In 2022, I traveled home to Maine for the summer via the longest north/south road in the United States: US1. Sometimes I used its coastal alternatives — FLA1A and US17 in Georgia and the Carolinas — because I like being on the coast more than being in the middle, usually. It was a 10-week adventure.
Log
- 1234 Sat09Apr2022. (MM0): Departed KeyWest, FL flying a Conch Republic flag, with Jimmy Buffett as the soundtrack. Left US1 at KromeRd in Homestead, FL to camp in my first National Park (NP) on this trip: Everglades. Really great campsite, and my neighbor from Boyd’s in Key West checked in at the same time as we did. What a crazy coincidence.
- Sun10Apr2022: left Everglades NP, rejoined US1 in Homestead, and crawled north through greater Miami and points north. Entire plan for lunch in Stuart and on to Canaveral had to be scrapped. Met Penny briefly at the Marriott Resort on Hutchinson Island, then camped at a Corps of Engineers site, the locks on the St. Lucie Canal. Wow!! Really pretty site. And who knew the Corps maintains campgrounds? Keep this in mind.
- Mon11Apr2022: After breakfast with Penny, went as far as New Smyrna Beach, FL. Then took a hard left to go to The Villages to visit with Jennifer and Don (and JRR, too!) Driving was much easier on this section than through Miami!
- Tue12Apr2022: from The Villages to Jacksonville Beach
- Left The Villages and returned to US1 via a different route (Deland, FL looks interesting), taking a left northward in New Smyrna Beach. Onward!
- Scooted over to A1A for a more scenic approach to Jacksonville. Gonna visit LauraG, and the Atlantic Ocean!
- Arrived in Jacksonville Beach in the early evening, and settled in for several days,
- Tue12Apr2022 – Sat16Apr2022
catching up on miscellaneous desk tasks (like my 2021 tax returns), and spending evenings with LauraG and her friends.- This AirBnB, my first on this trip, suits us spectacularly well, with a small fenced-in yard and a really pleasant neighborhood, only a mile or so from LauraG’s place. Perfect!
- Dandy dinner at nice restaurant in Neptune Beach. Learned about pistachio soup, which seems like it could be a great camp dish.
- Found Brewhound on Friday. What a cool concept; Raya liked it quite bit, especially in the morning. I liked having a beer and a burger there in the evening
- Sat16Apr2022: Jacksonville Beach to Savannah
- Left the AirBnB late morning, mailed some boxes at the PO, and met LauraG for one more meal (French brunch at LaPetitParis. Yum!)
- Then to the Mayport Ferry and more A1A scenicness, all the way to the end near Fernandina Beach
- Took route 200 west, then joined US17 at Yulee. North to Savannah.
- 1815 Arrived to a completely unacceptable situation. Expensive lesson: use Google Street View. (except that you don’t get the actual address until after booking.) Scrambled for another place to stay in Savannah. RedRoofInn was another bust, but LaQuinta came through. BadAss Candace the Amazing Desk Clerk made the lesson almost worth the tuition.
- Sun17Apr2022 Easter Sunday: Savannah to Walterboro
- a bit of touring around Savannah, but that stop was kinda spoiled for me. I want to come back, with more time and more preparation, and stay at the Thunderbird Inn.
- Continue northward on US17, planning to find a cheap place to stay in Walterboro.
- visited a lot of dead folks in Walterboro.
Funny way to “celebrate” Easter, but it worked for me.
MamaCile’s place looks really nice now. That made me happy. - The EconoLodge was a really decent stop. Cheap. I interpreted the pretty plants as an indicator of care, and that proved to be true. Also decent coffee from the Maxwell House “Good to the last drop” dispenser in the lobby. And Mrs. Patel the gardener saved my bacon when I accidentally dropped my brocade wallet with all my backup cards onto the brocade bedspread. “Ma’am! Ma’am! ” Whew.
- Mon18Apr2022: Walterboro to the Charleston area
With a brief stop at the SC Artisans Center in Walterboro, the trip down the old Charleston Highway went pretty quick. Arrived in the West Ashley area of Charleston (nice developments!) to pick up a new cooler and other supplies at a swanky Walmart, then scoot through the city and MtPleasant to the campground at Buck Hall Recreation Area. - Mon18Apr2022 – Wed20Apr2022
- Our campsite does not have a place for the truck, so we are using the tiny tent setup, and it works pretty well!
