Eliot Maine

When I arrived at the campground in Eliot Maine, I was a little concerned.  I had to drive down a narrow, curvy dirt road into the woods.  There were signs pointing me in this direction and the camp host assured me they had sites I could fit into, so it had to be OK, right?  I finally arrived in a clearing, sort of.  I stopped at the sign that said no RV’s over 30ft past this sign.  When she showed me the site she originally had me in, I thought not even within the realm of possibility!  It was much too narrow; I have slide outs on both sides and I’m almost 15 foot wide.  She did have another site available which was much bigger.  There were 3 young guys standing around and they helped guide me around the trees.  I thought all 3 lived in the RV across the way, but later found out one lived there and one lived in a camp with 3 tents right next to me and the 3^rd lived in the tent next to him.   

The campground was small with only about 20 sites.  There were a few like me, who were there for a short period, but most people seemed to live there.   I wondered about the guys in the tents, it was really, really hot, and would be really, really cold in just a few short months.  Turns out one was in his mid 40’s, recently divorced and recently lost a business and had been in an accident and couldn’t work.  He was pretty optimistic that he would soon be back on his feet.  The guy in the RV was married, but his wife refused to live there with him.  He was saving money to buy a house.  The 3^rd was a young disabled vet who was waiting for his disability check to kick in.  He was going through a rough time at home and just needed to get away.

My friend Gretchen (also a Care-A-Vanner) lives nearby in York, so I went to visit her and her two boxers Mable and Harper.  They were so much fun, the young ladies both decided my lap would be a great place to hang out.  A little different than having Brutus in my lap.  I sometimes miss a big dog.  Later, we took her convertible for a drive up the coast.  How fun!!  The scenery was beautiful and the beaches were packed.  It was funny that no one was actually IN the water because it was much too cold.  We drove from York to about Biddeford, including a drive by of President Bush #1’s house in Kennebunkport.  It was a beautiful house on a little island of rocks.  Gretchen told me that President Bush likes to ride around in his boat. There are many beautiful places in the area and lots of weddings.  If he sees a wedding in progress, he’ll stop the boat, hop out and have his picture taken with the bride and groom.  I asked her if it didn’t upset people to have their wedding crashed, she said not if the person interrupting is the former President of the United States!  I guess he’s well know in the area for being so approachable.  On the way back we decided to stop for lunch.  The place she picked had breakfast all day, so I had pancakes.  I only mention my lunch because it was so unbelievably good! I’m not sure what they do to make such great pancakes, but the whole time I was in the area, I saw signs about pancakes.  Maybe it’s the water?  Oh and the place also had homemade donuts, which I had to get to go, I was so stuffed!

As we drove up the coast I was so impressed with the beautiful houses along the rocky shore.  One day I took a little lighthouse tour.  There were really only two or three that you could get close enough to see.  The rest were too far from the road or there were houses blocking the view.  If only I knew someone with a boat!  I stopped for lunch at a little dive looking place right on the water for some awesome clam chowder.  It was a strange view though, the tide had gone out so all the boats were sitting in a tiny channel of water surrounded by mud. 

During my week long stay, Maine was having a wicked heat wave.  The temps were in the high 90’s.  Luckily I was parked in the shade, but it was still super hot.  I turned my AC on for the first time all summer I think.  The first few days were OK, but I soon noticed the power had been off during the day when I was gone.  That night the power went off again, then back on, then back off, then back on.  This happened several times that evening.  Obviously it was my surge protector, which is designed to shut everything down to prevent a surge of power from blowing out all my electric components.  It didn’t take long to realize it was when the AC was on, but it should not be happening.  Something was wrong.  The surge protector was doing exactly what it was designed to do, the problem was with the power supply from the campground.  Because it was a really old campground, I was willing to bet they couldn’t handle the heavy draw from all the RV’s having their AC on a the same time.  I was glad to be leaving soon, I didn’t want to live without the AC, but also didn’t think the constant off and on was good for anything.   I talked to the guy in the tent city, I was concerned about them in the heat.  He said he had 2 fans blowing on him and he was in deep shade, so he was actually keeping pretty cool.

The LL Bean flag store was nearby, so I thought I’d check it out.  I was really disappointed.  I normally buy my outdoor gear at REI, but it was my understanding LL Bean was the same type of store, so I was pretty psyched to check it out.  Much to my disappointment, it was mostly a clothing store.  They did have a little corner with hiking and backpacking gear, but nothing like what I expected.  Ah well, it’s not like I need more gear anyway.

 

Another day Gretchen and I met some friends of hers for dinner at a nice restaurant on the beach.  They were so nice and the food and view were awesome!  One thing I do miss with traveling all the time, is the time spent with friends.  I’m usually on my own or at a build or rally with new friends.  This is great of course, but I do miss calling up a friend on the spur of the moment to do something fun.  I’m looking forward to spending a few months in one place this winter when I go back to Florida.  I’m hoping to reconnect with 2 friends I was stationed with in Oregon.  Both live in the Tampa area and I plan to stay in Ocala.  Also, I have people I’ve met on the road who also winter in the area and one who’s parents live nearby.  Actually, the more I think about it, I will know quite a few people in the general area, so I’m really looking forward to winter!

When the day came for me to leave, I got up early, packed up and was ready to go when the guy in the single tent stopped by.  I hadn’t seen him at all since the first night. He stopped to thank me for my service and told me he was also a veteran, 100% disabled in Afghanistan. I believe it was from an IED attack where several others in the vehicle were killed.  I ended up talking to this young man for more than an hour and he really touched my heart. To make a long story short, he opened up to me about his experiences, the IED attack, the friends he lost, his experience recuperating, the problems he had getting his VA rating and the difficulty he was having in his personal life. The more I listened, the more he shared; things he couldn’t tell those around him, who were all civilians and had never been in a war zone.  I was sad for him that he didn’t have anyone else to talk to, but he said he had started getting treatment at the local VA and his disability rating had finally come through.   Although he thanked me for brightening his day, I'm the one who came away uplifted. I felt like it really made a difference for him, even for a little while, just to be able to unload his burdens to someone.  When I was in Iraq, I was in a nice cushy office.  (My job was to make sure the injured got on the correct medivac plane either to Germany, Kuwait or Qatar.)  I often felt like I wasn’t really making much of a contribution, but one day I realized that many of the patients seemed to like to talk to me.  There is something really therapeutic about sharing things with a total stranger.  There’s no pressure, judgment or repercussions and they can tell you their deepest, darkest secrets.  I thought of him all day and as I told him, I really wish we had talked sooner.  When I got up to go, he hugged me in a way that let me know just how much it meant to him to have someone just listen.  I think of him often and really hope he’s doing well.  I would really like to do something with the Wounded Warriors, even if its just volunteering my time at a VA hospital or clinic.  Something else I'll have to look into.

Next stop back to Toms River NJ for another Habitat build. 

link to Pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/118205599704530902363/albums/5913849056762146049?authkey=CIu18KXEhPLu6AE