Maine - Day 12 - working down the Downeast coast

Pleasant River RV Park, Addison
Sunday, 12 August 2018

today's route

I drove just over 100 miles today, though it doesn't look like it from the map.  And with rest stops it took me 5 hours, which I wouldn't have thought possible - until I tried the roads.

That's US Rt. 1 again, and it's just as bumpy as it was farther north.  In places I couldn't go faster than 30-35 mph, so I was constantly having to find places to pull over so people could go by me, though there was almost no shoulder for most of the way so I was using driveways and mail box pullouts.  Several times I found pullouts that didn't have firm surfaces and I felt like I was almost stuck in some soft gravel once and some soft sand another time.  Gracie and I were both feeling a little queasy from all the bumping after a while, but there wasn't an alternative route, the RV not being able to swim.

On the other hand, it is what you might call picturesque around here.

sample coastline out the window (with Dexter's head)

Not far from here at Columbia Falls is the national office and museum of Wreaths Across America, which I'd never heard of.  They lay wreaths on the graves of veterans.  If you're interested, check this link.  https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/

I passed several signs advertising jobs being done by Leon Perry and Daughters Construction.  Not commonly seen.

Lots and lots of white hydrangeas in full bloom in Maine right now.  Very pretty.

We drove down and down and down a narrow road, following Pleasant River for much of the way, and I finally turned around in the driveway to a place that has llamas.  They also have a couple of very curious horses in a paddock right by the road who, as soon as I started to turn around, came trotting over to check us out.  Both Dexter and Gracie were instantly on alert and even Gracie started barking at them.  I had to roll up the window (I had it down for Gracie's motion sickness) to be sure they didn't jump out to get the horses.  They really got going for a bit and the horses just kept staring at them.  It was actually pretty funny.

We passed Machias Bay where the first naval engagement of the Revolution was fought (and won).  This link battle-of-machias has more information and is very useful, though it could use some serious editing.

I noticed in the Machias (apparently pronounced ma-CHEE-us) area there seemed to be a lot of mine tailings, though I didn't see any active operations.  But when I looked it up, I learned there are 31 mines in the area, many of them gold mines.  Who knew?