- Right on the Intracoastal Waterway, I’m seeing lots of boats, and birds, and dolphins! This is nice!!
- Met Katie for a nice dinner and a good chat.
- Tue19Apr2022
A day to be idle and blessed.
- Wed20Apr2022: north to SC beaches
Just out of McClellanville, I met Georgette the sweetgrass basket maker who uses pottery in her basketry. A real artist. - Wed20Apr2022 – Fri22Apr2022
Camped at Huntington Beach State Park, near Pawley’s Island. Revisited the beaches and places I remember from childhood summers - Fri22Apr2022: More Carolina beach traffic. This is very familiar territory
- Fri22Apr2022 – Sun24Apr2022
AirBnB in Wilmington NC with Suzanne and Griffin.- Griffin is a most adorable 65lb doofus!
- Suzanne works for a wonderful organization WARM, with a powerful mission: helping people stay in the homes they own by assisting with maintenance and repair projects. Awesome work, and there’s a national network.
- The Cargo District is a gem!
- Sun24Apr2022: Wilmington to Morehead City to Durham (but not through Camp Lejeune!)
- Sunday lunch at the Sanitary Fish Market, just like the Wilson-Owen research group from Duke always did in September
- Sun24Apr2022 – Fri29Apr2022
visit with AMS in Durham, staying in a tiny house in a forest of bamboo.- Wed27Apr2022
visited Jenna Carpenter and the engineering programs at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC. WOW!
- Wed27Apr2022
- Fri29Apr2022: Durham to Knoxville, on the interstate again
- Fri29Apr2022 – Sun01May2022
visited Hamiltons on the Holston - Sun01May2022: Knoxville to Bowling Green, a familiar route
- Sun01May2022 – Sat14May2022
A couple of weeks in Bowling Green for a good haircut, medical appointments, DerbyDay (for turtles and for horses — what a race that was!), plus general visiting and merriment.
Bowling Green is definitely one of my home towns.
How many meals did I enjoy at FunKY Bean? As many as possible! - Sat14May2022 – Tue17May2022
Cumberland Falls State Park, KY “The Niagara of the South”
Tammy and I saw a fabulous rainbow after a stunning storm, a total lunar eclipse, and the moonbow — a ghostly apparition. A trifecta of magic in the Kentucky skies. - Tue17May2022 – Fri20May2022
visited with the Hamiltons again at their homey, welcoming house on the banks of the Holston River.- Visited Architectural Antics (SO many fun items)
- Finally watched Die Hard, even though ’tain’t the season for it. Now I understand its status as a classic.
According to one frame that Robin froze, gasoline in 1988 was 74.9 cents a gallon. Those days are long gone. It costs me almost 74.9 dollars to fill my truck on this trip.
- Also had a great massage. I made my body a promise to treat it more kindly.
- Fri20May2022 – Tue24May2022
Back to Durham and visits with friends. Had a lovely day on Kerr Lake, despite the scary (to Raya and her new friend Flossie) storms - Tues24May2022: Rejoined US1 from WakeForest, NC to Quantico, VA
- Tue24May2022 – Wed25May2022
short overnight stop in Manassas, VA to see my favorite ceramics artist and her family and all their interesting projects. - Wed25May2022: a little backtracking southward from Manassas to Charlottesville
- Wed25May2022 – Fri27May2022
Catch up with Glenn, sip sake at Andrew Centofante’s fine new sake brewery, and do some tuneup of the kit at High Tor, a very very cool gear store. - Fri27May2022: left Charlottesville in a tornado watch, and used an interstate to cut east and avoid the worst of the storms.
