Bar Harbor Day 1

With work life finally settled, we've made our way on our first major camping adventure of the year. The picture above is a view of the Western Bay in Bar Harbor, ME right from our campsite. When I made the reservations in February I hoped for a beautiful spot and suffice to say I have not been disappointed. Although we've not had a chance to venture out beyond the campground yet, what we've seen is spectacular. We arrived a little later than planned due to some unexpected "bumps" in our trip here.


Yesterday, we were traveling North on Interstate 95 through the beautiful state of Maine, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Deb and I were enjoying a leisurely drive filled with anticipation for the week ahead of us. Somewhere outside of Lewiston we heard a semi let loose it's mighty "honk" to us. I thought that maybe the driver thought we had drifted toward his lane so we just moved over slightly and continued on our way. Not long after that the semi eased on passed us but not without flipping us the bird first. Deb asked me why he would of done that and I explained to her that sometimes these big rig drivers have a little hard on for the little guy towing a camper so we let it go at that. Perhaps another 5 miles or so down the road...and there was really very little traffic on it...we passed by a motorcyclist. Deb commented that he was waving his hand in the air. Wasn't that nice of him? Letting us know that we could move back over to the right lane. At least that's what we thought. A few minutes later, I noticed a pickup truck coming up behind me. He had some emergency flashing headlights built in the truck and he was using them. My first thought was, "what the hell, why would am I being pulled over?" "Undercover cop?" If only the case. I eased the trailer over to the very small shoulder of 95 and of course Deb is giving me the 3rd degree about why am I doing this?


It turns out it was a good samaritan wanting to let me know that I was pelting the motorcyclist and anyone else in our way with rubber. Yes, one of the tires on the 5th wheel had blown and me and the Blackknight (Silverdo HD, what a fine tow vehicle) didn't even know it. I went to check on the tire and all that remained was a little white rim with some shredded up sidewall.

Needless to say, a fine, "can't get there from here" tow truck driver that AAA dispatched to us, helped us change the tire and put us back on our way. Not without the need of Deb's advice, of course. The tow truck driver was having quite the trouble lifting the camper, which of course was still attached to the truck. He was using an undersized manual jack which was sinking into the hot pavement. Then there's Deb, wanting to tell the macho men how to do it and naturally we wouldn't listen for the moment that is, I'm helping this typical "Maineiac" and we're not getting too far. Finally we listened to Deb's suggestion. Using the rear stabilizer jack on the trailer and inserting one of my fine aluminum diamond pad plates under the jack we were able to get the camper lifted enough to change the tire. And Deb is once again the proud peacock! Of course, we lost almost 2 hours in the process.

Now you would think it should be smooth sailing from there, right? I mean, what else could go wrong? As we entered Ellsworth, just outside of Bar Harbor, Deb gave me the little test. Jokingly she asked me if I brought my insulin. I looked at her with a blank stare. You guessed it, my insulin is in the refrigerator at home. After many phone calls to Caremark and our pharmacy back home and two stops at pharmacy's here in Maine we were finally able to fill my prescription at the "local" Rite-Aid.


Once we were settled into our site at the campground, we dined on fabulous grilled cheese and soup and of course a Sam Adams. All while enjoying the spectacular sunset!! The adventure continues...