O' Canada

The following few paragraphs were written on Monday when we left Maine. I couldn't post them last night because I could not get any internet access at the campground in Quebec. I do have WiFi here in Ontario, but with some constraints. The good news is that we are on a hilltop with a view of Lake Ontario. The bad news is that we are too far from the transmitter to connect. so, I am down the hill a few sites, trying to see the laptop screen in the sunlight, struggling to support my loyal (?) readership.

Well, we finally left Maine. It was not easy. We pulled out of our site at 0804, which was a little early for the “receiving line” to get formed up. Some were still in nightgowns and robes. Nonetheless they were there. Bobbie missed it but hurried up the hill to deliver the required hugs where we were dumping the tanks to catch us before we pulled out at 0835…which was pretty good considering how hard it is to leave Maine.
Today’s drive was quite different than our usual. A quick glance at your Rand McNally will show that if you want to travel east to west across central Maine, northern NH and northern VT, there are few options. It is a return to the pre-interstate world where you travel on two lane roads (one each way) between small towns. Some of the towns included: China, Peru, and between the towns the speed limit may be 50 MPH, but the roads are hilly, curvy and, if construction is required, there are flaggers that reduce the road to one lane. As a result, the MPH was down as was the MPG. We travelled along the famous Androscoggin River, the site of the famous log drives, into Shelbourne and Gorham, NH. We then crossed the narrow end of northern NH and entered VT at Stratford, NH. From there it was a short drive to the border at Derby Line, VT. We stopped for lunch, and we stopped for diesel (so that we could make it to MI without buying fuel in Canada) and made it to Derby Line about 1430. Crossing northern NH and VT was interesting. The little towns that we passed through on the way were straight out of Norman Rockwell. We noticed great piles of firewood set aside for residential use. There were dairy farms and a lot of woodlots. The traffic was light, but the predominate vehicle was the logging truck. The views were pleasant, but I wasn’t often free to enjoy them. We traveled north of Mt. Washington and the Franconia Notch.
Crossing the border was quick and uneventful. We had unloaded most of the bargain booze that we had bought at the NH state stores on our fellow campers in ME. So we were legal at the crossing. As it turns out, the checks were very superficial. Our safety-oriented approach probably cost us $25, but I don’t feel bad about taking that approach.

Here I am resuming the saga on Tuesday. Today was an opposite drive from yesterday. We were basically on cruise control for 300+ miles. The exception, of course, was a half hour of stop and go getting through Montreal. Compared to the 7.2 mpg yesterday, we got 8.6 today.

I have a couple of other current pictures to post, but I am not at the bus and don't have the camera with me to download them. Tomorrow we return to the states and hope to have better connectivity.