all to ourselves

Well, they closed the campground; but they don't turn the electricity off until next Monday, so we're using our own internal tanks and water pump..... and enjoying the beautiful setting we have all to ourselves.  There are a few trailers left stored here for the winter; and the owner lives just down the road ... so he comes driving thru a couple of times a day to check on the place.
I just went out and took photos of us and our views:

The owner left us three trash cans.... to last a week .... ?

 

I saw a wild turkey hen down at the bottom of this field just before I took the photo.

 

 

This is our "side yard"
Since there's no one else here, we sometimes let the dogs off leash to run and play .... and roll in the grass and leaves.

We are pretty pleased with our temporary home..... as long as this 50-60 degree weather holds out.

Later, Marilyn

Bangor, Maine

Well, this is starting to feel like home .... sort of.  That's a good thing .... since we have 10 more days to spend here.  Normally we would take off for some side trips and then return for Vera's appt. on the 5th; but since we have 'weather' predicted here (wind gusts 40-60 and lots of rain) we will just 'shelter in place'..... and pray there's no severe cold episodes.

Since I'm a little short on news of exciting adventures ...... I'll add a few additional pictures from down on Mount Desert Island, mostly in Acadia National Park.
These are from the top of Cadillac Mountain, with Bar Harbor below (with a couple of cruise ships in port).
You can see what I've been saying about the islands being solid rock, and shaped by the ancient glaciers.

These next two are Sand Beach in Acadia; and a view of the Penobscot River from an observation tower in Bucksport (which is at the head of a large bay a few miles inland).

These next three are of downtown area of Bangor.  The two houses (historical mansions) are representative of the French influence seen so much.  The last is a bad photo, but I wanted to show what the downtown 'flavor' is.

 

And last, a sample of the variation of color seen within a single tree.

Oh, I do have one more 'exciting' thing to report.  Our campground is about a half mile from the end of a runway at the Bangor airport.  The good news is Bangor International doesn't have a real heavy schedule of large commercial planes.  The bad news is the National Guard has a base there and shares the runway for its really big transports and refuelers (those big tankers that refuel the fighter planes in the air) that seem to run training shifts 24/7.  It literally wakes us up about 1:30 am every morning.  Other than that it is really quiet out here now that there are only two campers left in the park.

Later, Marilyn

Hurricane ?? !!

We will be here in the Bangor area until Nov. 6th .... the day after Vera's followup doctor visit.  We are getting pretty nervous about getting caught here in the first winter storm...... but who would have figured we'd get cornered by a hurricane !   I say "cornered" because we'd probably run inland if there were a way to. But there's not really:  no freeways running east/west ... only one freeway and it runs down south into the hurricane path, or north up to the Canadian border.  The roads heading west are so slow (small state roads running thru a jillion small towns), that we'd still be "running" this time next month. So we are where we are.  At this point it seems the storm will come inland just about where we planned to be about two weeks from now..... plan adjustments are in order.

We are in a very pretty campground, which is closing "at the end of the month".  I think after this weekend we will be the only ones left here.  But the water gets turned off this coming Monday, then the sewer gets shut down, then on the following Monday the electricity gets turned off ...... so they gave us some discounts, and we'll just dry camp and use our generator occasionally.  But we will have the whole place to ourselves.  Good thing the moon is getting fuller, or it could get a little dark around here.
We took the coach out today and filled up with diesel (for the generator), and propane (for the heater ... 30 to 40 degree nights).

Later, Marilyn

13 inches per hour

One of the interesting things we have been watching while we've been here on Mount Desert Island, is the tremendous height of the tides ..... 12 to 13 feet.  Right now in this phase of the moon it is running 13 feet every 12 hours.  Now, I'm not into the details of the tide charts nor do I claim to understand tides very much ...... but to me that translates into 13 inches per hour.  That's really a lot.   On our way into town, we see piers on mudflats, boats lying on the shore, etc,  ..... and on the way back from town that same pier is surrounded by water and the boats are floating.  The two pictures bbelow are taken from the roadside at approximately the same point.  It's just something I'm not used to seeing and it fascinates me.

Another thing that really fascinates me is the "footprint" of glaciers upon this area.  The historical information here says that this area was once covered by ice at least a mile thick ..... talk about a heavy load!  There is very little topsoil (one reason for the forests being shorter), and the granite rock of this area is seen everywhere.  The islands are all shaped (in profile) similarly due to the ice sheet sliding up over one end, and fracturing the opposite end into sharp cliffs as it moved on the downside.

Even the mountains on the big island have the same shape:

We did a short hike today .... 1 1/4 mile, but it was along a rocky shore trail .... so it was probably more than Vera should have done with her "tired" pacemaker .... but wow, was it invigorating. (Vera gets her pacemaker replaced Wednesday as an outpatient).

That's Vera on the trail.

