Before I go into today's activities, a few observations.
1. Holy smoke - I can't believe it is October already.
2. We are up to 3687 miles, about 131 less than my original estimate.
3. There seems to be a trend at RV parks here in the east to not allow credit cards. Cash only, and they have ATMs in the lobby.
4. Here in the east on non-interstates, there are a lot of grades of 6-9%. Those are tough pulls for my Chevy (wish I had bought the diesel)
Today was a great day although we didn't do what we set out to do. The plan was to go to the park Visitor Center, watch the intro movie, then drive the main loop road, a 27 mile road around the perimeter of the main part of the park. After the film, we started out for the loop, but decided we were too low on fuel and went into Bar Harbor for gas. It took a while to find a station. I found one whose pumps were busy, so I pulled in back of this old minivan. An elderly man (looked to be 80) got out and started to fill his car. I went into the station to use the rest room, and when I returned to the truck, he was just starting to pour. Laurel went inside to get some tea, and when she returned, which was no short time, he was still trying to get the gas cap on. It took him 6 tries. After that, he grabbed his cane, yes cane, and sauntered into the station to pay. Five minutes later, he returned to his car and started to get into the back seat. After realizing his mistake, he got into the front. After seeing all this, my assumption was the man was too old to drive. However, he pulled away from the pump island and maneuvered around a truck and into traffic with no difficulty. By the time I was fueled, my tea was no longer hot.
So we are off again, but missed the turn to start the loop. We found the road to the top of Cadillac Mountain, a 1530' high block of pink granite. Now, we westerners might laugh at calling so small a hill a mountain, but since it comes out of ocean, it is impressive. We drove to the top, hiked along the summit trail, and took a number of pictures. It is breathtaking up there with the lichen and moss covered granite. Weather was cool but with sun breaks, a vast improvement over the last few days.
After we got down and were headed back to the loop, Laurel saw a sign for Blackwoods Campground. She wanted to see it, so we started down that road. After a few miles, we stopped and looked at the map. The campground was at the southern end of the park, so we decided to go back to the loop. By this time, it was 11:30 and I did not want to start the loop on an empty stomach, so we headed back to Bar Harbor. This is a tourist town with lots of shops and restaurants. Due to Fall foliage tours and a cruise ship in the harbor, it was very busy. We got lucky and found a parking spot on the corner of a block (parallel parking that crew cab truck is a bear) just outside a restaurant. After a nice lunch, we decided to explore the town. Most shops were advertising end of season discounts, so we picked up a couple of sweatshirts and a painting at very reasonable prices.
By now, it is after 2 and I did not feel like driving, so we returned to camp. We dinked around until 5:30 when we decided to go to dinner. We stopped at the registration desk to ask for a suggestion for lobster. He recommended the Chart House, just a couple miles away. Before 6, a whole lobster is $16.95. We got our lobsters and enjoyed them immensely. We retired to the trailer for some relaxing music, red wine, and chocolate, the end of a wonderful day.
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