- Fri27May2022 – Mon30May2022
Stayed at a beautiful farm on Maryland’s eastern shore, hosted by the lovely Barbara Parker, who is an artist in so many ways. Check out this song she and Joe Holt presented at the MainStay in nearby Rock Hall. Did NOT participate in the Chestertown Tea Party reenactment, as dogs weren’t welcome, but we did find some scrumptious baked goods in town, and got our new gas growler filled with propane. No more green canisters! - Mon30May2022: spent Memorial Day on the road in rural Maryland and Delaware, avoiding highways and the traffic. Good thing, as there was NASCAR racing in Dover, and that traffic looked awful
- Mon30May2022 – Thu02Jun2022
Camped at Cape Henlopen State Park, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. One day was incredibly hot and plagued with biting flies. Had to take refuge at the DogfishHead HQ in Rehoboth Beach. The next day was stunningly foggy, cool, and delightful. I finished the scanning project that day, on the tailgate of the truck. Delaware was a confusion. - Thu02Jun2022
Took the Lewes-Cape May Ferry across to Cape May, NJ- visited Motts Creek Inn in Galloway, NJ and learned about pork roll, aka Taylor Ham. Maybe it’s a taste that has to be acquired as a child.
- Thu02Jun2022 – Sat04Jun2022
Stayed at a lavender farm, camping in the woods next to the skeleton of the Holm mansion, built in 1650 (!). Holm … as in Holmdel.- Discovered the delightful Asbury Park Book Cooperative.
- JN joined me on Friday night for supper and conversation and hammock camping in the trees. (He liked it!)
- On Saturday morning we stopped in at BellWorks, a reimagining of the original Bell Labs HQ in Holmdel. Wild big idea.
- Sat04Jun2022
Headed to NYC via the Seastreak Ferry from Highlands NJ, via SandyHook NRA. Passed under the Verrazano Narrows, Brooklyn, and Manhattan Bridges. Met a bicycling bride and groom on their wedding day ride toward Niagara Falls. - Sat04Jun2022 – Tue07Jun2022
Enjoyed the city with JN, including The Music Man with Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman! Other treats included Fuku’s fried chicken sandwich, brunch at the Barking Dog cafe, live jazz at the lovely subterranean club SaintTuesday in Tribeca, and walking walking walking. Raya learned to be a BigCity dog. - Tue07Jun2022
Returned to US1 via the the Seastreak ferry then the Garden State Parkway. And then we went through TheBigCity in our own vehicle.- left NYC to rejoin Pearl, waiting patiently at the ferry terminal in NJ. Everything worked fine, except for Raya getting sick on the starboard deck of the ferry as we approached Highlands. “That’s why we have the young ones” was the captain’s response. Sorry, kids.
- Back in the driver’s seat, we went a little way through northern NJ, around the back side of EWR, got turned around in Jersey City, got straightened back out to go over the GWB on the top side (propane tank = HAZMAT), and across the Bronx.
- Just north of Fordham, we made a sharp left to go up the east side of the Hudson into Westchester County.
- Tue07Jun2022 – Thu09Jun202
Camped at Croton Point Park, in a strange and lonely but lovely site on the bank of the Hudson. HUGE rainstorm on the second night, but the truck tent kept us safe and dry. - Thu09Jun2022
Rejoined US1, now called the Boston Post Road. That felt very familiar, very New England. This is starting to feel like coming home again. Coastal Connecticut is quite swanky — continuously pretty towns, many with sailboats. Got a couple of slices at Mystic Pizza — a slice of heaven! - Thu09Jun2022 – Sat11Jun2022
Camped at Fisherman’s Memorial Park near Narragansett, RI
Made friends with the Groton, MA fire department family. What great folks! Thanks, Heather, for inviting us into your circle. - Sat11Jun2022
Drove through Providence and southern Massachusetts and the city of Boston to Durham NH, and stayed with Deb and John. They introduced me to the delightful Vida Cantina, a modern take on TexMex, housed in a recycled Friendly’s. Highly recommend. - Sun12Jun2022 – Wed16Jun2022
arrived in Maine!- spent two nights at Little Duck Pond, scoping and scheming for the summer ahead
- spent one night in the Oyster (hello, friend!) at Arrowhead AlmostAcre. That felt palatial after so many nights in the truck and the tiny tent.
