Day 295

July 25, 2018                                                                                                  Day 295

Waking to the sound of running water is a wonderful feeling.  We slowly started our day with breakfast and coffee while we each read a book.  As we were preparing to head out some guy pulled up and said we couldn't camp here to which Jason replied we weren't. The spot clearly was for campers for it was cleared out and had a fire ring...

In either case we headed out in a western direction to an area called "Height of Lands."  Originally, we both wanted to go hike Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park which is the highest point in Maine.  Unfortunately, the RV we are in is apparently too big to drive within the state park which is a first for me.  What I didn't understand was why a 23 foot RV couldn't go up but a 44 foot combined length trailer could? The only way we would have been able to make it work is if we hiked about 8 miles in and then did the hike which just would have been too much.  So we continued driving west until we hit the Height of Lands overlook which was a stunning view!  Green, forested mountains abound here and with the incoming rain it was a beautiful sight to behold.

Either before or after Height of Lands (for I seem not to remember the order of things) we came across a pull off where Jason found a trail leading to a river.  So we parked and walked down with a frying pan full of the Mexican salad I had thrown together for our lunch.  It was sublime sitting out on the rocks int he sun with the river running past us as we ate our salad.  After lunch we put on our swimsuits and went swimming in the river which felt amazing!

Back on the road we found free camping at Forest Road 752 in Bethel, Maine within the White Mountains National Forest.  As we neared the camping it began to pour down rain; creating a river that ran thru our campsite.  So we stayed in and watched a movie and eat a pizza only venturing out to find a frisbee when the rain ceased some.

Day 294

July 24, 2018                                                                                                   Day 294

I was still super tired when I work up today and it didn’t help at all that it was foggy outside again.  Jason and I walked into Dunkin Donuts to purchase two blueberry muffins before we started cleaning the RV while watching “Rampage” once more.  Then I organized our dirty laundry and we headed to Downeast laundromat where we paid $9.00 to wash our clothes and sheets and $1.75 to dry them.

With the laundry complete, we left in the direction of free camping we found on freecampsites.net about three hours away and inland.  The drive went quickly by while we listened to the comedy station on Pandora and watched as the towns became fewer and fewer in between.  We arrived at Big Eddy where the camping was but didn’t like the spots right on the road; thankfully, we found a perfect spot next to a rambling stream.  The sound of the stream was a lullaby to my ears.  We were going to do a workout until we found out that all our downloaded workouts were gone.  So instead, we set up the yoga mats outside and played Skip-Bo next to the stream until we headed in to make supper out of the frozen burgers I had made a while ago during meal prep.  We watched “Need for Speed” while we ate and then went to bed.

I do need to get better about my eating for as of late the healthiness of it has dissipated.  I love snacks and normally when I buy for myself I refuse to spend the money on them so that way I do not have them around me and therefore eat them.  With having someone around though who also loves snacks and has no qualm with buying them we tend to have a lot in the vicinity and then I eat them.    Another thing is the drinking.  Every day it seems we are buying beer to the point I am actually getting sick of it.  I love how I feel when I don’t have it every day and only drink it occasionally so as of late I have been severely limiting my amount of consumption.

Day 293

July 23, 2018                                                                                                        Day 293

The fog was thick once more; yet, today we planned to hike the Beehive loop and the Gorham mountain trial no matter what.  While I got ready, Jason went inside to Dunkin Donuts to acquire muffins and donuts which we ate before heading back into Acadia National Park.  Thankfully, due to it being a Monday and also foggy out there were not too many people yet, so we were able to find parking in the lot past the trailhead.

The trail wasn’t too bad I just hate that I always feels so out of shape when there is no reason for me to be.  Hiking used to be my thing but now I am always fighting for air and have also taken to wearing a brace for my knee.   I don’t know what the cause of it is but since starting back on my trip at the end of June, every time we do a hike my knees are in horrible pain.  Usually, I am good for a few miles but as soon as I start going downhill or hiking too many miles my knee has shooting pain going through it to where when the hike is over I am limping around.  It also sounds like someone is crinkling wrapping paper when I attempt to do a catchers stance up and down quickly.

It didn’t help my mood any that this hike was known for its’ stellar views, but the fog was so thick one couldn’t see anything.  The humidity was horrible to the point where one could feel it clinging to one’s skin.  Thankfully Jason remained in good spirits so that aided me in dealing with everything and helped put me in a good mood also.  When we got to the Beehive loop we seemed to be going the opposite direction as everyone else.  Where we were climbing down they were climbing up which resulted in us having to stop often to let them thru.  Going down seemed to go by so quickly and was a lot easier in my opinion then going up would have been. By the time the hike was over the trail was quite crowded with people, so we were both happy to get back to the camper.  In total we hiked 4.24 miles on that hike.

Afterwards, I made us a shake before we started driving in the direction of Bar Harbor.  When we pulled into the RV parking area the sun was finally out but we both felt so exhausted for some reason; therefore, we took a nap.  Once we were up (though I never really fell asleep) we walked around Bar Harbor going into all the little shops.  I really enjoy seeing what is in each shop for one always finds something unique.  In one store I bought a rope sling bag I had been looking for and spoke with my older brother.  Then we stepped into an art gallery where I fell in complete love with two paintings that I was just about to spend money on until we walked out.  It was probably not a good idea to spend money on something when I have nowhere to put the said items…. though I still really want those two beautiful paintings of ships on the water.

Leaving Bar Harbor, we drove to Seal Cove where there were reports of seals; however, as expected we did not see any seals.  The hike was beautiful though and we did another two miles thru a pine and cedar forest covered in green moss.  From there we drove back to the same Walmart to buy a pizza and a movie “Rampage” which we watched after taking a wonderful shower. 

Day 292

July 22, 2018                                                                                       Day 292

The day was gloomy and overcast with a chance of rain all day long.  The fog was thick, and one could barely see the Walmart.  Jason and I were both tired and lazy from yesterday’s 16 miles, so we were not up for doing much.  The day was pretty much spent watching movies and napping.  We also played Skip-Bo.