Damariscotta, ME

July 28th to August 5th
We were invited to join a group of RV'ers we met last month on a trip to Maine. We had two reasons to go, have a good time and meet other members of the local Good Sam chapter, the Jersey Pioneers.

We made arrangements to meet them on the NY Thruway just east of the Garden State Parkway entrance. The timing was perfect, no sooner had I stopped, the other two rigs came into view. I became the leader as I was familiar with the route having made the trip to Boston many times. About half of the trip was the same route we used to go to Bean Town. I saved thirty miles by going this way. We made two stops on the way up, one to stretch our legs and the other for fuel and lunch. We arrived at the campground about 3:30 PM.

We checked in and went to our site, levelled the unit, and made the hook-ups except the sewer. I didn't have enough hose to reach the pipe. This was not a problem as I wouldn't need it for a while.

We had dinner at home and went for a walk with Pogo. When we got to where the Jenkins, Darryl and Carol were setup, they invited us to join them at their campfire. This was to become a nightly ritual. The next night it was at Don and Mary Ann's. We hosted it the third night. The fourth couple, Bill and Betty, arrived Tuesday and the campfires were held at their site for the rest of the week.

Sunday - We went for a ride looking for the local supermarket, service station, etc. We went out for dinner at the Back Bay Cafe in Damariscotta that evening. We stumbled across this restaurant. It is small and tucked back on the main drag of town. Blink and you missed it. The food was great. We joined the others for the evening campfire.

Monday - We rented a kayak this morning and paddled around Lake Pemaquid for an hour or so. The lake is seven miles long, so we didn't see much of it. This afternoon, we rode down to New Harbor to get some information on the different boat trips that left out of there. They have Lighthouse, Puffin viewing, and Monhegan Island trips. We chose the Monhegan Island trip for either Thursday or Friday depending on the plans of the group. Wednesday would be the Lobster Fest and Thursday or Friday would be the trip back to Rockland to visit the USS Nassau, a Marine assault ship that was there for the festival. We cooked dinner at our site and joined the group for the evening campfire.

Tuesday - We headed down to Freeport to visit LL Bean. We had been there many years ago and wanted to see it again. On the previous trip, everything was in one building. They added two more "stores" and are putting up a fourth. LL Bean takes customer service to a higher level than I have ever seen.

For dinner tonight, it was back to the Back Bay Cafe, again, followed by the nightly campfire. We discussed tomorrow and the Lobster Fest.

Wednesday - We drove up to Rockland for their 60th Annual Lobster Festival. They have rides, booths selling all sorts of stuff, including "fried dough", and a large tent where the lobster lunch/dinners were served. The fried dough is some sort of donut, but it looks like a small, sugar-dusted pizza. We got to the festival as the line was forming. We decided that we should take turns waiting in line to eat. Someone said that they start serving at noon, but it was actually 11 AM. We only had to wait about 15 minutes to get in. While we were in line, the number of people doubled and continued to grow all day.

We had dinner at our site and followed up with the evening campfire. I found out later that the campfire was an evening ritual with the members of the Jersey Pioneers.

Thursday - Today, we headed back to Rockland to tour the USS Nassau, an amphibious assault ship. The ship is Navy, but it serves the Marine Corps by being able to land Marines by both air and water. It has both helicopters and Harrier Jump Jets. It also carries amphibious craft in a lower deck which is flooded when they are launched. The ship was huge, but still a football field short of a Nimitz-class carrier.

Our gray-water, sinks and shower, tank needed to be lowered. As I was taking care of it, I heard a strange noise coming from the woods behind us. It sounded like it was getting closer. I looked up to see a Bald Eagle carrying a rabbit or some other similar sized animal in it talons. The eagle was being chased by a crow. It was something to see.

We dined at our rig and joined the rest of the group for our evening campfire. Bill is known for his stuffed lobsters. These would be Friday night's dinner. We all kicked in for the lobsters and side dishes. He figured that $20 would cover everything.

Friday - It was an early start in order to make the boat for our trip to Monhegan Island, an hour off the mainland. We took Pogo with us. We weren't sure how he would be on the boat. We was restless until I put him on the life jacket storage box. He was able to see what was happening. He fell asleep.

Monhegan Island is a small island which has two or three hotels, some shops, a lighthouse, artist galleries, and some restaurants. They also had one toilet for visitors to the island. Actually, they had two, but one was not in service. This is why the boat's captain suggested we went before we landed. He didn't tell us about the lack of facilities. We walked up to the lighthouse. Almost to the top, we found a man selling pictures and carved Puffins. We would buy a Puffin on the way down as we were puffin on the way up. Pun! Joyce went into the lighthouse museum while Pogo and I waited outside. She didn't seem too thrilled about it so I skipped it. On the way down the hill, we stopped for our Puffin and a chat with the Puffin guy. His house has no electricity other than a solar panel which charges a 12 volt battery that gives him some light. There were some exposed pipes in the area, but he didn't say if he had running water or sewer service. His house had a small wood stove.

We had lobster rolls at one of the "restaurants". Very expensive and not that good. The boat was due back at 3:15 and it was only about 1:00 when we realized that we had seen everything there was to see on the island except for the hiking trails. We figured that the hike up to the lighthouse was it for us. We ended up crashing on one of the hotels lawn. I did ask at the desk if it would be alright. This trip would have been more enjoyable if it were two hours shorter.

We got back to the RV and showered the combination of salt spray and dust from our bodies. There was nothing we could do about Pogo. His shampoo was in New Jersey. We went over to the group's area with our chairs, BBQ grill, and appetites. They weren't kidding about Bill's secret stuffed lobsters. The stuffing consisted of scallops, crab meat, bread crumbs, wine, and an egg, I think. All the lobsters we had were soft shelled. Apparently, they shed their hard shells at this time of the year. There was a lot of "room to grow" in these shells. They still tasted great. With salads and side dishes it came to $16 per couple, the cost of a lobster roll and a soda on Monhegan Island.

Saturday - The eight of us headed up to Rockport and Camden. There was little to see or do in Rockport, but Camden was a different story. Camden is a quaint little village with Victorian houses, shops, and a busy, picturesque harbor. There are a number of sailing cruises that leave from Camden. As we arrived, one ship was disembarking its passengers. The process did not look at all like the "cattle boat" unloading of the big cruise ships. The main street of Camden was one little shop after another. We stopped for lunch at a pier-side restaurant. It was decided that we all go to the Back Bay Cafe for our final dinner.

We headed back to the campground to start getting ready to head out the following morning. Everything had to be stowed away for travel. Even so, something falls. We have three fluorescent light fixtures in the kitchen/living room. At least one lens pops out on every trip. We had two fall on the way home.

Dinner was at the Back Bay Cafe and no one had lobster. Everyone had had their fill. We went back to the campsite for our final campfire.

This was our longest trip so far. It was also the best. We made six new friends and got to see some of the sights of Maine. We might never have gone there if it weren't for the Jersey Pioneers.

I only missed two things I had hoped to see, the Rockler Hardware in South Portland and a moose. I wasn't able to make a network connection to get Rockler's address and the eagle made up for not seeing the moose.

The following are pictures of our last night's campfire.

Darryl & Carol Jenkins

Don's knees, Joyce Bill, Betty, Mary Ann, Darryl, & Carol

Don, Joyce, Bill, & Betty