Big Changes: Day 80 Milestones

Day 80 of Trip, Thursday, August 28, 2014

After repeating some of our favorite activities in and around Acadia National Park yesterday, including biking on the carriage roads again...

Swimming in the pool, and having one last popover overlooking Jordan Pond...

We said goodbye to Hadley's Point Campground early this morning and started our trek westward, away from the coast for the first time in 7 weeks.

We stopped at 10 a.m. for some gas, and I noticed that the convenience store was selling Chester's Chicken. We haven't had that since we left Garden Valley, Idaho in 2008. Suddenly we were both famished! So of course we had to have fried chicken for breakfast! We decided that once every six years it wouldn't hurt us to do that. After we bought it, we looked around for a table to enjoy it, but alas! There was none. So we pulled our lawn chairs out of the back of the pick-up and sat beside the truck on the pavement of the gas station, and enjoyed our fresh, hot chicken as we watched the traffic roar by. Nothing like great ambiance for an elegant meal!

A couple of roadside photos... A very interesting bridge with the supports coming up between the 2 lanes of traffic:

A lovely flower bed in front of a beautiful bank building:

The return of roadside rock, which we never saw on the coast:

And the restoration of the gleaming copper roof of the State Capitol in Augusta:

Today we also traveled to China, Paris, Poland, Norway, and Oxford...all without leaving the State of Maine! And we had three more big events for our adventure: we hit Day 80 of the trip, we passed our 6,000 mile mark,  and.....(drum roll, please).... We bought a new home! One that's road-worthy, that is.

Exactly four weeks ago, while we were waiting 4 hours on the ferry dock going from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia, we first dared to think of traveling in an RV that would be bigger and more convenient than our pop-up tent camper. As we were hanging out on the ferry docks that day, we saw a small RV and talked to the owners, who happily gave us a tour and extolled its virtues. From that day, we've looked pretty carefully at lots of different RVs in the various campgrounds, and we've collected much advice from owners as they've proudly shown us their various rigs. And it's so funny...almost every one of them have said, "we used to have a pop-up camper." I think there's definitely a pattern here....

Today we found a hard side camper, on the smaller end (23'), which we believe will keep us comfortably enjoying our travels For MANY more miles than our pop-up will. It's been a great entry into this lifestyle, and we've had lots of fun with it. But we think we want to do lots more traveling like this, and a few more amenities will keep us going longer. We're both really excited about this!

Because it's still in the showroom, I couldn't get enough distance for a good photo of the outside. This is the best I have for now, but soon we'll be able to show you a complete set-up:

It's a 2015 Vision, made by KZ RVs, an Amish family-owned business known for its quality for many years.

Here are a couple of interior shots:

As you can see, Curt was "test-driving" all aspects of it. He didn't take a shower in it though!

We have a few loose ends to tie up, and it's Labor Day weekend, so we'll pick it up on Wednesday. We can't wait!

So to celebrate, we're staying at the King Mountain Inn, a B&B outside of South Paris, Maine. I'll try to catch a couple of photos tomorrow. (It's 10:30 p.m. now). As we had our celebratory dinner (no, not lobster this time. Not even seafood of any kind!), our server was a terrific young man named Spencer. We believe he's really going places. He really enjoys people, and it shows in all his conversations and actions. Today was the first day of his Senior year in High School, and he already knows where he's headed. He wants to be a psychiatric nurse. What a great direction for a sharp young man. All the best to you, Spencer!