Greenland
Cove Campground, near Danforth
Friday,
3 August 2018
 |
| today's route |
Much
like my travels with the Androscoggin River 2 days ago, today I
traveled with the Penobscot River for about half of
today’s trip, beginning
in Bangor. “Penobscot” sounds so Maine-y somehow.
 |
| Penobscot River |
I
chose to take US Rt 2 instead of the interstate, a decision that had
its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, I enjoyed the company of
the river, and enjoyed seeing the small towns I went through. On the
minus side, the road isn’t in very good shape so I had to drive
much slower than the speed limit and had to pull over often to let
cars go around me, so the drive was more wearing than I’d have
preferred. (Lucky there was a shoulder to pull onto.)
I
passed a sign saying “Tourist Lodge” that hadn’t seen fresh
paint in about 70 years but immediately made me think of that
wonderful Clark Gable/Claudette Colbert movie “It Happened One
Night” and the little tourist courts they stayed in.
Since
I was going through Orono (crossword lovers, take note), I made a
detour onto the campus of the University of Maine. Entirely green
lawns and red brick buildings. And they were very New England red
brick buildings – you know, foresquare and utilitarian, rather than
ornate as so many colleges seem to have. I took a photo of the most
ornate one I could find, and then a few of the others so you can see
what I mean. They look so much alike that I would sure not want to be a
brand new freshman at that school – I’d be constantly lost and
late for class. But it was an attractive campus with all the green
lawns.
We
stopped for lunch and leg-stretches at a boat launch on the
Penobscot, and that turned out to be a good place. Large area of
mown grass and a few
picnic
tables and a few
other
people
eating lunch in their cars just as we were doing.
I’m
already seeing leaves changing colors. In fact, I’ve been seeing
them since Vermont, but of course only a few here and there. But I’m
wondering whether this is normal or whether it’s going to be an
early fall. I saw some more at the picnic area – just a few, you
know, and they were the only ones on that tree, but they were the
gorgeous fall red and orange and yellow and green.
I
heard on the radio that today is International Beer Day!
Since
Jasper’s death, Roscoe has been acting different – which I
expected – but it’s what he’s doing that I didn’t expect. For one thing, he’s never been able to tolerate the dogs and hisses
and claws at them when they come close to him – and in a 24’ RV
that’s
often. And he’s never
been particularly
affectionate, though he’ll lie on the seat beside me sometimes but
doesn’t want to be patted much. And he loved the crate I put the
cats in for our drives and would often spend time in it anytime I
left it available.
Well,
all that’s changed. He’s now starting to act like the dogs are
part of the family and has even been known to sniff them if they’re
near him. He comes looking
for affection sometimes and wants to be patted more. And he’s
acting like he hates the crate and gets hissy when I put him in. So
for the last couple of days I’m trying him on drives without the
crate.
Jasper
was the one anyway who used to try
to
sit in my lap and wind around my legs as I was driving, and if Roscoe
stays away from me then I’m willing to consider leaving him free. I still have to close the bathroom door when I drive
because otherwise it’d swing around and bang into the wardrobe and
generally be a nerve-wracker (and
maybe a home-wrecker),
so Roscoe doesn’t have access to his box except when
we stop, but as
long as he doesn’t find somewhere else
to mess up, then again I’m willing to consider leaving
him free.
I’m
not planning on getting another cat until after Roscoe dies. Cats
are
so picky
about
who they live with, and he and Jasper were together for many years,
and we do have close quarters
and it’s
not like I can
promise an animal shelter I could provide a stable home. So Roscoe and I
will play all this by ear. This trip is a work in progress anyway.
I
turned east on
state route 6
at Lincoln (leaving
the Penobscot River behind)
and hoped it
would be
a better road, as the map designated it as
a principle route. Well, it wasn’t. It was worse. Much worse. The speed limit was 50 mph but
I could barely go 35 mph
without us all being shaken to bits. Talk about wearing.
Google
had given me directions to leave route 6 for route 169, because
it was more direct,
but
it
looked like it was nearly a local road rather than a highway, and I
had planned to ignore
Google. But by the time I got to 169, I figured it couldn’t
possibly
be
worse than route 6 was so I turned. And it was instantly much much
better because route 169 had been paved
so
recently the striping was barely dry. It didn’t have a shoulder,
but it also didn’t have any traffic and it didn’t have any bumps
and I was very happy.
This
road especially is full of hills, real hills, not just little ones
but not mountains either. And I seem to be in farm country as I’m
passing one isolated farm and farmhouse after another. Very
attractive.
I’ve
also been seeing lots of apple trees for weeks now. They act like
they’re growing wild, though I imagine someone planted them a long
time ago – they’re just not necessarily around anything now but
instead just out in the middle of a thicket or something. Full of
apples, which is why I’ve noticed them. And I saw more of them
along this road. Very pleasant drive.
Until
I turned on US route 1. Again terrible and wildly bumpy and I had to
slow down to 35 mph
again.
And
then it got even worse when I turned off on the road to the
campground. Speed limit 15 mph, and there was a reason for that: the
road was very narrow, it did have traffic that
included
a dump truck and other large vehicles, and it was very bumpy. I had
no trouble keeping the speed down to
15. We finally
got to the campground and when I reached
in
back for my purse I found Roscoe sound asleep on a towel on one of
the bench seats. So clearly being out of the crate wasn’t a
problem for him.
I
only drove 100 miles today but the roads were so bad I feel wrung
out. Glad I’m planning to stay here an extra night to rest.
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