This marks our last day in the car, the occasions of the last state --
Maine -- day to be visited, and the last day to buy trinkets and other
crap to give away. At long last, Tubby has posted his postcards to family
and friends, and paused to reflect on how few had to send. (He mumbled
something about quality versus quantity; I just rolled my eyes.)
The lack of wireless internet from the motel, combined with the early-to-bed
time to accommodate the early morning tomorrow, has regrettably delayed
the posting of the update. Not that anyone much noticed, I suspect. Onward.
|
| 7:00am |
In a rare treat for having gotten ahead of scheduled yesterday,
the alarm was set an hour later than usual. Go team. |
| 7:09am |
The first snooze alert went off, and was ignored. |
| 7:18am |
The second snooze alert went off, and Tubby and I fell to the floor.
|
| 7:41am |
Diet Pepsi was in order, and we ventured (after dressing, of course)
to the lobby to purchase a beverage for the reasonable price of $1.50
for a 20-ouncer. |
| 7:44am |
We got back to the room, and finished up packing. |
| 7:55am |
We lugged the luggage downstairs, Tubby checked out, dropped those
six postcards in the mail (yes, the ones from Washington DC, don'tcha
know?), and out we went. |
| 8:02am |
Aiming for the interstate, we only had to make the one U-turn this
time, versus the five or so it took last night to get into the motel
parking lot. |
| 8:10am |
Definitely on the interstate now, as we got to chuck 50¢ into
the toll booth catcher's mitt. |
| 8:21am |
Another 50¢ into a second toll booth. And I have to slow down
to 10 MPH to do it, too. Grr... |
| 8:29am |
Choosing from one of six Rochester exits, we leapt from the turnpike
and gave Rochester
a wander. |
| 8:54am |
Bored with the place, we're back at the turnpike, and yes kids,
tossing another 50¢ into the toll booth thingy. |
| 9:05am |
And completing our tool booth experience, we discard 50¢ for
the last time into a New Hampshire tool booth. |
| 9:11am |
Yes, kids, despite spending the night there, we returned to Portsmouth
to wander around in the daylight, and not with the weird glare in
our eyes. And that's the story I'm sticking with. |
| 9:34am |
Again bored, we're aimed back for the interstate. |
| 9:38am |
And on this last day of travel, we're now officially in the last
state to visit -- Maine. |
| 10:28am |
Drawn by a sense of curiosity and the coolness of the name, we went
to and wandered around Kennebunkport.
They are somewhat quiet about this being the summer home of the 41st
president, George Bush (senior), aside from it being jotted on one
of the postcards available at the touristy shop. |
| 11:03am |
Having enough of that, we break from the shopping of sweatshirts
and souvenirs and such and make our way back to the interstate. |
| 11:17am |
Success! And it only cost us 50¢ to rejoin the interstate,
which lucky for us, is a toll road in these parts of Interstate 95. |
| 11:34am |
I don't really feel a great value for my 50 cents, having had to
leave the turnpike after just 15 minutes, so we could give Portland
a look-see. |
| 12:04pm |
The fog was a bit of a downer, so we aimed back for the interstate.
|
| 12:45pm |
And paid yet another 50¢ for the privilege of using the turnpike.
Today is quickly becoming a killer when it comes to tolls. |
| 12:53pm |
Particularly when the toll booths come so soon before arriving at
our exit. This time, we're arriving in Augusta,
the state capitol of Maine. And if you can't remember it, they wrote
it on the sign, just in case. |
| 1:23pm |
Getting out of Augusta, we headed out to a cute little town out
yonder. Tubby was drawn by the name, and most of the rest of us were
just resigned to go along with most anything today, since we're all
a bit tuckered out. |
| 1:55pm |
We finally traversed the countryside of Maine to reach Androscoggin
County and the town of Livermore
Falls. |
| 2:11pm |
After a smirk from Tubby and Robin's observation that the Livermore
Falls high school's colors were the same as a Livermore high school
near the nest, we were back on the same winding road back to Augusta
and the interstate. |
| 2:47pm |
Success! Our fancy-pants Chevy is reunited with its teacher, mother,
secret lover -- the highway. |
| 3:56pm |
With the short-term goal reached -- Bangor
-- we have established
a webbed-foothold to the city that would become our launching board
tomorrow in the pre-dawn hours. After a wander here, though, Tubby
was bound and determined (and usually he's just determined, but this
was far more twisted) to get out to Springfield and add yet another
Springfield township to the collection of places that the Simpson's
are not from. |
| 4:21pm |
The car is pointed toward the small town of Springfield, Maine,
and the sun is beginning its descent toward the treetops and skyline. |
| 5:38pm |
With the sun playing an infantile game of peek-a-boo, we arrive
in Springfield. The
first stop, both in chronological order and from a tall white tower
perspective, is the church. We stopped for a photo there (before the
others), but it was only across from the church the old lady in the
house we were parked in front of was eyeing us something wicked. Tubby
ignored her completely, of course. |
| 5:44pm |
Largely owing to this being a teeny town -- just the one street
with a few alleys and secondary streets running parallel to the highway
-- the look-around process was abbreviated, at best. |
| 5:45pm |
The open highway and uncluttered skyline afforded us a pretty good
view of the
sunset, even if the digital photos didn't do it justice. |
| 7:03pm |
We manage to get back to Bangor, find a Motel 6, and check in with
the somewhat disinterested guest relations clerk (front desk chick).
We're plugged into room 261, which is precisely no where near the
stairs, and there's no elevator. But no matter. |
| 7:11pm |
After hauling up the essentials and discarding the first round of
junk, we make our way out for the dinner quest. We discover at least
a few of the residents are clearly
long-term, and don't need to fuss with going out for dinner. |
| 7:23pm |
Rather than fuss with the hide-and-seek of it all, we end up at
Pizza Hut, where we're seated just out of eye-shot of the four college
girls from New Hampshire. (The seating to keep Tubby out of starring
angles, in my mind, meant we could get in and out of dinner without
a lot of drama.) Our server, Katie Bishop, was rather efficient, and
not displeasing to the eye. (But not super model, either.) |
| 8:01pm |
With that unpleasantness behind us forever, we headed back to the
motel, where I proceeded to arrange my bags, and found most everyone
else was doing something similar. |
| 8:28pm |
A mental vote was taken, 1-0 in favor of skipping everything but
sleep -- we have a 3:30am alarm tomorrow to accommodate the 5:10am
departure from Bangor to Boston on American Airlines. |
| 9:12pm |
I'm in bed and ready for the zzz's. More later, since nothing much
is going to be written tonight. |
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