Here's another picture of the carriage trail from "the carriage":

Tomorrow afternoon we will move the motorhome back up to Bangor, Maine (1 hour North). We will stay there, closer to the hospital, for several days after Vera's surgery. We will need to stay in this area until her followup visit in about 10 days ..... so we may come back down here to Mt. Desert Island for another week.  We love it here !!!!!

Oh, one more thing:  Mount Desert Island was named in 1604 by Champlain when he discovered and mapped it; but it was a long french phrase which meant "mountain void of vegetation". So the word "desert" is meant like the verb "to desert", or to leave deserted, (not the noun like something sweet to eat).  The french name was later shortened.

Later, Marilyn

rolling fog

There is a fjord that almost bisects the island of Mount Desert .... it is called Somes Sound.  It is the only fjord on the eastern coast, and is quite beautiful. It is also the home of some very wealthy people, tucked on the mountainsides along the shores. We drove the shore today in the drizzle, which I think makes the leaves more colorful.  We stopped at the end of the sound and watched as a fog bank came rolling over the mountain and down the slope.  Look at the mountainside in the picture to see the weird "wave" shape.

We stopped at the Jordan Pond Teahouse to have popovers and lemonade .... and shop of course.

One half of the island is crisscrossed with 45 miles of single lane "carriage trails" for use by equestrians, horse drawn carriages, bicycles, hikers .... and crosscountry skiers.  In 1913 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. built the broken stone roads and bridges in an effort to keep the island from being overrun by automobiles.  He then donated 10,000 acres of parkland, including a lot of the most scenic shoreline.  The trail bridges cross over the roads, with rather limited, specific access. The craftsmanship of the bridges is quite good:

Like I said, the fog had 'rolled in'.
Speaking of rolling .... we stopped back by to listen to the rocks roll; and I've decided the closest thing it sounds like is somewhere between these two sounds: a.) a car driving on ice crusted snow on a quite, still morning .... amplified many times, or b.) a truck pulling a log over sharp crushed gravel ... amplified many times.     I love the sound.
Here is a typical road view of the interior of the park roads:

Vera is scheduled to go back to the Bangor hospital on Wednesday to have her pacemaker battery replaced ..... outpatient basis.   Which is too bad, because the view of the Penobscot River from her hospital room was great:

As you can see, I've finally gotten the hang of inserting these photos .... aren't you glad?
Later, Marilyn

rolling rocks

Vera is back with us .... she will go back Wednesday to have the battery replaced in her pacemaker.  We will probably be here in this area almost another week .... I know, we're pushing our luck with the winter weather!
Our campground here in Acadia National Park is about 1/4 mile from the lighthouse on the southernmost point of Mount Desert Island.  Right out here where the Atlantic waves give the land their best.
One of the most interesting phenomenon I've encountered is the sound of rolling rocks. After the surf crashes in, and as the water is receding; it carries the rocks back down the slope ... producing a rolling thunder sound .... I love it.   The rocks where I observed this were about the size of a cantalope .... more or less..  and really bring to reality the concept of erosion that I've known all my life.

 

The last two shots above are almost the same shot without surf, and then a moment later with surf. The rocks acutually move around.
Ok, so much for my geology lesson.
The next one is lobster boats bringing in their traps for the winter.

Everywhere you look you see preparations for winter:

Road color, and my substitute driver, Toby:

 

And one last shot of the beautiful surf:

Later, Marilyn

hiccup

little setback: Vera spent last nite in the ER in Bangor, Maine .... they think it's just an adjustment on the pacemaker that is needed.
The coach and Charlie and the dogs are still down in Acadia Park (about 1 hour south of here).
We laughed and said you can get whiplash going from standing on a rocky coast in the ocean spray ... to a hospital guerney in an hours time.  Oh well, it's all an adventure.

The ER doctor didn't think it is a serious problem, but they wanted the monitor information.
Later, Marilyn

wow-eeeee

This is one beautiful place!  We have extended our stay until Friday here in Acadia National Park ..... It is just too wonderful to leave anything unseen. Pretty chilly, and some days are drizzly rain .... but just a really invigorating environment.

These are all of the Acadia National Park area ..... colors are unbelievable.
Later, Marilyn

Bar Harbor ... finally

We're here! ... we moved Friday but I just now got internet.  We are in Acadia National Park, and from what I saw yesterday this is the most beautiful place I've been so far.

