Drive Report: 200 Miles / 3:16
There were a LOT of trees along the route today. This, of course, limited our view of the world we were zipping past. As to the route, we elected to take I-495 and go in a big loop to the West of Boston rather than try to pass closer to town. There were options closer to Boston than I-495, but we hate heavy traffic when we’re in The Rig. Plus we couldn't let the Propane Police catch us in the tunnels on I-93 So, the route was something like 40 miles longer than the route thru Boston, but interestingly only an additional 4 minutes of travel time. This is the gospel according to Google Maps: Chapter 3, Verse 47. Amen. And if you’re trying to look up that reference in the Google Maps Concordance, ignore her when she says she has found a quicker route. The quicker route is, as we all know, the route to Hell.
So, here we sit in Maine. Wells, Maine to be precise. Just about halfway between Kennebunkport and Ogunquit. I gotta tell ya, I considered it for a time - but Ogunquit still doesn’t beat out Bumpass for best town name on the trip so far. I still giggle when I say Bumpass.
That said, here’s the day in pics...
I think I already said we went around Boston. I'm pretty sure that both of these places are tied for first place on the short list of where we don't want to be today. At this point we're on Interstate 495. There's a good bit of traffic, but it isn't too heavy and we moved right along.
We stopped for a break about 85 miles in to the trip today to switch drivers. I drove first. Susan can only stand sitting in the passenger seat for so long before she starts getting twitchy. She acts like she's steering and makes engine noises. Teamsters - what's a guy supposed to do? But back to the break - it was a disaster. I ran out of Peanut M&Ms. I bought this at Costco before we left on the trip. I nursed it along with bags of Peanut M&Ms I got when I retired, but today - well, it was a dark day. I've been out of the loop for so long I don't even know if they still sell Peanut M&Ms.
We entered New Hampshire on the route today. That would be Nu Hempsha, to those of you unfamiliar with the local vernacular.
And right after the official "Welcome" sign, there was this. In all our travels across the country, we've never seen a state road sign touting liquor stores. Let alone that they're open on Sundays. Given that today was Sunday, Susan and I were greatly relieved that the good citizens of Nu Hempsha haven't a worry about staying sober on Sundays. It is a lovely shade of blue tho, don'cha think?
Fortunately, we were going in the opposite direction (North) of whatever created all this SB traffic. It was stop and go on that side of the highway - for probably 6-8 miles. Ouch. We asked the people working the check-in counter at the RV park and they thought at least partly it was due to people heading back to the city after a weekend up near where we're headed.
We crossed this bridge over the Merrimack River somewhere around Lawrence, MA. It was a neat old structure.
We spotted this sign part way across the bridge. It was OK - but we were kinda hoping for more.
However, Susan is the draw bridge photo op queen. Recall her last pic of a drawbridge - open. This one happens to be closed. It's a fairly new bridge having opened officially in 2018 and won engineering awards. The price - a paltry $158.5 million. I'll take two please. The reader should note those large pulleys at the top of each tower. They're huge, but then again, raising a section of road that long is kinda a big deal. Used by permission of Susan Schoen Photography, LLC.
HO - there it is. The people of Maine were just waiting to give us a more formal invitation. I guess the sign on the bridge was more like that "save the date" thing they do for wedding nowadays. "Welcome Home", I like it.
"Home" We made it to the Sea Vu RV Campground.
After getting set up we headed out to explore and found the Drakes Island Beach. It was kinda cool and lies right next to a large estuary...
...and by large I mean large. The rock wall behind us is a sea wall intended to keep the mouth of the estuary open and permit boats into Wells Harbor. Being the billy goat that she is, Susan hopped right up on it and headed out to sea. Good Lord - it's like trying to restrain an exuberant 3 year old.
I proffer this screen shot of us out on the sea wall. Those in my immediate family will have one question after seeing this. "Is Mom still alive?" Yes, she's fine. For those of you not in the know, Susan has a bit of a history of dragging the family on all these daring vacations and then she's the one that ends up: riding her mountain bike into an 8' deep hole, breaking a rib skiing, rafting the rapids of the New River in a rubber canoe and being the only person in the party to have the rapids submerge her and the canoe - repeatedly. I was standing next to the mountain biking guide who, upon seeing half of Susan and all of her bike disappear into the hole says, "Hmph. I've never seen that before. Do you think she's OK?" I replied, "She'll be fine. This is normal." Then ran over to get her and the bike out of the hole. Really - she's fine.
We got this shot of the shore from the sea wall.
Then by the time we got back to the beach and had walked maybe a quarter mile toward those houses in the previous pic, the surf had picked up. I included this one just because I like all the breaking waves, even if they're not huge.
Then it was back on the scoot and off to a local eatery to grab a bite to eat before heading to The Rig for what remains of the evening. Nothing fancy at the eatery. But at some point over the next two days, I'm gonna eat a lobster. Everyone back in Dennis Port said that Maine Lobster was the best. We shall see.
Till next time.
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