New York, NY, to Lewiston, ME (Friday, August 7, 2010)

Day Fourteen - 358 miles

Sorry - another "low bandwidth" posting. No pictures other than the map. Will post later.

Met a great bunch of people tonight at a bar in Brunswick, Maine. They were having their "Class of '84" reunion from high school. Coincidentally, that is the same year I left school. (It also happend to be the happiest day of my life).

I left New York about 11AM. The traffic was horrendous going up I-95. Apparently, it's always pretty horrible, but was a bit worse than normal today. The weather was perfect though. Temperatures back down into the low 80's. Very nice.

I made an executive decision to bypass Boston today. My "schedule" has been difficult to predict,due to weather and accommodation issues. Because of that, I hadn't been in touch with my cousin Stephen in Boston - I didn't want to make a date, and then not keep it. As it turns out, we wouldn't have been able to meet today anyway, as he has other family commitments this weekend. I'm sorry now I didn't plan this part a bit better. I decided therefore, to "do Boston" another time, by flying there, and spending a few days - do it properly.

Speaking of planning...it is becoming a slight bit of a problem. It's all well and good to say, "Oh, don't make any plans. Keep it fluid." That's fine, until you end up, like I did in West Virginia - and like I did tonight - arriving somewhere in the evening, only to find out that every place is booked out. You could book a place before you leave, but then you're spending more time on the computer (not to mention the blog) and you end up doing little driving.

I had this kind of romantic idea of really beginning to hit rustic countryside (perhaps I will from now on?) with friendly primitive campgrounds with only a few "backpacker-type" or "Long Way Round-type" fellow travellers, all sitting around the campfire swapping stories. So far, it has been extremely difficult to find any casual campgrounds. The one or two I have seen, have had a lot of RVs, and not many "rustic" tent sites.

Tonight, all the motels and hotels for miles around were booked out. High season, plus some other events going on. A girl working at one of the other motels, hooked me up with a GHASTLY Motel 6 in Lewiston, about 16 miles away from Brunswick. One of my new "reunion" friends at the bar exclaimed, "You're not going to Lewiston, are you?" She then offered me a spare room in her house. I declined, or didn't follow up on the offer because I wasn't really sure if she was serious, and I didn't want to seem like I was bumming a room from someone. I also wasn't sure if she was entirely serious. Besides, I had already paid for the toilet in Lewiston (although I didn't know it was a toilet at that time).

Hopefully, this will all change tomorrow, as I am going to visit Acadia National Park. It is supposed to be a real gem of a place, on the intriguingly named Mount Desert Island. I was going to pass it by, and "straight shoot it" all the way up U.S. Route 1, to New Brunswick and Canada, but my honorary "classmates" tonight at the bar in Brunswick, Maine, insisted that I stop in at Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park - well worth a visit, they tell me.

On that note, I'm going to bed. Late as usual.

It was a good day though.

Onwards!