Day 100 – Clear & sunny at 7:30 this morning, 50 degrees. We turned the heat on this morning. A sign of things to come. It doesn’t bother Rob to sit outside on the cliff in the mornings, even when it’s much colder. He says that his coffee keeps him warm. I will take mine inside curled up with a blanket, thank you very much!
Today we had lots of errands to run. On Thursdays, we pick up our freshly-baked bread at the Machias Marketplace. We order it in advance so they won’t be sold out when we get there. So since we know we’ll be going to Machias weekly anyway, we try to do everything else there on that day. It’s about a 45-minute drive to get there, especially with the road work going on. Of course, it’s always the perfect excuse to stop at our favorite fish place after shopping, Riverside Take-Out. They were closed last week; we’re hoping they’re open today.
We took the scenic route, Route 191 through Cutler. Cutler is a small, beautiful lobster-fishing village. The winding two-lane road goes through heavily-forested lands and there are many Ocean views & places to take hikes over what is called, the Bold Coast, to cliffs overlooking the crashing Ocean below. We love this drive, and it is preferable to the alternative, the 189 to Route 1 to Machias, which is quicker but not as scenic & Route 1 has been pretty rough. They are working on the road though.
We stopped at the Bog Brook Cove Preserve parking lot on Moose River Road and walked out to the water. Between our land & Cutler there are several parking lots which lead to the trails; they are managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT) who also managed Sipp Bay Preserve where we went last week. Today was a gorgeous crisp, sunny day, with clear blue skies; we could see Grand Manan Island beyond, and some fishing boats & a sail boat. There were blueberry fields on either side of the winding dirt road; they had turned brilliant red.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
Okay, time to get down to business, onward to Machias. We stopped at Guptill’s and left the chain saw for repair. This will slow down the cutting of dead trees on our land for about a week giving plenty of time for trail work & maybe another whalewatching trip. Then we went to the former EBS Building Supply & bought a mail box & some numbers for the mail box & for the land (per 911) now that we have an official address. We also got (and filled) a 40-lb propane tank for outside the RV. Now we won’t have to pack up the RV & move it, driving it to Lubec for propane everytime we run out of propane. And we will be using more now since it’s getting colder.
Off to Machias Marketplace for our still-warm bread & for the fresh veggies from the local farmers, then to the health store for other supplies, and finally to the regular grocery store for items not carried by the other stores. Our reward followed with not-so-healthy bags of fresh fried haddock, scallops, & shrimp, complete with fries & onion rings, cole slaw & rolls all included in the Monster Fish Platter from Riverside Take-Out. That was to go; it will feed us for tonight & probably Friday night, plus Friday’s lunch. YUM. And for lunch today, eaten when freshly-made, Crab Rolls & a Monster Haddock Burger.
Stuffed & contented, we drove back to the RV, put up the stuff we bought, and headed out to the screened tent. The high today was 61 degrees.