October 16, 2004 (Sat) Bernard, ME to Epsom, NH (247 miles) - Heavy rain and wind last night most of the night. We awoke several times and lay there listening to it. It was cozy in a way but the strength of the wind kept it from being really soothing. The news said that some areas nearby got as much as 1 1/2 inches of rain. There was heavy mist, almost rain, when we said a reluctant good-bye to Dick and Ruth at 8:47. Thanks so much, guys, for your generosity and good company. It is always so good to see you.
We thought the wind might have blown the leaves off the trees but the colors were still beautiful along US-3 through Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. We took note of "The Big Chicken Barn" on US-3/US-1 south of Ellsworth. It's a good place to exchange our used paperback books if we remember to bring them next time. There were broken clouds in the sky but it was still raining as we passed through Bucksport. In Belfast (ME) the sun came out and stayed with us, more or less, the rest of the way.
Most, if not all of the public (state and national) campgrounds are closed for the season so we had no choice but to choose a private one. It's a bit unkempt but not too bad. It's wooded and we are in one of the few sites "on the river". It's a creek by our definition but we can see water out our back door. We wouldn't mind coming back if we're ever in the area out of season again.
Q007684 Epsom Valley Campground #R4 w/e/s $23.00 C
October 17, 2004 Epsom, NH to Copkate Falls, NY (205 miles) - Up at 7, showered, ate breakfast, dumped, and off at 9:00 - 49° and sunny. The sun didn't last long. The sky clouded over as we crossed New Hampshire subduing the yellows, reds, oranges of the surrounding landscape. We went through Concord, NH - Mark's birth city - and made a half hearted attempt to find his distant cousin's farm in Contookook - half hearted because we had absolutely no information to go on beyond the memory of being there several (20? 30?) years ago. The traffic down US-7 wasn't as bad as we'd expected in this leaf peeping Sunday afternoon. The bicyclists were a hazard though. There were many! Not content to go single file in their designated lane, they were often doubled up so that one of them rode the white line defining the bicycle lane. Cars, and especially trucks and motor homes were forced to cross the center line to avoid too close an encounter which created close encounters of another kind.
We've been in this campground several times. All but the first time without the time to take advantage of the bicycle trail that passes nearby. Some day we'll come here especially to do that.
Q007889 Taconic State Park #C80 dry $13.00 +$2.50 B
October 18,2004 (Mon) Copkate Falls, NY to Home (190 miles) - Up at about 7:30 and off at 8:14 in search of our traditional last day on the road fast food breakfast. According to a magazine article, Peter and Toni Wing built themselves a castle in the Hudson Valley hills out of salvaged materials and found objects. We thought that would be interesting to see so we programmed Henry to guide us there. It turned out to be hidden in the trees at the end (presumable) of a winding dirt driveway. Its only identification was an engraved wooden slab proclaiming "Wing's Castle". There seemed to be no public invitation to go up the drive so we went on.
We finally found a McDonalds in Pleasant Valley, NY at 10:45 got our sausage McMuffin with egg sandwiches and coffee. Q needed nourishment too but the New York price of $2.17/gal was a little steep so we got 5 gallons - enough to get us to New Jersey where we filled up at $1.95/gal. In general our final leg home gave us beautiful fall scenery in New York and reasonably light traffic in New Jersey.
Q008074 Home
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