Summer Travel Map

Monday, August 20, 2007

Smooth sailing (no boat required)

August 19, 2007
Bangor, ME

Friday went pretty much according to plan. We had lunch at the Dayboat Restaurant in Rustico. Geri had a very rich Lobster Pasta and I had the equally fine Lobster Quesadilla, with a nice bottle of Muscadet from the Loire Valley in France and a plate of three local oysters – Coleman, Raspberry Point and Malpeque – for starters. We liked the Coleman and Raspberry Point oysters the best because we prefer smaller, more subtle flavors to the big-honkin’-briny Malpeques. We’d understood the generalization that all east coast oysters are large, so it was a pleasant surprise to find out it’s not true.

In the afternoon, we completed most of the interior departure preparations, and then had an early dinner with Brad and Jan at a local buffet. After 2-3 plates each, we were stuffed! When we got home, I finished up the majority of the outside preparation, even hooking up the Range Rover since we were in a long pull-thru site.

Yesterday started with light rain, which woke me up around 6 AM. By the time we got up at 7 AM (planning for an 8 AM departure), the rain had stopped but the skies were still filled with low, fast-moving grey clouds blowing in from the northwest. We hit the road right on time, heading for the Confederation Bridge, which would take us to New Brunswick. Along the way, we saw the first gas stations with regular unleaded under C$1/liter. Diesel was still just over C$1/liter.

Along the way, I realized I’d missed the opportunity to stop for a picture of the interesting (well, to me anyway – but I’m easily intrigued) traffic lights on PEI. Most of the intersections with lights have them mounted horizontally (relatively rare in the US) and each signal indication is a different shape. Green lights are round, like we’re used to. Yellow caution lights are triangular, and red stop lights (there are usually two of these) are square. What an interesting design; coding for the colorblind? Like the other Maritime Provinces, turn lane signals have flashing green arrows, which I came to like once I got used to them. The only other place we’ve seen flashing green lights is in parts of Massachusetts, generally at the few remaining rotaries.

I’d allowed some time in the travel plan for a wait at the toll (you only pay to get off PEI, whether by bridge or ferry), but there was no line and the transaction was very efficient. The lady in the booth was handing me back my card and receipt for C$61.00 within seconds of my giving it to her.

The bridge crossing was uneventful, since the winds were calm and the rain, which looked like it would start at any time, held off. In bad weather, I can imagine that it’s more of a white-knuckle ride for a vehicle like ours. The bridge itself stretches for 9 miles and is built on some 250 concrete piers. The “causeway” part is higher off the water than most bridges of its type (e.g., Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Sunshine Bridge in Tampa) at 100 meters up. There’s a higher “bump” of about 150 meters near the New Brunswick side for larger ship traffic. No matter what, Geri doesn’t like bridges, so she was glad when we were on the other side.

Once we were in New Brunswick, the directions were simple: TC-16 south to TC-2, then TC-2 for over 200 kilometers to the exit for the US border at Houlton, ME. We made a quick bio-break near Moncton (New Brunswick should really invest in a few designated “rest area” spots), and made excellent time getting to the border.

We were a little disappointed that we didn't see more wildlife on the trip. We saw two bald eagles but only while we were driving, so there weren't any photo opps. And, we only saw one moose. It was a fresh kill stuffed in the back of a pickup with the antlers hanging out one side and the hooves out the other as we passed through Port Hawkesbury.

We only had about 4 cars in front of us at the border crossing, so we were well ahead of schedule (I’d allocated an hour, knowing we didn’t have an alternative and not knowing how long the wait would be). The crossing was pretty straightforward. The staff was friendlier than we many we’ve encountered. I had everything organized, with passports and receipts for customs declaration readily available (we were way under the limit and they didn’t ask to see the receipts or the goods), which was better than trying to say we were in Canada for 28 days and returning with nothing to declare. We did have to pull to the side for an agricultural inspection, which focused on the refrigerator and the dog’s food. We only had a few cherries for fruit, but the bag was clearly labeled “Product of USA” so that was no problem. She found a package of sopressatta (Italian salami), but that was clearly identified as from DiBruno Bros. in Philadelphia (sounds like we gotta eat that soon!) as well. The dog food was more of a problem, since she wasn’t familiar with the Coco’s Canine Cuisine packages of rice and barley, and we’d tossed the bag for the kibble. I explained how the Coco’s worked and said that the kibble (there was only a little left) came with us because we didn’t want to change their diet during the trip. The explanations were OK, but the warning was that we should really have the product labels available for inspection. We’ll keep this in mind for the next time!

The border crossing is at the extreme northern terminus of I-95, and I’d done my research to know that there was a truck stop at the first exit where we could fuel up. This is no surprise, given the lower fuel costs in the US. I’d calculated that we’d be able to make it to the border without fueling, and we did fine, arriving with just under ¼ of a tank remaining (we hadn’t put fuel in the coach since we left Halifax). Of course, since I was able to put 133+ gallons into a nominally 150 gallon tank, the gauge is a little suspect! We took advantage of the shift from the Atlantic to Eastern Time Zone (gaining an hour) to have lunch. Unfortunately, as we sat at the lunch counter having our burgers and fries, we were sitting right in front of the rotating dessert cooler with about 20 different kinds of pie. By the time we were stuffed from lunch, we still needed to have pie to go to have with dinner!

From Houlton, the drive to Bangor was a quick two-hour shot down I-95. The tail-wind that we’d had across much of New Brunswick turned to a cross-wind and picked up in intensity, but at least we’d left the clouds generally behind. We found the park I’d selected with no problems. It’s a small, older park that doesn’t have a lot of facilities, but the new owners have plans to upgrade gravel pull-thrus over time. Since we were just looking for a place to stop and re-supply, the $20/night Good Sam rate was just fine with us. We had our pick of 30 amp back-in sites and found one (there are only 26 sites in the park) that was easy to back into and should be easy to get out of. I was a little worried about the wet ground because of recent rain, but we seem to be on solid footing. The park is full of trees, so satellite reception is out of the question, but there are a couple of local over-the-air channels in Bangor, so we can at least catch the news.

Today started out sunny but cool, with temperatures in the upper-50s. It’s still breezy, and cool but nice. We made our shopping list and mapped out a route to the stores we needed: Sam’s and Shaw’s to re-stock. We were able to get almost everything on the list and have what we need to be self-sufficient for the week. We’ll stock up again in CT for the trip south. We’re working hard at not over-buying when we’re staying in one place for a week or so, because it allows us to make the best use of fresh ingredients, but when we’re on the move like this week (we leave tomorrow for New Hampshire for 2 nights, then Vermont for 2 nights before getting to CT Friday afternoon), it’s best to plan ahead and have everything on hand for “one-dish meals”.

This afternoon, we relaxed a bit and we’ll have ½ a rotisserie chicken with a 2005 DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages, a wine we haven’t had in a while. Since we didn’t deploy a whole lot, we should be in good shape for tomorrow’s departure.

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