do not think like the ones you know....very basic and rustic). Nice young woman told me that you indeed should turn down that road and go 2 miles. I remarked that we were told it was right on the highway and she said that in that area the people would likely describe it that way. Oooookaay. Then she warned me to be sure to observe the 4 way stop down that road as people often drove right through it. When we got to said intersection we found out why people didn't stop. It was not a 4 way but a 2 way stop. Starting to feel like we are in the twilight zone or one of those movies where a stranger encounters aliens disguised as people.
But that is behind us. We left that area yesterday headed again north and now west. For awhile there are few signs of human habitation, then telephone lines, finally power lines and as we approach Bangor, more and more signs of civilization. We also encountered the worst road I have ever been on that calls itself a highway. We had many delays for paving but wondered as the parts they were paving were not nearly as needy as that first part. The last 25 miles to Greenville took us 45 minutes due to construction delays. But we are here in a charming albeit rustic campground. School starts in Maine on Monday next so it is sparsely populated, but it is dotted with apple trees and has spacious wooded sites. We spotted two large rabbits feeding nearby. The good thing is that we again have cell and internet coverage which were both spotty at the last location.
Greenville is on the shores of Moosehead Lake where Gene camped about 30 years ago several times. Cousin Jane and Roy have joined us here and are staying in a motel with a stunning lake view. Roy has come here often in the winter for cross country skiing. This is a jumping off point for people headed off into the wilderness to ski, hike, snowmobile, or fish. You can see Mt. Katadin, the end of the Appalachian Trail, beyond the far side of the lake. So for a small settlement, there are a lot of restaurants, trading posts, a large outfitter. A sophisticated gift and furniture shop nestled in the back of a shopping center next to a laundromat looked out of place. And the lake is just right there with a backdrop of mountains. This is also a center for seaplanes as they take folks off to wilderness camps from here. There will be a seaplane fly in here the weekend after Labor Day. We have seen a couple of them tied to docks along the lake.
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