Maine - Day 8

Grand Isle Campground
Wednesday, 8 August 2018

I've finally figured out where I'm going tomorrow, and it means a serious drive.  I'm in the very northern part of Maine, and southwest of Ft. Kent there are no public roads.  None.  The entire northwestern portion of Maine has only private roads.  In fact, from Houlton, which is about 30 miles north of the last campground I was in - draw a line to the west across Maine and everything above it is private roads only.  It's just bizarre.   It's a huge area.

Most of that area is Aroostook County.

George, the owner of my campground, finally came back from Boston where he's been having medical work done - very nice guy.  He told me he and his wife speak French at home, that he grew up speaking it as his primary language until the government decided kids should be speaking only English and the kids were told French was bad.  Reminded me of what happened to the Native American kids.  He said he can't read or write French much because it wasn't allowed in the school, but he thinks in French and that's what he speaks most comfortably and that's why he speaks English with an accent.

He also told me what I'd thought were grain cars on the train that goes right by the campground every afternoon are actually wood chips.  He said logs get sent from the US to Canada and the mill up there turns them into lumber, which it sends back to the US along with the wood chips.  I decided not to ask what the new tariffs are doing to this trade.   George told me he's the local Democratic chair, so I was pretty sure I'd get an earful if I asked.  I'm trying to stick to my policy on this trip of not discussing politics or religion. 

So New Hampshire no longer holds the crown of loosest liquor sales policy.  Maine takes it with liquor being sold in grocery stores.  Not even in a separate section but instead on the shelves along with the bread and stuff.  A pretty decent assortment, it seems to me, in the various stores I've been in .

One of the reasons I hate to leave this campground is that George is only charging me $25 a night, which includes tax and this great internet service.  Most campgrounds I'm finding charge considerably more - especially when I get closer to the coastline.  It might be easier if I could do without electricity, but it's super humid up here, which makes the heat more intense, and it's hard on Gracie and on me to not have access to air conditioning.  I guess I'll just do the best I can to find low-cost campgrounds and otherwise bite the budget bullet until we get cooler weather.