The motorhome seems to be really fixed; although it may take a little while for me to stop holding my breath and trusting it again.
The problem turned out to be the main wiring harness on top of the diesel engine, which connects all the sensors to the computer that runs it.  And we saw the old one.... it was a monster tangle of wiring bundles running in all directions, with little connector things on the end of each bundle.  The whole thing layed out flat would have easily covered our dining room table.  There was one little bundle that had damage to some of the wires in it, and the wire coverings had been broken and damaged.  The diagnosis was that one of the original fasteners had broken or come loose, allowing that section of the harness to fall out of place and at certain conditions to swing over into the edge of the big radiator fan blades ...... where it was slowly getting chewed up.  Thus the problem initially occurred only when I was coming to a stop in a downhill situation ..... and momentum swung it over into the fan (and the problem was occurring more frequently... rapidly).
What is so astounding to me is this harness is in a location which is very near inaccessible, and certainly not visible.  They just had to eliminate all other possibilities and then decide to replace it.  The motorhome "box" is built over the engine compartment, and the built-in bed is partially over the engine ..... so only a small removable access panel is available from the top, and that doesn't allow visibility to much of the area.  They said they put their smallest mechanic in there and he was almost hanging by his legs much of the time.  Don't know if that is true.... but it sure is a vulnerable feeling to think they'd have to tear your motorhome apart to repair some things.  And I think all rear diesel engines are in the same situation.
Bottom line .... I think we've just found the achilles heel to this style of motorhome. 

Bar Harbor is a small village (4800 permanent residents) plus 3 other similar villages, that are on the island of Mount Desert, which is several hundred thousand acres.  Acadia National Park takes up a very large percentage of the island, but not all.  There are the villages and a few areas of comercial development (resorts mostly).  But the entire island is covered with hiking trails and very nice one way loop roads along the coastlines.  One wonderful thing is the easy accessibility to the coast ..... well, that is a misleading statement because it is most all very rocky and steep, but there are numerous walking paths down to the waters edge, and at least three beaches.  Only one is sand however .... the others are finely ground rock grains which are almost like sand but don't stick to you and when viewed under a microscope appear as small grains of various colored rock and granite. Dogs are welcome on the beaches at this time of year (but with 50 degree water no one was in it). But (leashed) dogs are seen with their people all over the place.
The highest point on the east coast is here on Cadillac Mountain ... 1530 feet.  The name Cadillac is from a Frenchman who laid claim to much of Maines shores in the early 1700's ... and went on to found the midwest city of Detroit ..... and later a car was named after him.

By the mid 1800's the island had been settled by fishermen, lumbermen, shipbuilders, etc ... and was then 'discovered' as a vacation playground by the socially prominent families of the northeast.  It remained so, with summer "cottages" (the word cottage here has no reference to size of the building) being abundant until a 1947 fire destroyed a large majority of the island.  Most homes and resorts of the time were never rebuilt .... and donations of those private lands is what started the first National Park.

There is a marathon going on here 'as we speak' .... in a drizzling rain ..... but, wow! what beautiful scenery to run thru!! The route runs mostly along one of the coast loop drives. 
Temp. was low 40's last nite .... high of 52 today ..... but oh, so beautiful!  I know exactly the emotion that Meriwether Lewis felt when they finally made it to the Pacific Ocean and he saw the coast and said "o joy, the ocien" (his spelling).

Later, Marilyn

Very sick motorhome

First, let me say that God is really protecting us.  We are here in Bangor, with an excellent repair shop that is willing to keep trying to find the motorhome "cutting out" problem.  And as more time goes by, the problem has gotten much worse.  It is now cutting out before you can drive it more than about six miles .... and, it won't restart.  Today, a repairman had taken it out on the road and they had to call a "big" wrecker to have it towed back in.

That could have been us out there somewhere.  And these guys are willing to keep working on it (even though they are losing money on the labor time). 
They have been working on it for over a week now, slowly eliminating potential causes .... the most recent was to borrow a "test" ECM (the computer that runs the engine) to see if that was the problem. It wasn't, so that told them the problem is not with the engine.... which leaves the wiring. They said the wiring diagrams for motorhomes are not always accurate..... and there is probably 50 to 60 miles of wiring in it!! .... they will start tomorrow.

Meanwhile we are still enjoying Bangor.  Art Galleries, library, coffee shops .... their downtown is very unique in that it is old (very old), but still very alive.  There are many newer midrise buildings sprinkled in among the old.  They have a huge multi-story parking garage right in the middle of downtown, which supports all the businesses that are still in all the upper floors, with retail on the first floors.  There are many lofts and apartments in the older buildings upper floors.  They have a large concert stage in the riverside park (which gets used a lot seems like). And the downtown is built on very steep hills.  The city of Bangor itself is probably about 50,000 population; but the metropolitan area is 300,000. It's large enough to be vital .... but small enough to feel "nice".

I'll keep you posted.
Marilyn

pop ..... pop .....

We wake up in the morning and look out across the river and "pop" new colors are shining back at us.  Really, more trees change every nite ..... and they're all different.  The streets are looking different every day .... and the intensity of the colors are changing.  The "color forecasts" that they publish in the papers and on websites, say colors are only about 50 % ..... so, it's gonna get even better.

We're still in the hotel; motorhome is still in the hospital.  What can I say.  We are just waiting and enjoying the autumn colors and the city of Bangor.

Later, Marilyn