Day One
Day Two
Day Three and Four -This is Maine?
I was supposed to be camping in the woods by Day Two. But my RV had other ideas. It started shaking like crazy 150 miles into my trip. Wasn't the road. Must be the tires? Nothing looked out f order, but I stopped at a Holiday Inn Express in Massachusetts, to go to Town Fair Tires first thing next morning and have the tires checked out. Two hours into this look-see, they told me the RV's front wheel assembly was rotted. Fix. Pronto! I got this repair done by a local mechanic they recommended, but the RV still shook like crazy afterwards. So this dear (really - he's the sweetest part of the story) mechanic pulled apart the RV's undercarriage to get to the bottom of all this shaking. Wasn't the drive shaft. Or the U something. Finally... he noticed that the rear wheels had no fresh balancing weights, which they should have had IF the wheels were actually balanced in the first place by Town Fair Tires. It was obvious. The rear tires hadn't even been off for the look-see. They weren't, um, round any more, like wheels should be?
Yes, too late to fix that day. The mechanic, and me, were pretty ticked off. Unwilling to spend big bucks for a motel again, I spent my second night tucked in next to old cars at the mechanic's Used Car lot.
Day three. That morning I got some coaching from the mechanic: Be gentle but aggressive with the #&* at Town Fair Tires. Armed with indignation and tenacity, I got my money back from for the work they never did, bought two new rear tires for half price and got a free front end alignment.
By noon I was on my way to Acadia National Park, arriving too late to stay there. Not too late for a lobster dinner, though. KOA was home for the next two nights. I made it to the Craft Show in Bar Harbor Saturday and Sunday as planned. My favorite Artisans are there!
Day five. Arrived at Cobscook Bay State Campground, off the Bay of Fundy, for the site I reserved at the stroke of 9 a.m. on February 10 this year.
Day Five
View from my site. Not another camper in sight. Disconnected from the distractions of loud conversations, used cars, mammoth RVs, electricity and Wi-Fi.
Bliss
Wish you were here! Shhh. Let its peace soak into our spirit, lay bare our darkness, and empty us of all but love.
So nice that you are brave enough to do the trip by yourself. Are you going to hike up Cadillac to see the sunrise? So jealous of the Lobster dinner--my favorite food in this world. You really are a brave soul!!! Just see what you can do, all by yourself? Have fun! and get that mechanics phone #!
ReplyDeleteIsn't lobster simply glorious? It takes such work to eat, but that's part of the fun. I will raise a toast to you, Judy, with my next one.
DeleteI was so scared to do the trip by myself the first few years - maintaining the RV was above my pay grade. But each year, and this is my eighth, I've learned how to fix things without freaking out. Believe me, I didn't envision travelling by myself, and looked for a simpatico traveling companion. My camper is so tiny we'd have to really really like each other!
Right now I'm not planning to hike up to see the sunrise on Cadillac, unless there's group I can join to do so. I am planning to bicycle its circumference - 28 miles of views that will take my breath away.
the U Joint was the first thing I thought of when you talked about the vibrations. Glad you didn't get stranded somewhere away from civilization!
ReplyDeleteDay Five photos sure look great! Acadia Park is one of the prettiest places on earth. You get so many merit badges for undertaking a trip like that alone. Have fun!
The U joint - that's what he called it. That would have been an expensive repair, so I'm glad I 'only' needed a new front wheel control arm and ball joint along with two new tires.
DeleteI'm 120 miles further up the coast from Acadia now, in the easternmost town in the USA, WHERE THERE'S WI-FI ! Soon I'll head back to my spot on the edge of heaven - the bay off the Bay of Fundy. I'm convinced my campground is a little slice of love, just like your lakefront cottage is. My husband and I had made this trip for years, after discovering it on our honeymoon. So much happy history. So, though I don't own it, life has given me my own set of keys with a red ribbon, to visit when I need.