- Wed16Jun2022
After a nice citified brunch with NancyA, we rejoined US1 in Portland and drove up the coast. US1 is a special kind of slow in Maine, in the summer, even on a weekday afternoon. - Wed16Jun – Sat18Jun
Stayed for a while, along with the KnitWit retreat bunch, at the lovely and artsy Searsport Shores. Camping on the shore of Penobscot Bay is pretty perfect, whether the skies are clear or overcast. - Sat18Jun2022
After a stunning sunrise, clouds moved in and drizzle began. Ugh. I packed up in the wet, and drove from Searsport further downeast along the coast to Machias, then turned northward and inland, up TheAirline to the tippy top of Maine, and of the lower 48.- Frenchman’s Bay is always beautiful. Dunbar’s Market has an outdoor toilet. Good to know!
- passing the 45th parallel was an unexpected treat. Closer to the pole than to the equator for the rest of the trek
- and Canada was just across the river to the east. Hi Canada!
- arrived in Madawaska in a grey dark drizzle. Ugh Ugh. With the help of some Tim Horton’s clarification (coffee and donuts), I decided to forego the planned lakeside camping on the top of a mountain in favor of a cozy cabin. Thank you AirBnB!
- passed the First Mile monument. Four flags flying. VerySerious US Immigration station on the bridge.
Officially this should be MM2369.5 in FtKent, Maine.
Does a mile marker with that number actually exist? Nope.
Hmmm …there wasn’t one with that number at the other end of the road either.
Officially, this was the end of the project.
But I didn’t feel like it was done, just yet.
Sat18Jun – Mon20Jun
Completed the trek. Celebrated the other first mile, the chilly one.
I enjoyed what I could find in FortKent, even in the chilly chilly weather:
My campsite host had promised a “Why I love Fort Kent” tour as part of my stay, so we met up and did that. I wasn’t keen on slopping around in the continued cold drizzle, but I made several notes for a future exploration: neat hike to a waterfall from the “airport”, and some paddling spots feeding into the border river.
Then he and I had a celebratory brew at a cool brewery that Sarah had found:
But wait! There’s more!
Turned around. Saw a US1 South sign. That felt a little weird.
Mon20Jun2022 – Wed22Jun2022
Plan: Celebrate the summer solstice on Quoddy Head, the easternmost point of the US.
Actual:
Mon20Jun2022
Drove back downeast, enjoying SO MANY LUPINE fields. Bought beans from The County at a roadside stand. Got Houlton Dairy butter in … Houlton.
Got to Lubec and Quoddy Head in the late afternoon.
Settled in at the Coast Guard Station, visited the Quoddy Head Light, and toured Lubec. That didn’t take long.
Then, I got really really sick. After phone consults with various folks, I realized I really needed more medical help than I could get in Lubec, and I needed it right then. In considerable pain, I drove west toward Bangor (the closest real ER) while Sarah drove north from Portland to help me and to take care of Raya if I had to be admitted. (What would an EMT crew do with a pet?)
My pain had subsided by the time I got to a fuel stop in Brewer, so we decided to try for a more southern ER. Adam had made a list for us. We met up in Carmel and caravanned back down the interstate, checking in as we approached each potential medical facility.
We ended up making it all the way back to Portland, arriving a little after midnight. I no longer felt like an ER visitor should, so everyone just went to bed, planning to deal with the issue in the daylight.
Tue21Jun2022 (the solstice)
Rested in the Oyster at Arrowhead while searching for a medical provider. Late in the day, I saw a very nice medical professional at ConvenientMD in Westbrook. DX: From the urine test results (a lot of blood was present, indicating recent trauma) I probably had had a kidney stone, that I passed sometime on the bumpy ride from QuoddyHead toward Rt9. That explained the pain that mysteriously resolved itself. I definitely had a UTI, so antibiotics and probiotics were prescribed, along with a lot of rest. Whew!
Wed22Jun2022
More rest, and in the evening, the now-annual farm-to-table wedding anniversary extravaganza at The Well at Jordan’s Farm.
Spent the last night of this adventure in a vintage (1974) Airstream, restored but not renovated.
A friend needs to sell it, and I’m considering buying it. Maybe that’s the focus of the next big adventure? (after spending a relaxing summer in Vacationland).
Stay tuned, friends.