Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Georgia to Maine

This blog is going to be a summary of my trip from Georgia to Maine (late April to now).

I forgot to post a picture of the campground I stayed at while in Dillard, GA.  We had a couple of bad storms and the campground has quite a few Bradford Pear trees, which are beautiful.  But they are a very soft tree and when they get 12 to 15 years old they tend to break very easily.  Luckily no RVs were hit when they broke and the campground is having someone look at the others to see which trees should be taken down.

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That is my RV behind the broken tree, but there is one empty RV spot between the tree and me!  The tree below was on the other side of my RV. A RV had left this spot about an hour before this one fell.

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From Dillard, I headed to Spartanburg, SC where I got my RV washed and waxed.  While it was being done, I headed down to Newberry, SC and bought some Dowd’s BBQ hash that I was raised on –yumm!!!   For those not familiar with this, it is not like the hash that comes in a can.  It is basically BBQ pork in a sauce (South Carolina BBQ sauce is mustard based), and I like it served over rice. I froze several meals worth!!  While there, I spotted the sign below.  This sign (or one like it) was shown several times during the Bill Clinton Presidential race, I wonder if it will show up for Hillary?  I may have posted this a few years ago, but whenever I see it, I get a laugh.

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Prosperity one way, Clinton the other way!!

From there, I slowly made my way to Wellsboro, PA.  I made a few stops on the way, but nothing too exciting. 

A few years ago, I learned about and rode my bike on the Pine River Gorge Rail Trail and really enjoyed it.  Since it wasn’t too far out of my way, I decided to go back.  I ended up riding 3 of the 5 days I was there.  I rode from 15 – 20 miles each time. 

The picture below is of the gorge, you can just make out the trail just to the right of the river.

 

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Typical scenery from the trail through the gorge--

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Turkey Run --

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More scenery from the trail --

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I had thought that after Wellsboro, I would head to Watkins Glenn State Park in New York.  I went here several years ago and loved it.   Fortunately a few days before I was going there, I checked their website where I saw that only about half of the main trail was open.  They were still working on Winter storm cleanups.   After doing some research, I decided I did not want to go unless it was all open.  Maybe I will go there on my way back south this fall. 

In looking at my route to Maine, I decided to stop in Littleton, Mass.  This is about 40 miles from Boston. I had thought I might take one of the touristy sightseeing tours of Boston, but didn’t, I’m not really into history so I would have to be really bored to do that.  The thing that interested me most about the trip was seeing the “Cheers” bar.  

The campground was about 5 minutes from the Nashua River Rail trail.  I ended up riding the whole trail (24 miles round trip) twice. 

Pictures from the trail are below --

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From Littleton, I made my way to Freeport, Maine where I am currently.  I don’t have very good internet reception and have reduced my data plan anyway, so will wait until I get to a place with free wi-fi before I post this.

While in Freeport, I did a bit of shopping at LL Bean and 2 other stores, but since I am not into shopping that hour of shopping was plenty for me.  After shopping I enjoyed a Lobster roll at one of the local restaurants 

I am staying at Desert of Maine campground.  This area is desert-like due to Glaciers (a long, long time ago) and poor farming techniques.   They have a tour of the area, but I just walked around it a few times.

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Note the roots, those trees have to work hard to live in this glacial silt.

The barn below is more than 175 years old  and is the only building left from when the area was a farm.

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I also visited Wolfe Neck Creek State Park where I got my first look at a little bit of rocky shore line. I had planned on walking several miles, but ended up only walking a couple of miles as I found a great spot to sit, relax and think about all kind of things!(the last picture was taken at this spot)

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One day, I drove to Ocean’s Point and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse park.  But I took so many pictures that I will post another blog for that.

This is my last full day in Freeport and it is raining, so I am currently sitting in the library enjoying the nice facilities and the wi-fi.

1 comment:

  1. Pam, just want you to know how much I enjoy your travels. I was headed to Maine this summer too and then on to Newfoundland but David's medical issues ended that so I'm going back now to follow your entire trip. Thanks so much for all the information on where you stay and the trails you ride. One day I'll be traveling alone and you are an inspiration.

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