Day # 16

This morning we reluctantly headed west on Route 1. When we took our Route 66 trip, we reluctantly left San Francisco behind to head east. This time we left beautiful Acadia to head west. Kaylyn thinks it quite interesting we have now driven on Route 1 along both coasts.

We are not ready to think about home yet. We have one more week to travel, and we are still enjoying all the sights, experiences and tastes of New England. The only thing we are looking forward to is indoor bathrooms. Neither of us enjoys the cold walk to the cold bathrooms, the cold showers (the water is hot, but the room is cold) and the damp towels that never seem to dry.

We are fine with our little kitchen. Tonight Kaylyn made a tasty Zuppa Toscana soup for dinner. The nicer campgrounds have a sink with hot water where we can wash our dishes, and we have a stovetop in the camper – so we can cook simple meals.

In the evening we each settle on our own side of the camper to work on our computers. Our beds are comfortable and we are warm, thanks to the wonderful electric heater Greg installed. This morning Greg woke up in a cold tent, camping with the Boy Scouts. We woke up in our cozy Marshmallow.

We have the truck well-organized. We brought along a couple of those plastic sets of drawers that are useful for craft supplies or dorm rooms. They sit at the back of the truck with our clothes. So when we need our clothes, we open the back doors of the truck, open a drawer, and voila! Simple. Marshmallow is too small to hold our clothes. She carries our kitchen supplies, bedding, towels and some hanging clothes. Greg is concerned she not carry too much weight, so we pack her lightly.

We departed Ellsworth, Maine on Route 1 west and meandered along the coast to Portland. I enjoy the towns, the architecture of the homes, and the views from the bridges as the bay pokes in and out of the land. We parked Miss Marshmallow at a campground north of Portland to let her rest. Since our last trip four years ago, Miss Marshmallow has aged faster than we have. When we travel on rough roads, we must be respectful of her old bones, so at times we are annoyingly pokey in the opinion of the drivers who are following us, I’m sure.

We drove to Yarmouth where DeLorme has their headquarters. They have a three-story globe on display in their building, and a map store to poke around. Then we drove into Portland. We visited Stonewall Kitchen, a kitchen shop which attracted Kaylyn’s attention, and poked around some other shops in town. After a stop at Whole Foods for soup ingredients, we couldn’t resist the headquarters of L. L. Bean. We ended our day with a bowl of Kaylyn’s good soup.